Rolex Appreciation Beat Other Investments Over Past Decade
Why invest in the stock market when you can invest in your wrist.
Why invest in the stock market when you can invest in your wrist.
With 10 years of sales data to draw from, the team at Bob’s Watches, an e-commerce retailer of pre-owned Rolexes and luxury watches, analysed how Rolex values have performed in the secondary market over the past decade compared to stocks, bonds, real estate, and gold. When the results came in, Rolex watches outperformed them all.
“We were surprised by how much the values have appreciated,” says Paul Altieri, founder and CEO of the California-based Bob’s Watches, during a recent interview, noting that few online sources have access to a full decade’s worth of sales data. “We were hoping to come up in the top three, so we were happy that it was number one.”
Evaluating percentage increases for gold and real estate, based on inflation-adjusted values for gold from macrotrends.net and median sales price data for houses sold in the U.S. from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database, Rolex watches significantly outperformed both.
When it came to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, based on values from macrotrends.net, returns were comparable over the decade, but Rolex produced significantly higher appreciation percentages over the past five years.
According to the data, the average price of a used Rolex watch rose from less than US$5,000 in 2011 to more than US$13,000 by the end of last year. Intriguingly, the appreciation of Rolex watches since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 is nearly equal to the total price increase over the preceding five years.
“Demand is driving that, of course, inflation as well—but inflation only accounts for maybe 20%,” Altieri says. “The vast majority is overwhelming demand. Supply has been constrained and demand just keeps surging globally.”
He added that strong economic growth around the world, and particularly in China and elsewhere in Asia, over the past five years has also helped drive up values.
“Rolex has been a huge benefactor. I would say the same for Omega, Patek Philippe, and Breitling. A lot of brands have had tremendous success the last 10 years, especially the last five, and Rolex is certainly at the top of the list.”
Bob’s Watches also evaluated appreciation by Rolex model. Not surprisingly the brand’s purpose-built sport and tool watches account for eight of the top 15 reference numbers (including the top three positions). While the stainless-steel Submariner 16610 is the single best-selling Rolex reference over the past decade and its two-tone steel-and-gold sibling Ref. 16613 comes in second, Daytona is number one when it comes to the highest-appreciating model with an average pre-owned price topping US$30,000 last year.
“Daytona has always had a broader appeal, a stronger demand,” Altieri explained. “There is at least a five-year waitlist to purchase the new Daytona at retail. It’s a more complicated watch and it has always been a popular model with a higher value.”
As an example, he cites the Ref. 116500 Daytona with a white dial, which sells for around US$38,000 in the secondary market when the official retail price is about US$13,000. “That is the ultimate example of demand and supply being out of sync with each other,” he says.
To illustrate the dramatic shift that has taken place, he said that when Bob’s Watches entered the market in 2010, prices for pre-owned watches typically ran 25% to 40% below full retail in a store. Now, for some models, the pre-owned prices are dramatically higher than retail prices, because those new hot-ticket models are so hard to come by in a store.
Altieri points out that the imbalance has been growing over the last five to 10 years, and he doesn’t predict a correction any time soon. “I don’t see Rolex increasing production substantially to satisfy demand, so quantity will remain limited,” he says, adding that Omega is also surging in demand with unit sales almost doubling last year compared to 2020.
“Watches as a category are really popular today and growing,” he says. “Barring some major recession, I don’t think you will see any change. I know it seems unsustainable, like a bubble, but I just don’t see it changing.”
Reprinted by permission of Penta. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: February 1, 2022.
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Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann has made it clear the company, which makes some of the fastest cars in the world, would not speed into the era of electrification.
“Our first steps in that (electrification) direction will be plug-in hybrids throughout the lineup,” he said in a 2022 interview with Penta. “This is all very easily welcomed at Lamborghini. The equations are easy. We always promise more performance than the generation before for all our cars, and we will do so while maintaining sustainability. By 2025, we will be able to cut our overall emissions by 50% with all of the hybrid models added.”
Proving Lamborghini and Winkelmann are as good as their collective word, the time of watts and volts arrived in Bologna, Italy, with the debut of the 2025 Lamborghini Urus SE. The first hybrid super-SUV from the proud Italian firm, which starts at $275,000 marries the familiar internal combustion specs of its growling engines with battery power looking not so much to save the planet as to propel vehicles across it with more alacrity.
