Story Highlight
– Bezel partners with Kalshi for luxury watch prediction markets.
– Watch Futures launched on February 24, 2023.
– Users can trade predictions on iconic watch value changes.
– Beztimate provides data for accurate price benchmarks.
– New market opens opportunities for smaller investments in watches.
Full Story
Bezel, a luxury watch marketplace, has teamed up with Kalshi, a regulated prediction market platform, to introduce Watch Futures, the first market dedicated to forecasting the prices of luxury timepieces. This innovative platform became available to users on February 24 and utilises Bezel’s unique valuation system known as Beztimate.
This new initiative allows participants to speculate on price movements of high-end watches from renowned brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe. The pricing reflects the same reliable data that informs Bezel’s marketplace valuations, incorporating verified sales figures, current bids, and market offers.
Beztimate was initially crafted as an internal tool for pricing, employing various valuation models to assess real-time market insights. It generates a consensus benchmark price for each watch, aiming to eliminate the inconsistencies found in resale data and speculation.
By incorporating Beztimate into Kalshi’s platform, Bezel and Kalshi seek to enhance price discovery within the secondary watch market. Traditionally, collectors and dealers have faced challenges due to scattered information and reliance on insider insights for accurate value assessments.
Moreover, Watch Futures is set to democratise access to the luxury watch sector, enabling participants to engage in market speculation with smaller investments instead of purchasing expensive watches outright.
Quaid Walker, co-founder and CEO of Bezel, remarked to WatchPro: “We built Beztimate, our proprietary valuation engine, to bring more transparency to market pricing and further our commitment to develop technology that empowers collectors, whether they’re buying their first watch or treating them like financial assets. After leveraging Beztimate internally, we’re excited to work with Kalshi to power prediction markets tailored to the watch market and to lower the barrier to entry for watch enthusiasts, offering them exposure to the market without spending thousands of dollars.”
He added, “It’s early days, but we think the financialization of watches is just getting started and will continue to grow the hobby. We’re excited to get the watch community’s reaction to the partnership and we’re focused on making sure collectors continue to have access to the best possible market data.”
