Rolex Increases List Prices for 2024
The 2024 began with Rolex raising its list price, in this article we analyze how much retail has grown in recent years and what to expect for the future
Welcome to the first article of 2024! Day by day this blog is growing more and more thanks to your invaluable support, and for that we can do nothing but thank you. We start this year by promising to bring you new quality content and to improve more and more.
But now we come what has happened in the past few days.
In late December and early January Rolex has been quite active, presenting a limited edition Day-Date with enamel dial made for the Vienna Philharmonic, of which Rolex has been partner since 2008 and exclusive sponsor of the famous New Year's Concert since 2009. You can find more info in our post:
The news from the crowned house does not end there, however, because, as it does every year, on January 1 the maison increased the list prices of its models both for Rolex itself and for Tudor.
Inflation and changes in raw materials each year lead many maisons to adjust the prices of their watches. In recent years these two components have been very important to the world economy: the end of the pandemic has generated high inflation in both the United States and Europe, while geopolitical tensions have led to a relative increase in the costs of both raw materials and energy. In 2023, thanks in part to the actions of the Central Banks, inflation was reduced, and as a result, list price increases were also lower than those that occurred in January last year. The average 2024 increase was 4% versus 7.8% in 2023, this is about half. Last year's increase was such an exceptional occurrence that Rolex made two increases, in November 2022 and January 2023, so that the increases would be more gradual.
Thanks to the work of the past years, we have collected the list prices of most models as of January 2022, November 2022, January 2023, and January 2024. All prices are based on the Italian catalog and are in Euros, in other countries there may be small variations due to the VAT system that country applies.
Oyster Perpetual
Oyster Perpetuals are the models that have increased the most in 2023, the highest being the 36mm version (Ref. 126000) with +11.82% over 2022. This increase is perhaps also due to the special conditions that these watches have experienced in the secondary market: resell prices have risen so fast and so high that Rolex may have increased their price list in relation to this "market" effect as well. It is no coincidence that if we look at the list price increases relative to the last two years, the 36 model was the one that Rolex increased the most. Today the price of this reference is 15.45% higher than two years ago, the highest percentage among all the watches analyzed.
This year the prices of all five configurations (28mm, 31mm, 34mm, 36mm, 41mm) have increased although much less, the 124060 now costs €6,350 +3.25% compared to €6,150 last year, while the 124300 has increased by +3.10% and now costs €6,650 compared to €6,450 in 2023.
Explorer
For the Explorer the increase was also rather moderate, still below the average of 4%. The Explorer I was adjusted +2.74% to cost €7,500 while the increase last year had been +6.57% with a cost of €7,300.
In contrast, the Explorer II registers +3.59%, while the year had grown by +7.73%, the list price in this case being €10,100 against €9,750 last year. For the first time, therefore, this model crosses the 10k list price threshold.
Day-Date
As last year, there was the same increase for the white gold and rose gold configurations, Ref. 228239 and 228235. The two maintain the same list price which comes in at €43,600 up +4.06% from last year's list price of €41,900.
The yellow gold model also undergoes an increase in line with the two mentioned above, reaching the 40k threshold for the first time with a list price of €40,300.
Submariner
The price update was roughly even across the three Submariner configurations we analyzed. The model to increase the most was the no-date (ref. 124060), coming in at €9,550, the version with date increases +3.86% coming in at €10,750, and last the green comes in at €11,300.
Daytona
For the Daytona, it should first be specified that there was a reference change that took place in April 2023 with the introduction of Ref. 126500, which replaced ref. 116500.
This collection is among those with the largest increases, in particular in the last two years Ref. 116508 has grown by +15.28%, second only to the Oyster Perpetual 126000.
The classic model with a black bezel (Ref. 126500LN) increased +6.38% to a list price of €15,850 while the Oysterflex configuration (Ref. 126519LN), after a +6.16% increase, now costs €33,600.
As for the much-discussed Daytona Le Mans, on the other hand, there are rumors of its imminent discontinuation, but no official word yet from Rolex. Anyway, this model is still available on the site and has also undergone an increase. It now stands at €53,800, +3.96% more than the initial list price which was €51,750.
GMT Master II
After the Daytona, another collection that has seen fairly high price changes is precisely that of the GMTs. Reference 126710, in both Oyster and Jubilee bracelet configurations has increased by about +11%. Similar increases, even for the 'Destro', now all variants of the steel GMT are around 11k. As for the 126715CHNR, the increase was +4.17%, from €40,800 to €42,500.
Sky-Dweller
Over the past two years, the Sky-Dweller is among the Rolexes that have increased the most, with +8% for both the Oyster and Jubilee bracelet versions. As happened with the Daytona, a reference change from 326934 to 336934 also took place for this collection. Today after an increase of about +3.8% both configurations pass the 16k mark.
Yacht-Master
Some of the lowest increases, on the other hand, are found right within the Yacht-Master collection, Ref. 126622 is up +2.02%, while the model with a rubber bracelet (Ref. 126655) grows +3.96%. The lowest figure overall is the Yacht-Master II which increases only +1.86% .
Date-Just
After the Oyster Perpetual, there are also increases for Rolex's other entry-level model, the Date-Just. The increases are fairly in line with the general average: the reference 126334, both Jubilee and Oyster increases between +3.7% and +3.8%, while the 126300, in the Oyster version, increases +4.29% to €8,500.
What To Expect for 2025
Rolex's price increases depend on two different factors: the first relates to inflation, the cost of raw materials, and the cost of energy; the second relates to marketing decisions and secondary market trends.
For these first kind of factors, which relate directly to the costs that the maison has to bear, it has been reasonable to see a series of increases in the past years, corresponding to the strong growth of all these components. Now, however, economic forecasts see a slowdown in inflation and a possible decrease in related production costs, which is why we can expect that at least for next year this component will not contribute to list price increases.
For the second type of factors, these concern components that are extrinsic to the production of the watch but that significantly influence the price that the watch may come to command. By marketing in this case we mean the positioning that the maison wants to give the watch, if Rolex has decided that it wants to assign higher and higher price ranges to its collections it will raise the price list more and more. The secondary market also determines the increase in the price list, we have proof of this for the Daytona and the Oyster Perpetual that have had increases of up to +15% in recent years also accomplice to the extraordinary performance on the second-hand market.
We leave you two tables with summarized all the price changes that have occurred in the last two years.
