“He likes the category, likes technology and also thought this was financially a good opportunity,” Stracke explained.

He declined to disclose the amount of the stake, citing an agreement with Ronaldo, but he said it was “significant” for the billion-dollar company, as well as for the athlete-turned-investor.

“The money was not the reason for us to bring him on board,” Stracke added, explaining that Ronaldo’s well-documented love for watches and his tremendous global following put him at the top of his list of potential celebrity investors.

“As a long-term watch collector and regular user of Chrono24, it’s a pleasure for me to become a shareholder in the company now,” Ronaldo said in a statement.

Celebrity investor

According to Forbes, he was the first team-sport athlete to top US$1 billion in active career earnings in 2020, and his current US$46 million salary is complemented by US$90 million in endorsements from brand partnerships with Nike, Binance, Herbalife and more. In 2019, he showed up at a conference in Dubai wearing the most expensive Rolex ever made, according to Business Insider.

“Yes, there is some volatility right now,” Stracke said, “There was explosive growth in ‘22, and then there was a correction, and I think both in the end weren’t super healthy for the market.”

In spite of the recent roller-coaster ride of falling prices and sales volumes – which did lead Chrono24 to cut staff and consolidate locations earlier this year, Bloomberg reported – Stracke said he and Ronaldo share the view that the watch market is still a good long-term investment opportunity.

“It’s not so hard to predict the future because it is on file: how much money was spent on watches in the last 10, 20, 30, 40 years; and the average holding period is also calculable,” Stracke said. “So it’s maybe not super easy, but very doable in Excel to predict the future market volume.”

In addition to hosting listings and serving as an intermediary for sales, Chrono24 also includes a price tracker that allows owners to see the value of their collection rise (or fall) with the resale market.

“This was a lot of fun for a few years – the last few months, it was a little less so,” Stracke said. “Still a better outcome than investing in tech stocks.”

However, Stracke joked that pricing some of Ronaldo’s collection – which contains several rare timepieces, some personal collaborations with Jacob & Co. and more than a few Rolexes, often set with diamonds and colourful gems – proved somewhat tricky on Chrono24.

“To be very honest, his watch is so unique, it didn’t work that well,” Stracke said.

The app had an easier time with Rodríguez’s Rolex.