It’s 2021 and the secondary market premium for certain luxury watches continues. There are plenty of Gregory Paus out there, taking a new, highly sought after [insert sports design from century-plus-old Swiss brand] and selling it for well over retail. Highway to the Profit Zone There’s been a collective gasp now that Rolex has found its voice and issued a public statement about the whole matter. That’s how unprecedented the situation is. As an economist, though, the dialogue about flipping is quite reminiscent of two magnets approaching each other with the same poles facing. They get closer and closer and then the forces become too great and the magnets slip away from each other. The discussion over flipping and the secondary market premium is quite similar: we never quite get to the crux of the matter, but we get close. At the end of the day, flipping and above retail pricing on the secondary market are a consequence of many different circumstances. If you leave any o...
Economic complications in watchmaking