By the end of November, Swiss watch exports fell by 23.5 percent (at the time of writing, December data were not yet available because the Fédération de l’industrie horlogère suisse FH publishes them on 30 January at the earliest). The worst-case scenario (suggesting much bigger drops) did not happen. The watches sold, and customers were willing to buy the second-hand ones as well. I will be discussing it later on in here.

So what did the typical watch enthusiasts do in a pandemic year (assuming that a stereotypical image of a watch enthusiast exists)? Well, they kept track of their favourite brands in the Internet and, despite the crisis (or maybe thanks to the crisis), hunted for models they liked. The term “hunt is intentional as, to me, collectors connote solitary predators. They sit and wait for prey, and attack alone, reluctant to share it with anyone. Lockdown was a good time for hunting: “predators” had more time for their passion. A few of them told me that they felt even more enthusiastic about a watch purchase last year, than before the pandemic. For some of them, the purchase of a new watch was like an effective psychotherapy to survive the very difficult time of the pandemic (this euphoric state is known to anyone who, at least once in their life, tried to “hunt” for a specific thing in the shop and succeeded).

Due to the pandemic, watch manufacturers faced a number of limitations, including a slowdown in production. However, some brands proved quite well last year. The brands which were very popular among customers include: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, Rolex and the niche Richard Mille.

In my September article, I described what happened when the first photos of the refreshed versions of the Rolex Submariner appeared on the industry websites and in social media. The demand for this model has not slowed. The so-called Kermit is still unavailable at any authorised dealer (you still have to subscribe for it, and the waiting line is getting longer). The impatient and ready to spend a much higher amount of money can alternatively make a purchase on the secondary market. However then, the price goes up by up to 80 percent. As it turns out, Submariner (and GMT-Master II which is still the number one second-hand model) is not the only one which is so popular. Last year, online shops selling second-hand watches experienced a real boom. Recently, I read an interview with Tim Stracke, CEO of chrono24.com, a trading platform known among watch lovers for selling luxury watches.

Stracke said that the number of watches sold on chrono24.com in 2020 increased by 25 percent and its value amounted to as much as EUR 2 billion. He believes that the pandemic has accelerated the development of e-commerce by about three years. He also gave several examples of increased interest in certain watches, such as the models released by Omega to celebrate the Tokyo Olympics. As the event was cancelled, the Olympic series has become a rara avis. The searches for these special models has increased by as much as 200%. The same happened to watches worn by the actors playing the role of James Bond: after the postponement of the release of the new Agent 007 film in March 2020, the interest in film-related watch models (not only Omega) increased by almost 40 per cent.

Nautilus by Patek Philippe is also very popular on the secondary market. Its price has doubled in the last three years and now you have to pay even more than EUR 60,000 for it. The Royal Oak in the Jumbo version is also on the best-seller list. Over three years, its price has risen by 120 percent. On chrono24.com, it currently costs around EUR 40,000.

It turns out that the crisis is also a good time for mergers and acquisitions. The acquisition of Tiffany by French conglomerate LVMH has been rumoured for more than a year. Throughout the year, the media have switched reporting on either the purchase or the abandonment of the purchase. Squabbles, with both parties threatening each other with lawsuits, ended in December. The final amount agreed was $ 15.8 billion. Once again, Bernard Arnault had a nose for business: Tiffany hailed record Christmas sales (2 percent higher than in 2019).

Others also have started their purchases: Richemont, the Chinese holding company Alibaba and the Kering Group have decided to invest in Farfetch, a Chinese online shopping service, to have more control over their purchases in China. And this is probably justthe beginning.

These deals are a harbinger of changes to come and we can expect more twists this year.