WATCH ANALYTICS WEDNESDAYS: Omega Speedmaster limited editions values are soaring to the moon
Zach BlassEditor’s Note: We recently partnered with @watchanalytics to crunch the numbers and dig into the horological market trends and value fluctuations for the references that matter. Last time, we delved into a Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph that is trading for nearly twice its retail value. Today we are going to dive into the secondary market performance of a group of Omega Speedmaster limited editions.
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Omega definitely does not, er, limit the amount of limited-edition watches they design. There are a plethora of limited editions to explore, particularly in the Speedmaster collection with faithful tributes, anniversary releases, commemorative Olympics editions, and yearly Speedy Tuesday drops. Recently @watchanalytics crunched the numbers of five particular limited editions, each with one thing in common: they were all gaining in value.
The market analysis
According to their analysis, the average annual growth rate across each of the five references is 23.6% – with last year having a strong performance of average growth of 24.2% between each of the limited editions. For those who purchased any of the five watches at retail, this means that each model has effectively doubled in value since they acquired it. Of the five, based on the growth lines, the Alaska Project and Tin Tin limited editions have taken off the most proportionally to their original retail values. The Japan, Speedy Tuesday Alaska III, and Ultraman, on the other hand, have increased more slowly and steadily.
The chart, just above its x axis, does detail via small bar graphs the champions of each year. Before it levelled out a bit more, the Ultraman won 2018-2019 – doubling in value out of the gate. By a small margin the Tin Tin won the 2019-2020 period, just beating out the Alaska Project. But by 2021, across 2020-2021, the Tin Tin was the winner by a more decisive margin. The Alaska Project, however, has undoubtedly lead the pack over the last year.
The Takeaways
At face value, why these watches have ultimately gained in value is not rocket science. Limited editions ,by nature, tend to hold value the best as they make it easier for demand to exceed supply. What is curious, though, is why the Alaska Project and Tin Tin have led the pack by so much. Each of the five limited editions have quantities that all hover near or around 2,000 pieces, so none of the pieces are particularly more rare than the others by a significant margin. So, perhaps this is a quantifiable depiction of which of the backstories consumers connect with the most or simply reveals the aesthetic tastes of the marketplace. But overall I think it is safe to assume that if you like a limited-edition Speedy, and are concerned with value retention, chances are it will hold its value – and even has the potential to gain over time.