Chrono24, The World’s Largest Online Watch Market, Acquires Australian Competitor WatchChoice
Fratellowatches just received this press release:
Chrono24 strengthens its number one market position in Asia, Australia and the US as the leading online marketplace for luxury watches like Rolex, IWC, Breitling and Audemars Piguet.
Karlsruhe/Melbourne, Nov. 22nd, 2010, In February 2010 Internet entrepreneurs and watch enthusiasts Dirk Schwartz and Tim Stracke acquired Chrono24, the world’s leading Internet marketplace for luxury watches. Now they have taken over Australian competitor WatchChoice to advance Chrono24’s international market leadership, especially in Asia and English speaking markets.
Chrono24.com was founded in 2003 and attracts more than 1.2 million visits per month. Over 500 professional dealers, as well as thousands of private sellers, utilize the platform to make high volume sales of a wide selection of high-end luxury watches. Potential buyers have access to more than 60,000 new and pre-owned timepieces – a 50% increase since February this year. Watch lovers can find everything from the popular Omega costing a few hundred Euros, to the exclusive Patek Philippe collectible in excess of a million Euros.
WatchChoice was established in 2007 by watch lover Glenn Palmer and gained traction especially in Asia, Australia and the US. Currently more than 30,000 luxury watches can be found on WatchChoice. Glenn Palmer is not only a successful Internet entrepreneur but also a watch collector, watch blogger and author of the book “Buy the Watch and the Seller“, which will soon be available on Chrono24 as a free download.
WatchChoice.com will be maintained as an individual platform for some time. All of its dealers will be offered to automatically co-list their watches on Chrono24. In the long term both platforms will be merged into Chrono24.
Tim Stracke: “We are happy to be able to strengthen our market position and welcome all new dealers to Chrono24. We are particularly excited to be working together with WatchChoice’s founder Glenn Palmer who will support Chrono24’s sales activities in Asia and Australia. Through our headquarters in Europe and our Chrono24 representatives in San Diego, USA and Melbourne Australia, we now cover all major luxury watch markets.”
Glenn Palmer: “Chrono24 will be a trusted partner for our users and dealers. I am very much looking forward to working together with Dirk and Tim and helping Chrono24 to grow in Australia and Asia.”
Details regarding the transaction will not be released.
