Luxury watch shortage drives growth of $20 billion secondhand market as start-ups rush to cash in

The explosion in online watch buying is lifting the fortunes of a growing number of start-ups, all aiming to become the dominant digital marketplace for pre-owned watches.A macro of a Rolex Explorer II GMT watch.A rush of companies are vying to become the eBay of high-end horology — including the storied online marketplace itself.

"The pre-owned watch market is still very much like the Wild West," said Toby Bateman, CEO of Hodinkee, a popular watch collector site. "There are a lot of watch-selling platforms. And customers don't necessarily know who they're buying the watch from. They can't guarantee that it is authentic. They can't guarantee that it's not a 'Frankenwatch.' And they can't guarantee that the watch is working properly.

Still, rivals are attracting investor attention. Germany-based Chrono24 recently raised 100 million euros from investors including General Atlantic and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault's Aglae Ventures. The investment valued Chrono24 at more than $1 billion, making it the first "unicorn" in the segment. The company said it carries about 500,000 watches from more than 3,000 retailers and over 30,000 private sellers.

The question is how long can the current watch boom continue, and whether there are enough online sales to go around. The Big Four watch brands that drive most of the high-end collecting are all privately owned and have maintained their low production numbers despite huge demand, in order to preserve their storied quality and exclusivity. According to a report from Morgan Stanley, Rolex sold 810,000 watches last year, while Patek sold 53,000 watches, Audemars 40,000 and Richard Mille 4,300.

robtfrank A luxury watch shortage. Because we don't have enough real problems to address.

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