You host a feed; Chrono24 pulls it. Their documented options are a private XML or JSON feed at a URL you control, reading your own public API, or crawling your webshop. Import runs roughly once a day, setup takes two to three weeks depending on their IT workload, and you arrange it through partner@support.chrono24.com. CSV is not a supported format.

The thing to plan around: it is one-way. Chrono24's own documentation states there is no continuous two-way synchronisation, and nothing published describes retrieving orders or sales back out of the platform.

The three routes in

From Chrono24's Listing Import Guide:

Route What it is Reliability
Private feed An XML or JSON file at a URL you host, protected by password or IP whitelisting Best. Chrono24 say "ideally" XML or JSON, and provide a sample XML file
Public feed or API They read your own REST API or public feed Workable. Requires data mapping on their side
Web crawling They scrape your webshop Worst. Chrono24 state the error rate for data mapping is "much higher" than for private feeds, and the data must be in a clearly structured format such as a table, not body text

If you have a system that can serve a file, serve a file. Crawling is the fallback for dealers whose website is the only structured record they have, and it produces the mapping errors you would expect.

IP whitelisting

If you protect the feed by IP - and you should - whitelist:

  • 188.34.190.188
  • 65.108.48.77

These were published following a server migration, with a whitelisting deadline of 15 January 2025. Confirm they are still current with your Chrono24 contact before you lock anything down; a feed that silently 403s looks exactly like a feed with no stock in it.

What the feed has to contain

Chrono24 list the basic information needed for a listing to be properly visible:

  • Reference number
  • Model name
  • Manufacturer
  • Production year
  • Scope of delivery (box and papers status)
  • Case material
  • Bracelet or strap material
  • Dial colour
  • Winding mechanism
  • Condition
  • Description
  • Handling time
  • Photos

Photos. Every listing must have at least one. Chrono24 recommend at least eight informative photographs, at 1600 × 1200 pixels or better to enable zoom. Accepted formats are .jpg, .jpeg, .png and .webp. Using catalogue or stock images for pre-owned watches is strictly prohibited, and watermarks, logos and contact information are not allowed.

Descriptions. Between 750 and 1,700 characters including spaces, in a single language, ideally English. No contact details, no promotional content, no payment information, no all-caps.

Titles. Chrono24 prohibit country codes, production year, partial reference numbers, phrases like "best price", and capital letters in listing titles.

Those constraints are worth encoding in whatever generates your feed, because a description that fails validation is a listing that does not appear, and you will not necessarily be told which one.

The overwrite rule

This one causes the most confusion in practice: manual changes made in the Market Portal are automatically overwritten by each new import.

So your own system has to be the source of truth. If a member of staff corrects a price on Chrono24 directly, it reverts at the next pull. Either fix it in your system or accept it will not stick. There is no merge.

The same logic applies to sold items. Because the import overwrites, the reliable way to remove a sold watch is to take it out of the feed and let the next pull clear it - which means a delay of up to a day between the sale and the listing disappearing. On a fast-moving reference, that is a window in which you will get enquiries for a watch you no longer own. It is worth having an answer ready.

Error handling

Chrono24 raise warnings when the recognition rate for listing details drops by more than 10%, or when 100 or more listings are significantly affected. Their documentation notes that warnings do not affect active listings.

Read that carefully: the warning threshold is high, and a warning does not take anything down. A schema change on your side that quietly breaks the year field on 40 listings will not necessarily trigger anything. Monitor your own feed's validity rather than relying on theirs.

What you cannot do

Publicly documented Chrono24 integration is inbound only.

  • No order or sales retrieval. There is no published endpoint, export or webhook for sales. Chrono24's material describes two-way synchronisation as something they are exploring.
  • No real-time updates. Once a day.
  • No push. They pull from you on their schedule.

The consequence for a dealer with more than one sales channel: a Chrono24 sale is reported to you by Chrono24's own notification, and it is on you to reflect that in your system and delist everywhere else. Manually. That gap is where double-sold stock comes from, and it is worth building a fixed 30-second routine around rather than trusting memory on a busy day.

One honest caveat: the Market Portal sits behind a dealer login we cannot see. The correct statement is that no order retrieval is publicly documented - not that none exists. Ask your account manager directly, and ask in writing.

Getting set up

  1. Email partner@support.chrono24.com, or speak to your account manager if you have one. Their published number is +49 721 509 56 105.
  2. Ask for the sample XML file and the current field specification.
  3. Build the feed. Serve it over HTTPS at a stable URL, protected by IP whitelist or basic auth.
  4. Whitelist their IPs.
  5. Allow two to three weeks for their side. This is a scheduled engineering exercise on their end, not a self-service switch.
  6. Validate against a small subset before pointing them at your full catalogue.

Before you turn it on

Two housekeeping items that are cheaper to fix before your stock is public than after:

Check the serials. Everything in the feed is about to be indexed and visible. Run the pieces through a stolen-watch check first if you have not already.

Check the VAT flags. Margin scheme and standard-rated pieces need different invoicing at the point of sale, and a listing that does not distinguish them leads to the wrong invoice being raised under time pressure. See the margin scheme for second-hand watches.

Sources

This is general information, not a technical specification. Chrono24 change their field requirements and infrastructure without public announcement, and the authoritative spec is the one they send you. Confirm every detail here with your Chrono24 contact before building against it.

WatchCRM serves a Chrono24-shaped XML feed from your live stock, so the listing goes down when the piece sells rather than when someone remembers. Logging a Chrono24 sale takes one screen and delists the watch everywhere else at the same time.