The Urus SE is the first hybrid plug-in version of Lamborghini’s SUV, and it’s aimed to outperform its all-internal combustion rivals, such as the Aston Martin DBX707 and the Bentley Bentayga. The PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) Urus SE relies on an 800 CV hybrid powertrain, surpassing any previous Lamborghini SUV model in torque and power numbers.
The machine’s twin-turbo 4.0-litre V-8 engine is reengineered and partnered with an electric powertrain to produce 620 CV. For the uninitiated, CV is the abbreviation of Chevaux-Vapeur and is similar to horsepower. Usually, HP converts to just a little less than CV—at least allowing the automotive enthusiasts from the U.S. and Europe to get a traditional sense of vehicle power for gas-powered or hybrid vehicles without needing a conversion calculator.
To make a long engineering story as quick as the Urus SE, if you add together the internal contrition power plant and the e-motor, the final output is 800 CV. The result is a Lamborghini that cuts its emissions by 80% without sacrificing performance, comfort, or driving excitement.
The thinking process on when and how to release this plug-in hybrid began before the company’s 2021 pledge to cut CO2 emissions, says Stefano Cossalter, the Urus model line director.
“This plan gave momentum to a profound and constant research of opportunities and challenges involved in the transition to electrification,” Cossalter says. “The plan started in 2023 with the launch of the Revuelto [sold out into 2026], our first HPEV (high performance electrified vehicle), and continues with the launch of the hybrid version of our Super SUV Urus SE.”
Cossalter lays out that the slow and steady march to electrification will continue next year with the release of the Temerario, described by Lamborghini as the successor to the popular Huracan and “the first super sports car in the history of the … brand to be equipped with a V-8 twin-turbo engine paired with three electric motors.” Then, the automaker will look to the horizon for its introduction of the Lanzador, the company’s first BEV (battery electric vehicle) in 2028.
The hybrid version offers improved performance over the 100% gas Urus. A magnet synchronous electric motor located inside the SE’s eight-speed automatic transmission tied into the four-wheel-drive system can boost the V-8 engine, offering additional acceleration. Meanwhile, that motor can provide enough power to transform the Urus SE into a totally electric vehicle with a range of about 35 miles in EV mode.
With the new drive system noted, Lamborghini’s engineers could turn to performance specs. They built in a new, centrally located longitudinal electric torque vectoring system with an electro-hydraulic multi-plate clutch. That’s a lot of fancy tech talk to say the vehicle can throw power and grip back and forth between the front and rear axles wherever the onboard system senses it’s needed. A new electronic limited-slip differential on the rear axle helps give the Urus SE oversteering when needed. The end result is an SUV that packs the feel of a Huracan on the road.
That supercar feel in an SUV is the experience Lamborghini refuses to abandon in the Urus SE, Cossalter says.
“We didn’t come to compromises in the hybridisation process,” he says. “We wanted the Urus SE to preserve the DNA of the original project and enhance the experience for the driver. For those reasons, we decided not to downsize. We kept a V-8 engine with its strong character and voice, and then added some spice to the dynamic behavior by changing the all-wheel-drive architecture. The result is we have more power, more torque, more speed, more fun.”
As for external styling on the Urus, Lamborghini takes after its competition at Aston Martin or Ferrari by trying to make an SUV that looks as little like an SUV as possible. The profile is lowered, and the lines sweeping and tapering from nose to tail, as though Lambo’s in-house designers want to hide the size and functionality of an SUV inside the shape of the familiar Lamborghini supercars of the past.
However, driving the Urus does not feel much like a traditional Lamborghini supercar simply because the driving position is higher and more upright compared to, say, an Avantador that puts the driver’s backside close to pavement. Regardless of where one sits, the acceleration, noise, and tight handling lives in a Urus as happily as it does in any other Lambo.
As its first volume consumer step into the hybrid world, the Urus SE tells Italian supercar enthusiasts to keep the faith.
“The Urus SE points to the future with electrification while keeping its heritage intact,” Cossalter says.
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