An elegant late-1970s Omega Constellation, the kind once worn by George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, was in near-perfect condition when it arrived at British dealer Jon White’s premises in May. Within days its case and strap had been stripped of their 18-carat gold and tipped into a crucible. The metal was worth £5,750 – a full 35% more than the watch’s estimated auction value of £4,000 to £4,500.
The Constellation is one of dozens of high-end timepieces White, who also runs an auction house, has melted down this year. “Beautiful watch,” he told Reuters. “But in reality, had the customer consigned that to auction, what would they have achieved?”
He is not alone. A trend has taken hold across the second-hand watch market: luxury watches are being melted for their precious metal content because the value of the gold they contain now outstrips what they would fetch on the open market. The phenomenon is “primarily happening with contemporary pre-owned and also with older vintage watches that are not already collectible,” said James Lamdin, founder of Watches of Switzerland’s second-hand unit Analog Shift.
Spokespersons for Swatch and Rolex declined to comment. LVMH, Richemont, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet did not respond to requests for comment.
The economics behind the crucible
The root cause is a surge in the gold price that has outpaced the market for second-hand watches. Gold hit a record $5,600 an ounce in January, driven by geopolitical concerns and trade worries that pushed investors towards safe-haven assets. It now hovers around $4,200 per ounce – almost double its average for 2024. Yet the market price for used watches has not moved in the same way.
The gap is most acute for models from less exclusive brands. While privately owned Patek Philippe and Rolex – which keep production tightly managed and maintain famously long waiting lists – command the highest premiums over melt value, other makers struggle. “The wait lists are astronomical. You’re talking anything from two to eight years,” said Simon Lazarus, head of PR and content at online luxury watch platform Chrono Hunter, referring to the top tier.
Rolex alone accounted last year for 61% of the sales value of new Swiss watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,770), up from 57% in 2023 despite lower volumes, according to Vontobel. By contrast, brands such as TAG Heuer, Breitling and Omega find it hard to sustain high retail prices because buyers can pick up a second-hand piece for much less. The Omega Speedmaster, three experts said, often depreciates sharply once sold, exposing it to scrapping.
The problem is compounded by overproduction. “I’ve seen a lot of totally mediocre watches get melted down,” said Lamdin. “There’s a lot of unsold overstock in the Swiss market. And those watches are basically brand new, unworn, and they’re just getting stripped down … they made too many of them.”
Rising gold costs are also squeezing manufacturers. Richemont, the owner of Cartier and several watch houses, reported record turnover of €22.4 billion for its 2026 financial year, with an 11% increase at constant exchange rates. But its watch division – excluding Cartier – saw sales dip 4% to €3.1 billion and operating profit fall nearly 40%, which the group attributed to soaring raw material costs and unfavourable currency exchange rates. Swatch Group, maker of Omega, posted net sales of CHF 6,280 million in 2025, down 1.3% at constant exchange rates.
For dealers and refiners, the arithmetic is brutally simple. A watch can contain anything from a sliver of gold to more than 200 grams, putting scrap values into tens of thousands of dollars. With gold expected to trade between $5,400 and $6,300 an ounce this year, the pressure to dismantle timepieces will continue – especially as traders who resell them must cover costs and the expense of providing a warranty.
Some owners are taking the decision themselves. Retired New York engineer Mitchell Talisman sold two gold watches and a chain containing a combined 35 grams of gold with 58% purity for $2,660 cash in December. “I’d had a bunch of stuff sitting in a safety deposit box for over 10 years,” he told Reuters.
No official figures track how many luxury watches are being melted, but World Gold Council data show overall gold recycling rose 5% to 366 tonnes in the first quarter, while gold jewellery demand jumped 31% in value to $47 billion.
‘A short-sighted tragedy’
For horological historian Adrian Hailwood, the destruction of mechanical artistry is a melancholy development. “I find it very sad, because obviously once something has been melted, it’s gone forever,” he said.
Lamdin draws a finer distinction. “But when you have something that’s vintage and rare and has some story or some patina, that’s where it becomes a short-sighted tragedy.”
Even as the metal attracts investors, the emotional attachment of collectors and families can stand in the way. Some owners cannot bear the thought of their watch being destroyed for cash. “It may be a family piece, it may be their first watch,” said Hailwood. “They don’t like the idea of it being destroyed, so they keep it.”
