Hodinkee
The Business of Watches Podcast: WatchCharts Top Executives Talk Market Reports And Where Prices Might Be Heading
This week on The Business of Watches, an extended chat with a duo whose business is watch market data. Charles Tian is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of WatchCharts.com, and Hamza Masood is Head of Business Partnerships at the U.S.-based company. Both are longtime technology executives who turned a passion for watches into a business. That venture is WatchCharts, and it gathers and analyzes secondary market watch prices to show demand trends, price movements, and the relative health and desirability of brands and luxury groups in the sector. Its customers include retailers, watch dealers, collectors, and brands. WatchCharts founder and CEO Charles Tian.Photo credit: Brandon Moore With U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley, WatchCharts uses its data to produce in-depth reports four times a year on the state of the secondary market. The third-quarter report, published in mid-October, shows the fifth straight quarter of overall market gains of more than 1%, suggesting stability and recovery. Still, the growth is slowing and is the weakest since mid 2025. While gains are more widespread among watchmakers, with prices for 28 of 35 brands tracked posting quarter-over-quarter gains, the overall WatchCharts index is still about 28% below its all-time peak, a record hit during the post-pandemic euphoria of April 2022. Image and data courtesy WatchCharts and Morgan Stanley. As for outperforming brands, the usual suspects of Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Cartier...
