Feature

Three Brands Own the Pre-Owned Watch Market. Rolex Is Tightening Its Grip.

Michael Wolf

27 Oct 2026 — 2 min read

The pre-owned watch business keeps getting bigger. The list of brands controlling it remains remarkably short.

Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe account for roughly 61% to 62% of secondary-market sales by value, according to LuxeConsult’s Secondary Market Report 2026. Their combined share of the primary retail market is 45.5%.

That is a substantial concentration in a business LuxeConsult conservatively values at CHF22 billion, or about $26.6 billion, and estimates is growing 8% to 11% annually.

For the watch industry, the message is clear: resale is becoming a larger part of the business, but the benefits are flowing disproportionately to the brands already at the top.

Rolex’s Billion-Franc Play

Rolex’s Certified Pre-Owned program is becoming a business of considerable scale in its own right. LuxeConsult founder Oliver R. Müller projects that transactions through the program will approach CHF1 billion by the end of 2026, according to reporting by Robb Report.

The appeal is straightforward. Buyers get the reassurance of brand-backed certification in a market where authenticity and condition can make an expensive purchase feel uncertain.

Audemars Piguet has now introduced its own CPO program. Müller expects substantially lower transaction volume than Rolex’s, but sees a similar opportunity to build confidence in the brand’s resale market. He also expects more watchmakers to follow.

The commercial logic is compelling: a customer buying a secondhand watch is still a customer worth reaching.

The Correction Has Limits

Secondary prices have retreated from their 2022 peaks. That does not mean the most sought-after watches have become easy—or inexpensive—to buy.

Müller told Robb Report that buyers seeking immediate access to a Rolex Daytona can still pay premiums of 40% to 60% above retail. Demand remains concentrated around a relatively small group of models, helping explain why the leading brands command such an outsized share of resale value.

The broader market’s performance and the price of a coveted reference can tell very different stories.

A Generational Shift

Müller forecasts that secondary-market sales could surpass primary-market sales between 2034 and 2038. A major driver is the willingness of younger collectors to sell one watch to fund the next.

For those buyers, ownership is more fluid. A watch can be enjoyed, traded and replaced.

Independent watchmakers, meanwhile, command attention beyond their transaction volume. Müller estimates their secondary sales at approximately CHF1 billion—a small share of the overall business.

Pre-owned may be expanding the ways people buy and collect watches. So far, it is reinforcing the industry’s existing hierarchy.

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