The Speedmaster Was The Best-Selling Mechanical Chronograph On Chrono24 In 2023

A few days ago, Chrono24 published a short overview of the best-selling watches on the platform in 2023. The three brands that sold best were Rolex, Omega, and Seiko. Quite surprisingly, Swatch ranks number four on the list. But Chrono24 also did a drill-down per model, and then it turned into a slightly different order.

Chrono24 sales

Chrono24 has approximately 100,000,000 page views per month, and it sold €2,000,000,000 worth of watches (figures based on 2020), so it’s by no means a small player. Today, there are over 550,000 watches for sale on the website, so it made me wonder if there’s a link between the supply and the demand (or sales). If there are a lot of Rolex Datejusts on offer, it might indeed also be the best-selling model, right? But let me start by sharing the best-selling watch models on Chrono24 with you.

The top three

The best-selling watch on Chrono24 is the Rolex Datejust. The number of Rolex Datejust watches on offer is enormous, with over 35,000 listings today. The Datejust has been around since 1945, and there are many references out there, so it might even be the best-selling luxury watch ever. However, number two is Omega’s Seamaster 300M. This model “only” goes back to 1993, and although there are quite a few variations, there are only 4,000 of them on offer on Chrono24. Number three is rather interesting, as it is the Omega × Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch. Even in 2023, the demand was high, and it ranked third on the list of best-selling watch models. Currently, there are “only” 1,568 examples offered on Chrono24. Number four is the Omega Speedmaster, the first mechanical chronograph in the list.

Best-selling mechanical chronograph — the Omega Speedmaster

On the one hand, it’s not that surprising (but hey, who am I to doubt the success of the Speedmaster?). On the other hand, I would have guessed that the Daytona would’ve ranked higher. It gets the most appreciation — and perhaps recognition — by a larger audience than just the watch community. But the numbers don’t lie; the Omega Speedmaster was the best-selling mechanical chronograph on Chrono24 in 2023. The Speedmaster has been here since 1957 and has many variations, and currently, there are just under 10,000 of them available on Chrono24. They range from around €1,160 / US$1,250 for a Speedmaster Date 3513.50 model (offered from Japan) up to €175,000 / US$193,000 for a skeletonized platinum Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch (3096.30).

The other chronographs

So, what about the Daytona? The number of Rolex Daytonas on offer is just over 10,000 (more than the number of Submariners), but the starting price is around €12,000 / US$14,000. But the Breitling Navitimer is also an iconic chronograph (3,500 on offer), and how about the (TAG) Heuer Carrera Chronograph (1,000 listings) or the Zenith El Primero (1,700 on offer)? To end up on the Chrono24 marketplace, watches already have been sold once, of course, so it shows how many Speedmasters and Daytonas have been sold over the years compared to Navitimers and Carreras, which have been around for roughly the same time. By the way, Chrono24 did not disclose the positions of the sold Rolex Daytona models or any of the other mentioned chronographs.

MoonSwatch online

We don’t have enough data to do a deeper analysis on this topic, but it would be interesting to see some historical data on this as well. Did the Speedmaster rank similarly to the Navitimer and Carrera in the earlier days, or was it always the more popular model? It would also be interesting to know (or confirm) whether the Speedmaster tops the Daytona because of its more accessible price point.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this data is that the MoonSwatch ranks third among the best-selling watches on Chrono24 in 2023. On the other hand, for those who wanted to have one but had no Swatch boutique close to them, buying them online via a platform like Chrono24 was the easiest way to obtain one. With prices meanwhile close to retail, it’s cheaper to order it via Chrono24 than to travel to a boutique (with the chance of discovering they don’t have the model you want in stock).

In any case, the Omega Speedmaster topped all the other mechanical chronographs on Chrono24 in 2023. The list is compiled based on transaction data of watch models, not by performed searches.