These days, buying a second hand Rolex watch is near impossible as younger generations are snapping them up left and right. Since the beginning of the pandemic (and a little before then), the market for vintage timepieces has boomed with price sky rocketing with such high demand. Approximately one in three buyers of watches are looking to get a pre-owned model in the next year. Big brands like Rolex, Richard Mille, and Omega are noticing the trend and supporting it by offering programs that guarantee the authenticity of the watch or even selling some pre-owned models themselves.
In areas like Hong Kong and Singapore, its even seen as a sound investment to buy second hand watches. WatchBox, a pre-owned watch retailer, set up a physical location in Hong Kong, where it took time to gain trust as an online retailer, has been able to successfully grow and expand. Thet just reached the $1 billion revenue mark since they launched WatchBox in 2018 and are expanding their sit down collectors lounge to several other markets. Chrono24 was the first to get into e commerce for pre-owned timepieces. They pioneered the industry by digitizing their platform in what used to be a very traditional and offline/in person sale. Since the recent boom of sales for pre-owned watches, Chrono24 is set to accelerate their growth and improve the user experience with a large investment. Luxury brands are embracing the change with open arms and smaller, lesser known brands are getting the attention they have been striving for all along. Everyone is benefitting from the huge demand for second hand watches.
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