Market

Rolex raised prices on its gold watches by about 5% on 1 June 2026, a rare second increase in a single year, and the trade explained it as the cost of gold. On the LBMA's own benchmark, gold reached an all-time high of $5,405 an ounce on 29 January and had fallen 17.7% by the day the new list took effect. This is the arithmetic on what the metal costs and what the increase recovers — including the two figures nobody publishes, which is why the explanation cannot be checked.

We commissioned a survival count of the microbrands that launched in the 2020 boom. It cannot be written. Kickstarter and Indiegogo have closed their project directories to inspection, Kickstarter's statistics page has become a marketing post, and no register anywhere records a watch brand quietly stopping. The absence is the story.

Secondary premiums on steel sports watches have compressed to near-zero. That isn't a pricing correction — it's a structural signal about who is actually buying watches now.