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“It’s almost time for price down.” This is everyone’s speculation on Rolex in these recent years. The price of Daytona 116500LN has never been reduced since it was launched in 2016, and it has maintained a high price. It is not fully accurate to say “maintain” because the price is this watch is still rising. From time to time, there are people saying that “The price shouldn’t be possible to raise anymore”, but in current situation, the price of watches is far from capped, which is “unheard of” in the watch industry.
It is true that the Rolex market has continued to expand in recent years, and the price has risen proportionally. But the price of Daytona 116500LN is increasing outstandingly. Why is the price of Rolex Daytona 116500LN so high? Let us uncover the secrets of Daytona 116500LN and Rolex’s soaring market!
※ The information published in this article is the market price of the relevant watch as of September 2020.
What is Rolex Daytona 116500LN?
Daytona 116500LN was released in 2016 and is the only chronograph model among Rolexes. The Daytona series is a long selling product since 1960s (the official information is 1963), and it is now the sixth generation. The case with a diameter of 40 mm and a thickness of 12.5 mm, coupled with a Cerachrom ceramic outer ring, has an elegant and charming texture. The unique appearance and high-level sense of the Cerachrom ceramic outerring have made Daytona’s popularity increased. It is worth mentioning that the Daytona watch is equipped with Cal. 4130 self-winding mechanical chronograph movement developed and manufactured by Rolex.
In addition to its high precision, this movement is uniquely developed and manufactured by Rolex with high resistance to magnetism, impact resistance and repairability. It is very practical and called as “Cerachrom masterpiece” which attracts everyone. Due to the ingenious design of the 4130 model, the texture of the of Daytona 116500LN can be long-lasting. It is extremely difficult to buy Daytona 116500LN at an official authorized store for this sporty style, therefore some people think that the official pricing is the same with no pricing.
The 2020 Rolex Daytona 116500LN said that the black dial is slightly cheaper, but the Daytona 116500LN still set the highest record in the market. By the way, although the prices in the second-hand market may fluctuate due to the condition, the price between second-hand item and brand-new item is not much different. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, since the Daytona 116500LN was released in 2016, the price has not been reduced before. Next, we will briefly share the history line of this watch.
1. 2016 ～ 2019 116500LN Market Trend
When 116500LN debuted in 2016 at Baselworld, after many people in the industry saw the new 116500LN with Cerachrom ceramic outer ring, there are exclaimed that “This watch seems to be a popular product and it may set a very high price record?”. After that, the price of 116500LN was once stable at a fixed price. However, the arrival of trade war at the end of the year, the price exceeded the fixed price at the end of 2016. Prices have soared since the second half of 2017 and it only took less than a year to increase by 1.5 times.
At this time, the market has rumour saying “It is about to drop” but we can now see that this prediction is wrong.
Around 2018, Rolex wanted to standardize global pricing and hope to create an image of “extraordinary valuable Rolex” globally to improve international competitiveness. Of course, the price will not be the same, but we can imagine that in the past by using domestic and foreign price difference, the cheaper price purchased at foreign country together with import item price will rise the price at a time. At this situation, although the price of Rolex fluctuates up and down, the overall market seems to be on rising curve. In June 2019, the price of import has set the highest record at that time.
However, the Rolex market dropped not long after that and Daytona 116500LN was also affected.
The price dropped until September 2019. At the end of the year, due to trade war, the market price rose again. At the end of the same year, it rose to the original price level.
Above mentioned, the market trend is the white dial, and the black dial will be cheaper.
Looking back at the content, everyone knows that the price of Daytona 116500LN was lower only for a short period in 2016 and 2017. In addition, although the market predicted that the price would drop, but the result is it have been rising over time.
2. Market trend of 116500LN in 2020
The watch industry in 2020 was also affected by the new COVID pandemic. The biggest threat of this virus is “infectivity” and was name a new type that shows it still has many unsolved problems. Therefore, countries have adopted emergency declarations and lockdown policies. In this situation, shops are closed and there are restrictions for people and things.
Multiple factors such as nowhere to buy and uncertain prospects have made the economy continue to deteriorate. The Rolex market had continued to rise at the beginning of 2020, but it has fallen sharply since March due to reduction of risks by investors.
Although the situation is so severe, Rolex prices began to slowly rise after the Golden Week. The price of Daytona 116500LN broke the June 2019 highest record. Until September 2020, the same trend is still maintained. Why is the price of Daytona 116500LN so high? Let’s analyse few main reasons for this situation.
3 main reasons for Rolex Daytona 116500LN’s high price
① High Demand
The factor of “exchange rate” is mentioned previously but it can be said that Daytona’s market is almost unaffected by the exchange rate. Regardless of devalue or rise in value, the market continues to rise (It can be said that Rolex prices rises due to depreciation after 2016).
