Farewell 2024: Top Gainers of The Year

2024 was quite a year for the secondary market. The whole year was defined by general consumer pessimism. We saw that the mid-weight models were moving slower than before while the interest towards starter watches as well as ultra-rare limited editions exhibited some growth. 

 

Here are key takeaways from the performance of four major watch brands and their signature models in 2024: 

Rolex

Things looked quite stable for Rolex in 2024. In late summer, popular Daytona models experienced healthy growth. Yet, overall, the Rolex 50 index expectedly went down in January 2024, losing approximately US$ 2k on average. While this might not seem like a lot, when we zoom into models, we’ll see that the consequences of such a trend were quite devastating for some. Take the white gold Daytona with a blue dial (ref. 116509-0071), for example. Over the year, it lost 6.3 percent of its value, which roughly amounts to around US$ 7,000. But some models stood victorious by the end of 2024, like the Rose Gold Daytona with a brown dial, which gained 11.2 percent and the stainless steel Jubilee with a green dial, which climbed about 3.9 percent. 

Patek Philippe

For Patek Philippe, 2024 will be, for better or worse, associated with Cubitus. What’s described by some as a “hype launch” did generate buzz and revenue but also inspired a few unsavory conversations questioning the brand’s creativity. After the announcement, the PP 25 Index witnessed a drop which exacerbated the brand’s overall standing on the secondary watch market. The main beneficiaries of such a turn of events were, as it turns out, the ladies models, like the white Aquanaut Luce with diamonds (which gained 3.8 percent) and the green variant of the same model, which grew a modest 1.1 percent. 

Audemars Piguet

You may be wondering, “why is AP included in this round up if it’s all red?” Well, see, in 2022 the brand soared to the highest values on the secondary market, so, following that peak, the prices of its watches are still stabilizing. Hence, what you’re seeing above are the models that suffered the least. These are, of course, the most conservative models from the maison’s oeuvre, like the “50th Anniversary” Royal Oak with gray dial and the stainless steel Royal Oak with a black dial. 

Cartier

2024 was indeed the year of Cartier. On the primary level, the brand tantalized us with some ingenious launches. And, on the secondary, the brand was THE destination for small men’s watches (remember how everyone and their mother were talking about the Baignoire?). With that being said, it’s still impressive that the black dial variant of the Tank Must grew a whooping 22.9 percent over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the stainless steel and gold versions of the Panthère grew 6.8 and 6.6 percent respectively.