Researching watch prices - with extra help from Aperture

I’ll be honest, researching prices is one of my least favourite parts of the job. I want to get a fair price for the seller, remain competitive for the buyer, and make sure there’s a little bit in the middle for me. And that’s all in a turbulent watch market.

Over the past five years, I’ve tried to find ways to streamline the process, provide better accuracy, and, most importantly, transparency. And I thought I’d share with you some of the places I go to get an idea of what a watch is really worth.

Let’s start with the most obvious, Chrono24. I can’t think of a bigger database of watches listed for sale worldwide. The platform is relatively easy to use, and I certainly make use of the filters, searching within the UK, for watches with a full set of box and papers and within a similar age range. And more recently, I make sure that I search for watches “In stock” as there appear to be more listings for watches that need to be sourced, and I’m always a little dubious of those. Chrono24 also have an option to view the prices that a model has sold for, but I tend to use this just as a guide, as there’s no way to see the individual listings or which country the sale took place.

eBay, on the other hand, show both live and sold listings, giving a better indication of the price that the watch sold for. But again, you have to allow for some variation as it doesn’t show the true sold price if the seller accepted an offer on the watch.

A simple Google search can sometimes display watches for sale that aren’t listed on eBay or Chrono24, and can also highlight offers on new watches via some Authorised Retailers.

Another place that I like to check for the price of sold watches is on Watch Collecting, an online auction site. The listings show clear photographs of the condition of the watch and when the watch was sold. However, they tend to sell mainly newer watches over £5,000.

Watch Charts is another tool that I’ve used in the past, and they provide a good insight into market trends, particularly by brands and models. However, you can’t search by UK sales, so it will give a skewed idea of sold prices. Also, without being a paying member, you are limited to the number of searches you can do.

With all of this in mind, I was very excited to learn about Aperture, a new platform offering auction insights to watch collectors and sellers. Using a newly developed software, Aperture brings together both live lots and sold watches from some of the UK’s biggest auctions, offering a true reflection of the real value of a watch in the current UK market. As the saying goes, something is only worth what someone wants to pay.

Buyers looking to buy a watch in an upcoming auction can use Aperture’s Auction Intelligence feature to give a guide to the price that they should be bidding. For example, in an upcoming auction, a Rolex Datejust 41 has an estimate of £8,000 - £9,000, but based on the data from Aperture, five other watches with the same reference sold in the region of £6,000 to £7,700.

Aperture already has results from over 20,000 auction lots, and that figure is growing every week, continually providing more accurate data. Furthermore, Aperture provides its members with a weekly newsletter giving really helpful, up-to-date insights into the market.

Aperture Pro is a fantastic tool for both watch dealers, collectors and buyers, and membership is just £18 per month. But better still, friends of Watch Concierge Services can use the code WCS50 to get 50% off the first month, providing a great opportunity for you to learn how the website can benefit you on your watch journey.

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