Story Highlight
– Secondary luxury watch market sales reached $16.7 billion in 2025.
– Primary market growth stagnated, affecting industrialised manufacturers.
– Rolex’s Certified Pre-Owned program generated $590 million in 2025.
– Rolex dominated secondary sales, totaling $5.7 billion overall.
– Secondary market increasingly influences primary market dynamics significantly.
Full Story
Sales of luxury watches on the secondary market were reported to reach $16.7 billion in 2025, representing a remarkable 36.4% increase from the previous year, as detailed in a comprehensive report released by EveryWatch.
In contrast to the secondary market’s robust growth, the primary market experienced minimal expansion last year and saw a decline for many established manufacturers. It is estimated that retail sales of new watches amounted to around $50 billion, according to a spokesperson from EveryWatch, who communicated these findings to WatchPro.
Including in-person sales, offline transactions, and deals conducted via messaging platforms like WhatsApp, the secondary market’s total sales are assumed to be close to $25 billion, indicating that it now accounts for 50% of new watch sales and continues to rise sharply.
The EveryWatch report identifies 2025 as a transformative year, signifying a fundamental change in the relationship between the primary and secondary markets, now seen as mutually dependent.
The expanding influence and sophistication of various secondary market participants—such as unofficial dealers, authorised retailers, active collectors, and auction houses—mean that no primary market business remains unaffected by these developments.
EveryWatch asserts that manufacturers and authorised retailers now face a decision: either to comprehend and leverage the emerging opportunities and threats presented by the secondary market or risk being swamped by its effects.
“By the end of 2025, the strategic question was no longer whether to engage with the secondary market, but whether to participate actively in shaping the pace and structure of its liquidity,” the report indicated.
Rolex stands out as the only manufacturer that has made significant strides in managing its secondary market sales, having introduced its Certified Pre-Owned (RCPO) programme in 2022. By 2025, this initiative had generated $590 million in sales, accounting for approximately 11% of all second-hand Rolex transactions outside authorised channels, with an impressive 204% year-on-year increase.
This programme not only enhances buyer confidence in purchasing pre-owned timepieces but also provides retailers with the benefit of selling certified inventory and securing supply through customer trade-ins. This linkage between secondary market liquidity and primary retail access resulted in a noticeable boost in both turnover and inventory movement within the Rolex network.
The chief participants in this programme, including Rolex-owned Bucherer, the Watches of Switzerland Group, and The 1916 Company, collectively achieved sales of $270 million in 2025.
EveryWatch’s analysis is particularly relevant given its focus on aggregating and interpreting data from both the primary and secondary watch markets, distributing insights to paying subscribers. Its current report, which WatchPro will examine in detail in the coming days, evaluates brand performance, collections, and individual references sold through thousands of primary retailers, including Bucherer and Watches of Switzerland, along with major secondary players and auction houses.
Rolex maintained its dominance in the secondary market, with sales valued at $5.7 billion in 2025. Following Rolex, Patek Philippe achieved total sales of $2.2 billion, Audemars Piguet reached $1.6 billion, Omega recorded $697 million, and Richard Mille garnered $672 million.
Among collections, Rolex’s DateJust series emerged as the best-selling group, generating $1.278 billion, closely trailing the Rolex Daytona models at $1.275 billion. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak collection secured third place with $949 million in sales, while Patek Philippe’s Nautilus series followed in fourth at $817 million.
Notably, Omega’s Speedmaster collection ranked 12th in the secondary market with $222 million, while Cartier’s Tank collection was positioned 21st with sales of $111 million, suggesting that despite significant secondary market discounts, the brand’s revival is predominantly observed at official retail outlets.
Drilling down into EveryWatch’s data reveals that Rolex commands the top positions in sales rankings, with the steel-bezelled Daytona reference 116520—discontinued in 2016—sitting at the top with $54 million in sales. The newer Daytona reference 116500LN would have ranked first if both black and white dial versions were combined, collectively amassing $91 million.
The GMT Master II models, Pepsi and Batman, recorded sales totalling $86 million, while leading Submariner references, Hulk and Kermit, generated $91 million. Patek Philippe is notable for having the only other brand in the top ten, with various Nautilus references achieving combined sales of $124 million. Interestingly, the reference 5711/1A-010, discontinued in 2021 and a symbol of the secondary market surge, only ranked 26th with $28 million in sales.
