Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo pumps money into luxury watch resale marketplace Chrono24

• Cristiano Ronaldo has become an investor in Chrono24, the global luxury watch resale marketplace.
• Ronaldo has been a frequent user of the platform, and said he is "thrilled" to be a shareholder now.

The world's leading luxury watch resale platform has scored some major star power to help drive the growth of the secondary market.

International soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has become an investor in Chrono24, CEO Tim Stracke told Insider in an exclusive interview. Ronaldo is the world's highest-paid athlete, according to Forbes, and he has a personal watch collection worth an estimated $6.5 million.

"He likes the category, likes technology, and also thought this was financially a good opportunity," Stracke said.

Stracke 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.

Before Ronaldo, the most recognizable name associated with Chrono24 was Bernard Arnault, whose family fund backs Aglae Ventures, which participated in Chrono24's $118 million Series C funding round in 2021.

"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.

Ronaldo formerly played for Manchester United and now suits up for the Portuguese national team and a Saudi club, Al Nassr.

He was the first team-sport athlete to top $1 billion in active career earnings in 2020, per Forbes, and his current $46 million salary is complemented with $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.

Off the soccer pitch, Ronaldo has amassed a growing investment portfolio in fashion, wellness, travel, and tech.

The investment comes at a rocky time for the luxury watch resale market, which has seen more than a year of price declines following the tightening of interest rates and the implosion of crypto.

"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 – 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."

Pricing Ronaldo's collection however — which contains several million-dollar-plus watches, some personal collaborations with Jacob & Co, more than a few Rolexes, often set with diamonds and colorful gems — proved to be somewhat tricky.

Stracke said he tested his app's AI-powered watch-recognition feature on Ronaldo's $1.5 million Franck Muller Cintree Curvex 0001 during a meeting with Ronaldo and his girlfriend, model and influencer Georgina Rodríguez.

"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.