When the Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Ref. 5711-1A-018 timepiece was introduced in early December of 2021, it was hyped beyond belief, yet limited to just 170 pieces. Those watches were privately distributed by Tiffany & Co, presumably to its top clients. The watch, billed as the last of the blue-dialed steel 5711 series, essentially never hit the market.
It’s an extreme example of a burgeoning trend toward unattainability in the luxury watch industry. Luxury brands are now dropping new collections of their most popular models in limited editions and allocating them to authorized dealers who then distribute them to top clients, rather than to their showcases or to waitlists that can take decades to clear.
In the current scenario, the pre-owned watch market has galloped onto the field as a knight in shining armor, fighting to give new hope to watch collectors.
Over the past five years, online luxury watch resale platforms have evolved from bulletin board-style marketplaces operated by largely anonymous sellers to those organized by professional dealers who own, authenticate, restore, and service their inventory. And the scale of that inventory has exploded: According to a recent study by luxury market analyst McKinsey & Co, the pre-owned watch market was worth $18 billion in 2019, and will be worth nearly double that, $32 billion, by 2025. The overall luxury watch market is projected to grow to $59 billion by 2025, and pre-owned sales are projected to constitute more than half of all sales.
The pre-owned watch boom is driven mainly by limited inventory at the primary level. Luxury brands thrive on strict control of their production and distribution, which makes some models forever beyond the reach of most people.
“For some watches, there are 50-plus-year waiting lists,” says watch dealer Eric Wind of windvintage.com. “The only way someone is going to get that watch at retail is to have a significant buying history with the retailer, possibly by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on jewelry with them.”
Even getting on a list can be a challenge, and sometimes there is no list at all; the watches are simply pre-allotted. “These lists don’t really go in numbered order,” says Anthony Barzilay Freund, editorial director of online luxury dealer 1stdibs.com. “As with handbags, when a few pieces come in, they go to the dealers’ most loyal or high-profile customers.” The supply of pre-owned watches, in contrast, is practically unlimited, says Freund. “With pieces on the secondary market, anyone can buy them, anytime,” says Freund.
A luxury watch has long been considered a lifetime possession, with a level of craftsmanship and engineering that means it can be passed on to the next generation. But that doesn’t mean it has to be worn on the same wrist for a lifetime. A decade ago, if a luxury watch showed up on the secondary market at all, it was well past its prime and likely in need of repair, depending on how well preserved or well serviced it was. Today, collectors are more eager to sell what they’re not wearing. As aficionados broaden their collections, buying and selling more frequently, the number of great watches available on the pre-owned market has exploded. Far from being worn out, many are like new.
“While authorized dealers only carry the current collections from their brands, going pre-owned means you have a much wider selection to explore, from vintage models and discontinued styles to limited and special editions,” says Eugene Tutunikov, CEO of SwissWatchExpo.com. “Most traditional retailers only carry the current production of a few brands, but at SwissWatchExpo, we typically carry a selection from over 20 brands, aged anywhere from current production to 40 years old. The top brands our customers are currently buying are Rolex, Cartier, Omega, Breitling, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet.” He says there are up to 3,000 watches in SWE’s inventory at any given time.
WatchBox, another major seller of pre-owned luxury watches, has clocked sales of over $1 billion since launching five years ago, and carries a current inventory valued at over $160 million. “The pre-owned market is in constant motion, which translates into access to an ever-expanding inventory,” says CEO Justin Reis. “From in-demand watches that are not readily available on the primary market to past limited editions and rare and discontinued collections, the pre-owned market offers a much broader selection than what is presented in traditional showcases today.”
It is worth getting to know a pre-owned dealer. They are as likely to buy from you as to sell from you, and because they have relationships with collectors around the world, if they don’t already have what you’re looking for, they can likely get it because they know where it is. Their inventory is not limited to one store in one corner of the world, and you can access it no matter where you live.
Eric Wind says he often sells watches in a single text message to a good client, or very quickly after posting something on Instagram. “That is the world we live in now,” he says. “There are many good collectors chasing vintage watches that remain in mint, original condition.” And those watches are often priced to sell. “Some have a massive drop in value, up to 80%, the moment they leave the store, so it is worthwhile buying them secondhand,” says Wind.
There are two sides to that coin, however. Paul Boutros, head of Americas for watches at auction house Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo., concurs that “the vast majority of pre-owned watches are typically available at a significant discount compared to retail prices,” but when it comes to limited-production, high-demand models, the opposite is often true. “For the most sought-after models, the price on the secondary market could be four to six times the retail price,” he says. “And for many, it’s the only way to obtain certain models.” An extreme example is the aforementioned Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue 5711. It retailed for $52,635 at launch, but one of the 170 pieces was set aside and sold at a Phillips auction for charity, where it hammered for $6.5 million. No word yet on what the other 169 models are selling for on the secondary market, but regular 5711 models, which retailed for $35,000, are going for six figures.
“Having to pay a premium on the secondary market to secure a hype watch like any Rolex sport model such as a Daytona, a Patek Philippe Nautilus or Aquanaut, or an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is just reality for most buyers,” says Wind.
Still, there are many more bargains than premium-priced grail watches. “A big attraction to the pre-owned market is the thrill of the hunt for a great deal,” says Freund of 1stDibs. “We often see watches that sell for well under market price. They often look as good as new and can be in perfect working order, but cost less than at retail. It’s a great place to start for a new collector. Watch fans can find some real gems—limited editions or pieces with an interesting story.”
Most watches on the pre-owned market now come with warranties that equal or surpass manufacturer’s warranties, and to top it off, Freund points out an advantage that particularly resonates with younger audiences: It’s good for the environment. “Buying something that already exists in the world instead of buying something new and giving a home to a piece that someone else no longer has a need for is a great way to shop sustainably,” he says.
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