Rolex’s New Sports Watch Just Became an Even Bigger Competitor to the Royal Oak

Earlier this year at Watches and Wonders Geneva, Rolex debuted its most significant watch in a generation.

With an integrated bracelet design inspired by 1970s sports watches and a revolutionary new escapement called Dynapulse, the Land-Dweller finally gave Rolex a worthy competitor to integrated luxury sports watches like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus.

A Steal in Steel

Compared to those aforementioned watches, the Land-Dweller is a bargain. For the 40mm model in stainless steel, the version most buyers will likely gravitate toward, the Land-Dweller retails for $15,350.

Rolex

Rolex Land-Dweller

Specs

Case Size	36mm, 40mm
Movement	Rolex Cal. 7135 automatic
Water Resistance	100m

• $14,900 at Rolex

While not exactly a watch I would categorize as “affordable,” it looks like a steal when pitted against the popular “Jumbo” Royal Oak in steel, which retails for $37,900. The Nautilus doesn’t even exist as a three-hander in stainless steel anymore (at least not a men’s version), leaving you with the 45mm Cubitus as an option at an eye-popping $43,263.

A Hype-Driven Market

The secondary watch market has calmed down from its post-pandemic highs, but it’s still white-hot for these types of hyped luxury sports watches. As such, the true market value for the Royal Oak and Cubitus is well into the six figures on the used and gray markets.

Rolex practically invented inflated secondary watch market pricing, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Land-Dweller — the brand’s most hyped new model in years — is actually worth more than its MSRP.

The question is, how much more.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Well, we finally have an answer, as the first publicly available Land-Dweller was recently auctioned off on eBay Live. And its sale price puts the watch firmly in the lofty territory of its prestigious competitors.

The Land-Dweller’s True Cost

First spied by WatchPro, the first Rolex Land-Dweller sold on eBay Live was an unworn 40mm steel model with box and papers and listed by Tanner and Company with a starting bid of $15,000 — a few hundred bucks below SRP. But, as expected, the watch’s price didn’t stay low for long.

When the dust settled as the auction came to a close, the Land-Dweller had sold for a staggering $51,250. That’s more than three times the SRP of the watch and just $2,000 shy of the combined retail prices of a Land-Dweller and Royal Oak “Jumbo.” Insanity.

Tanner and Company on eBay

So, where does the market go from here? There are essentially two schools of thought. Either this first sale was inflated and the buyer overpaid, meaning the price will drop as more Land-Dwellers hit the market. Or the crazy sale price will increase collectors’ desire for the watch, inflating the value even more for future sales.

Given the recent history of Rolex and integrated luxury sports watches in general, I’m betting on the latter scenario as being more likely.

Related Topics