Story Highlight
– 34% of watches failed authentication checks at Bezel.
– Rolex accounted for over half of rejected watches.
– Rejection rate rose significantly from 2023 to 2025.
– Counterfeits and undisclosed issues common among rejected items.
– Market focus shifting towards quality and verification processes.
Full Story
Significant challenges have emerged in the pre-owned luxury watch market, as a recent report from Bezel, a prominent California-based resale platform, indicates that over one-third of submitted timepieces failed verification or authentication checks in the previous year.
According to Bezel’s findings, 34% of watches offered for sale were rejected, marking a notable rise from a 23% rejection rate in 2023 and a slight dip to 27% in the first half of 2025 before climbing steeply to 38% in the latter half of the year. The company attributed this increase to surging demand, which pushed sellers to be more aggressive in their listing practices.
“Supply tightened, pricing pressure intensified, and inventory began moving more aggressively in the wake of tariff-related disruptions earlier in the year,” the report clarified, highlighting how these factors have unearthed various weaknesses within the market. It further explained, “Periods like this tend to expose weak points in the market, where inconsistencies in stated condition, undisclosed modifications, and departures from period correctness become more common.”
Rolex watches were particularly impacted, comprising 51% of the rejected pieces by volume and 58% by value, a figure that exceeds their overall market share of 32% in Bezel’s transactions.
In its stringent authentication process, Bezel aims to eliminate counterfeit items and those misrepresented. Rolex, in turn, is taking steps to ensure greater integrity in the pre-owned sector. During a recent conference, CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour expressed the need for parity between new and used watches sold through authorised dealers, asserting, “We noticed that in some points of sale that the number-one brand was Rolex, but the number-two ‘brand’ was Rolex second-hand.”
Highlighting the rationale behind the launch of the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programme, Dufour noted that without guarantees regarding the quality of second-hand watches, customer trust could be jeopardised. “That’s why we created RCPO. It means that when customers are speaking to a customer about buying a watch, they can say they do not need to be concerned, we will always take care of you. It’s a long-term commitment and a powerful way to build trust.”
Bezel’s report detailed various issues discovered during the verification checks, including the presence of counterfeit watches, incorrect components, undisclosed modifications, and questionable documentation.
The platform also provided insights into the broader secondary market. Rolex remains a dominant force, representing 32% of transactions by volume, followed by brands such as Omega and Tudor. A sizeable portion of sales—39%—pertain to timepieces produced in the 2020s, with only 9% for gold watches. Steel models dominated, accounting for 72% of all transactions.
In terms of size, watches measuring 40mm and 41mm were favoured by buyers, while a growing interest in colourful dials emerged, although traditional colours like black, blue, silver, and white still accounted for the majority of sales.
As Bezel summarised the year, the findings illustrated a market transitioning from hype-driven dynamics to one prioritising quality and skeptical engagement. It highlighted that while demand persisted, buyers displayed increasing discernment, shifting from passive buying towards a more proactive approach that necessitated robust verification and management.
The market landscape is evolving, leaning towards a focus on discipline and clarity in the face of pressure, where values like scarcity, serviceability, and historical context are becoming the new cornerstones of decision-making in luxury watch acquisition.
