Calculator
Watch Investment Calculator
A watch can go up in value and still lose you money. This works out the net figure after insurance, servicing, and the commission you pay to sell it.
The watch
Retail sets your allocation cost. Market is today's value and the starting point for every projection.
Authorized dealer list price.
25% above retail. Projection starts here.
Cost of holding
The line item that turns most 'appreciating' watches into losses.
Typically 1–2% of market value on a scheduled policy.
Charged only in the years a service actually falls due.
Dealer consignment or auction fees taken from the sale.
Net after 5 years
−$3,592
loss after costs and commission
-5.3% annualized
-1.2% gross annualized
Total across the holding period
Does not break even within 5 years at these assumptions.
Value versus what you actually keep
The gap between the two lines is insurance, servicing, and commission.
- Market value
- Value after fees & holding costs
The three costs that decide it
The selling commission
The largest single deduction and the one most often forgotten. A dealer taking a watch on consignment typically keeps 10 to 20%; an auction house charges the seller a commission on top of the buyer's premium. On a $30,000 watch that is $3,000 to $6,000 gone the moment you sell, before anything else is counted.
Insurance
A scheduled personal-property policy on a valuable watch runs roughly 1 to 2% of insured value per year. On a $50,000 piece held ten years that is $5,000 to $10,000 — frequently more than the appreciation the watch is expected to deliver.
Servicing
Charged in lumps rather than continuously, which is why this calculator only applies it in the years a service actually falls due. A three-year holder of a modern Rolex may pay nothing; a ten-year holder of a complicated Richard Mille could pay three times.
Frequently asked questions
- Are luxury watches a good investment?
- A small minority are; most are not. Roughly a handful of references — steel Rolex sports models, discontinued Patek Philippe Nautilus variants, and certain Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks — trade above retail. The great majority of luxury watches sell for less used than new, and once insurance, servicing, and a selling commission of 10% or more are counted, even modest paper gains frequently turn into net losses.
- What costs does this calculator include that others do not?
- Three that matter. Insurance, typically 1 to 2% of value per year on a scheduled policy. Servicing, charged in the years it actually falls due rather than smeared evenly, because a three-year holder may never pay for one. And the selling commission a dealer or auction house takes, which is the single largest deduction and the one most often ignored.
- How much does watch servicing cost?
- A full service runs roughly $700 to $1,000 for a Rolex or Omega, $1,800 to $2,600 for Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, or A. Lange & Söhne, and considerably more for complicated pieces. Recommended intervals range from about 3 years on some high-performance movements to 10 years on modern Rolex calibres. That interval matters as much as the price.
- Should I buy at retail or on the grey market?
- If you can obtain an allocation at retail on a reference that trades above it, that is the strongest position available — you hold equity from the day you collect the watch. If the reference trades below retail, buying pre-owned is simply cheaper. The route you take changes the return more than anything that happens afterwards.
- What happened to watch prices after 2022?
- The secondary market corrected sharply from its early-2022 peak. Some references lost more than half their value, and the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 is the widely cited example. Prices have since stabilized well above pre-2020 levels but far below the peak. Anyone modeling future returns should treat that volatility as a permanent feature of the market rather than an anomaly.
Keep going
Compare specific references, or price an allocation.