The reason for high prices is the overwhelming growth in demand from around the world.
As mentioned previously, “country price adjustment” begun around 2018, and Asian countries are rising. The demand for Rolex in countries such as China and India had increased rapidly. These are due to the charm of Daytona itself. Rolex’s only chronograph design, outstanding performance, Daytona previous generation before 116500LN has also set top record that exceeded the fixed price. In recent years, several notable advantages of “asset value” and “resale value” have been added.
In the past, these key factors have been the focus for long term watch collectors. Now, people will consider the “purchase rate when resell (deduction rate)” during deciding to buy and also including the factor of “investing purpose when buying Daytona”. This makes Daytona 116500LN has different value from the past which makes everyone like Daytona even more. In addition, more and more people regard Daytona as a “portable asset.” Other valuable items such as gold bars are not easy to keep. However, the size and weight of the watch are designed to be worn on the wrist. It is convenient to carry and keep. It is more favoured by investors because it can be sold easily. This “asset value” is still strong under the downturn, which is an important reason for the demand for Daytona 116500LN.
② Less supply
Although Rolex is classified as a practical watch, it does not have mass production. It should be said that the annual production is not large because of all the products from external to internal parts are manufactured by Rolex itself (actual production amount is unknown…). Especially, the Daytona 116500LN is equipped with a chronograph. Compared with other models, this complicated mechanical structure has a limited number circulated in each country.
In addition, the previous paragraph introduces its “asset value” characteristics, which makes Daytona’s resell behaviour more popular. Therefore, Rolex reserves the inventory of best-selling sport watches, strictly manages the sales amount and sales customers.
Then comes this COVID-19 pandemic. As mentioned above, due to countries have issued emergency declarations or adopted pandemic prevention measures to close the city, this made many manufacturers must stop business. Rolex also cooperated with the Swiss government’s emergency declaration and closed the factory for 45 days from 17th March. Rolex completely stopped shipping during the shutdown, and it is estimated that the manufacturing in 2020 reduced by more than 12%.
In other words, the market fell into a shortage of Daytona (insufficient Rolex). However, the demand mentioned in the previous paragraph has not been reduced, resulting in a rise in market prices.
High demand and shortage of Daytona 116500LN. Unable to rely in foreign import or agent import. Many watch stores are actively purchasing from general people to ensure its own stock. This also caused a drastic rise in the purchase price.
Now in the watch industry, due to watch shop purchase price become expensive → the selling price must be increased → therefore, the trend if increasing prices of Daytona is unavoidable. For Rolex owner, especially Daytona 116500LN, this is the best time to sell. As mentioned earlier, more stores are actively purchasing Rolex from personal owner and of course, they will propose a more attractive purchase price.
③ Active trading in the second-hand market
Earlier, we mentioned that the price of Rolex rose due to the imbalance between supply and demand.
Another factor is the Rolex’s second-hand market is getting bigger and watch trading is more active.
As mentioned before, the Rolex’s high assets value is well-known. This saying has been many years and it is not only appeared in recent years. The reason why it has gained such reputation in the world is because Rolex has established their high-tech skills of wristwatch manufacturing early.
Rolex developed the Oyster case in 1926. It is famous for its case design that looks like an “Oyster”. Created the world’s first waterproof watch and famous all over the world. Its reputation is not baseless. Since then, the watch industry has unanimously agreed that Rolex watches represent the word solid.
In addition, Rolex pursue and strive the maintainability of the movement have made them the king of the watch industry. With some condition support, the early wristwatches could continue to be used if they sent for service, even if they are old and deteriorated. This is also beneficial to the sale of second-hand trading.
Apart from the original characteristics, adding that people have overwhelming demand for Daytona and the reason for the decrease in supply, this makes the second-hand market more and more active. There is also the thinking of “can’t afford new ones but can afford second-hand…”. This thinking makes the second-hand trading market more enthusiastic. There are also stores actively purchasing personal collections. There was a trend of Daytona 116500LN in the market. Therefore, this paragraph sorted out these 3 reasons, making the Daytona 116500LN market soaring.
Summary
We have shared the most welcome Daytona 116500LN among Rolexes!
Since its launch in 2016, Daytona 116500LN has built a top market value beyond selling price. However, in 2020, we have observed an unprecedented price spike. The main reasons are ① overwhelming demand ② decrease in supply and ③ active in the second-hand market.
If is not an exaggeration to say that Daytona 116500LN is the most favourite in the watch industry. If you are considering selling your Rolex, do not miss this great opportunity!
