What Watch Collectors Really Want Right Now: Report

This story is from an installment of In the Loupe, our weekly insider newsletter about the best of the watch world. Sign up here. Few luxury watch executives would deny that collectors are the lifeblood of the industry. With their passionate commitment to watchmaking, not to mention their frequent purchases, they are the animating force behind many of the most important trends shaping the watch world. And yet, their feedback—on things like new collections, events, and the state of the business—has often been confined to private gatherings, where collectors share their opinions amongst each other and, occasionally, with their brand hosts, but always informally. As a result, their valuable insights have rarely amounted to more than provocative cocktail chatter. Alexander Friedman, the cofounder of CollectorSphere, a global invitation-only platform that shares community-generated content about watch collecting and counts some of the world’s most powerful collectors as members, is seeking to change that. The group’s new CollectorSphere Intelligence Report 2025, an analysis of collector feedback about the current market drawn from the insights of over 200 CollectorSphere members, aims to inspire new ideas and encourage brands to embrace bold new strategies by sharing feedback—the good, the bad, and the ugly. “I found that there was not enough voice given to end clients,” Friedman tells Robb Report. “We’re talking about the people that spend, that travel, that lead with their passion for watchmaking. And over the years, I don’t think that all the brands understood who is the collector, who is the end client? They rely a lot on extremely well-done reports such as Morgan Stanley, or Deloitte, or McKinsey. All these big companies that with the help of insiders, they managed to pull out some very precise reports. But it’s just data. Nobody has tried to give voice to the end client, to the collector, and say, ‘What do you think about what’s happening in the industry?’” The 88-page report, released earlier this month, includes direct quotes from members about a slew of insider topics, from which brands they anticipate will have the biggest impact in 2025 (27.4 percent of respondents mentioned the “Holy Trinity,” CollectorSphere’s term for Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, and Patek Philippe) to how they feel about multi-brand retailers. On the former topic, James S., offered a comment about what he described as Patek Philippe’s “masstige market strategy” with the launch of last year’s Cubitus collection: “While this range may initially lie outside the core interests of traditional collectors, early signs of adoption within the collecting community are emerging, driven largely by the brand’s strong reputation and prestige. However, this appears to be a short-term strategy that could risk alienating discerning collectors who value the brand’s historical exclusivity and craftsmanship.” Meanwhile, Pascal F. weighed in on the limits of vertical integration: “Back when secondary-market prices soared, collectors gladly opened multiple brand relationships alongside the retailers they’d known for years. Today, with availability improving and the hype cooling, many are returning to retailers, for two simple reasons: A retailer offers a more complete, long-term journey than a single brand ever can. Maintaining several brand relationships is time-consuming, and most collectors prefer fewer, deeper ones. Day to day, I see how much collectors still value having a trusted partner who can curate across brands and simplify the experience. It’s something boutiques alone struggle to replicate, reminding us that the future isn’t pure direct-to-consumer, but a smarter balance with wholesale.” Overall, Friedman was struck by how united collectors are in their disdain for what he calls “unjustified price increases.” “All these guys spend quite a lot of money on their passion,” he says. “But still, a dollar is a dollar. Why should I spend that much for a watch? Don’t get me wrong. They still buy, but they complain.” An anonymous respondent summed it up: “Brands have lost their minds on pricing. Completely. Richemont is the leader of the pack.” Another key takeaway is that collectors have lost trust in some brands. “Maybe it’s that they’ve done too much marketing—heavy marketing—for years,” Friedman says, adding that as collectors have soured on the big brands, they’ve turned their attention to independents. “Now, collectors are not as interested in the rarity or the coolness of a watch. This is a given. What they want to know is, ‘Who’s behind the watch? What’s the story of the watchmaker? Who did the craftsmanship?’ They want to know who is the artist that made this. And they’re extremely well informed. They want the human approach, not the big manufacturer approach.” The report doesn’t shy away from including explicit comments about brands that are underperforming, such as Panerai, or have yet to live up to high expectations. Breguet, for example, is seen as a comeback brand. “2025 is Breguet’s 250th anniversary,” Mark M. told CollectorSphere. “As the brand hasn’t been the loudest or most visible over the past years, let’s see how this celebration (and their new management) helps their modern offering generate the same excitement as their Daniel Roth era among collectors.” Finally, the report highlights five new-for-2025 timepieces that collectors considered “best in show” at Watches and Wonders Geneva: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds, Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Perpetuel Calendar, Cartier Tank à Guichets, Patek Philippe Calatrava 6196P-001, and the Ferdinand Berthoud FB3 3SPC. ## Implicazioni per i Collezionisti di Asset di Lusso Questo sviluppo del mercato evidenzia l'importanza crescente della **gestione digitale degli asset di lusso**. 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