In early 2022, the second-hand watch market started declining in worth, a downturn that has since continued. The WatchCharts General Market Index, which tracks the costs of 60 timepieces from manufacturers like Rolex and Patek Philippe, has fallen 37% from its March 2022 peak.
Crown & Caliber, whose enterprise relied on shopping for and reselling pre-owned watches, discovered itself underwater, having paid top-market costs for watches whose worth had declined, based on 4 folks accustomed to the enterprise.
The downturn, together with cuts to the general enterprise, led revenues on the mixed firm to say no, from round $85 million in 2022 to roughly $60 million in 2023, based on a kind of folks.
Different bills additional weighed on its stability sheet. In 2019, Hodinkee signed a 10-year lease on a brick-and-mortar outpost within the SoHo neighborhood of New York—the situation of the unique Supreme retailer, based on two folks accustomed to the technique. However greater than 5 years later, the shop has but to open.
The corporate was unprofitable in 2021, 2022 and 2023, based on Hodinkee’s founder and govt chairman Benjamin Clymer.
4 rounds of layoffs
Hodinkee responded to those and different industrial challenges with a collection of layoffs.
In 2023, it laid off employees in January, then diminished headcount by 20% in August and one other 50% in November. In March, the corporate shrunk additional: 10 to fifteen staffers have been both laid off or left, together with the chief working officer, chief product and expertise officer and the top of Hodinkee’s VIP program. Solely the August 2023 cuts have been beforehand reported.
The corporate, which had round 150 staff in September 2022, declined to supply an up to date headcount. Inner sources positioned the determine between 30 and 75 folks.
Crown & Caliber, specifically, has shrunk from 75 employees to round 20, and its whole staff of watchmakers and technicians was reduce in November, based on 4 folks accustomed to the operation. Its on-hand stock has decreased—down from roughly 3,000 watches in 2021 to round 400, based on two sources immediately accustomed to the matter. (A Hodinkee spokesperson stated this was inaccurate). And its customer-service groups in Atlanta and New York have been drastically diminished, based on these two folks.
Whereas Clymer insists that Crown & Caliber stays a core a part of Hodinkee’s future, others are much less sure.
“The truth that [Hodinkee] let go of their watchmakers is an enormous indication that Crown & Caliber won’t be lengthy for this world,” stated one supply.
Viewers belief in commerce content material
Whereas Hodinkee initially guess it may flip its readers into Crown & Caliber clients, that technique didn’t pan out.
After the merger, the Hodinkee web site started that includes extra pre-owned watches, together with ones it offered by means of Crown & Caliber. This made audiences suspicious that Hodinkee was selling Crown & Caliber stock reasonably than recommending one of the best merchandise in the marketplace, based on six folks accustomed to the state of affairs.
