Rolex raised the global price of its gold watches by an average 5 percent this month, adding a rare second annual increase to its main markets including Britain, Hong Kong and the US, according to two luxury research platforms and two dealers.
The increase, which follows a slightly bigger rise in January that was not global and not specific to gold, reflects strong demand for premium products despite a broadly subdued luxury goods market.
Other leading luxury brands have also increased prices, including Richemont-owned Cartier, which raised prices on its gold watches by up to 10 percent last month, according to Mark Xu, head of marketing at research platform WatchCharts.
Richemont said in its annual report that it had implemented measured price increases at its Jewellery Maisons, which include Cartier, citing rising gold prices and currency swings.
Last year was also unusual for more than one price rise across the industry, but that reflected US import tariffs - now at 10 percent for Switzerland, home to the world's biggest watch-making sector.
SECOND PRICE RISE SURPRISED
Rolex's second hike this year surprised the market, said Eric Boneta, a US certified pre-owned watch dealer: "No one saw it coming."
Industry analysts, however, have said the luxury watch market is managing to sell watches marketed as rare investment pieces to super-rich clients even though more middle class customers have stopped spending on luxury.
Rolex increased average prices on its watches by 6.2 percent in January in Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to WatchCharts.
Rolex declined to comment for this story. Richemont did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
GOLD PRICES HAVE SOARED
Gold prices have almost doubled since 2024 to around US$4,200 (HK$32,915.36) an ounce. Gold watches by some brands owned by Rolex, Richemont, LVMH, Swatch, Breitling and Chopard on average are up 4 percent to 6 percent from a year ago, said Zouheir Guedri, founder of luxury research firm Data&Data.
He said luxury watchmakers, seeking to capture the elite that still has money to spare, were "encouraging clients toward precious-metal and higher-end references".
For some models, the price increases have been much bigger. A white gold version of Rolex's Cosmograph Daytona, a model worn by Hollywood actor Paul Newman in the 1970s, sells for US$59,100 in the US, up by 14 percent this year and 33 percent since 2024.
PREMIUM EXPORTS JUMP
Swiss exports of watches worth more than 20,000 Swiss francs (HK$196,656.83) have more than doubled from pre-pandemic levels and accounted for more than two-thirds of the industry's 2025 total value of 24.4 billion francs, according to Vontobel analysts.
That was up from a 22 percent share of the total in 2019, it said.
Demand for Rolex watches will keep outweighing supply, predicts Simon Lazarus, head of PR and content at online luxury watch platform Chrono Hunter.
"It comes down to brand desirability," he said. "Rolex has always been the high flyer".
Reuters
