Luxury Watch Brands Enter the Secondary Market With CPO Programs
Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Jaeger-LeCoultre launch programs to tap into the growing demand for pre-owned watches, while Patek Philippe stays focused on new watches
Rolex has launched a novelty that could drastically change the watch market. The maison is entering the second-hand market with the Certified Pre-Owned program. Through this initiative, watches that are more than three years old can obtain a certificate of originality that will be valid for 2 years. This also gives authorized dealers the opportunity to be able to sell used watches with a certificate stating that the model has been serviced and is original in every part. The CPO program is currently available at Bucherer boutiques in six countries (Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Denmark, and the United Kingdom) from the beginning of December 2022 and after nearly five months the program is ready to be offered to customers in the United States; starting in May, selected Tourneau Bucherer locations will begin offering certified pre-owned watches for sale, followed by Watches of Switzerland and other retailers. Rolex thus enters the secondary market by attacking so-called "flippers". From today it will be possible to sell one's second-hand Rolex at official Rolex dealers, and buyers will have the same guarantees as buying a new Rolex.
An important factor concerns the pricing system of the new CPO program launched a few months ago. Rolex HQ will in fact have no involvement in the watch pricing process, thus leaving official Rolex dealers to freely determine prices. This will result in price asymmetry between different countries and authorized retailers, with values likely to vary from one boutique to another.
After Rolex, another leader in the watch industry has decided to enter the secondary market directly. According to information released by Miss Tweed, an European publication covering the luxury sector, Audemars Piguet CEO François-Henry Bennahmias announced this initiative at a conference held in Paris and it appears that planning for the program is already fully underway. According to Miss Tweed, Bennahmias said that the CPO activity will be larger than that concerning the market of new watches. The program, similarly to the Rolex service, will offer a guarantee of authenticity for its vintage and used timepieces in order to increase the security and control of secondary market sales. The testing phase of the project is scheduled for the end of 2023.
In honour of their 190th anniversary, also Jaeger-LeCoultre has announced a new program "The Collectibles" where the brand themselves will curate vintage references for consumer purchase. With Jaeger-LeCoultre's most iconic timepieces being increasingly sought-after by collectors, JLC has decided to enter the vintage market with this new initiative. This new programme presents a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of the Manufacture's history and it aims to offer a continually evolving selection of their most venerated references for sale through JLC's own website. Each timepiece offered within the ongoing capsule collections has the high-value added benefit of being vetted by the manufacture's historical experts, and fully serviced and restored by the specialised watchmakers within their restoration workshop. Kicking off "The Collectibles" program, twelve historical pieces were online for sale (with public prices), including a Geophysic, a Memovox Parking and a Master Mariner Deep Sea among others.
In a recent Robbreport interview, the president of Patek Philippe also explained his position on the possible launch of a CPO program, revealing that this initiative is not currently in Patek's interest. When asked specifically, he replied: “No, not really because we are already doing it in one sense, as I can fix all the watches I have made since 1839. I’m not willing to go into this business: My business is to produce watches. The retailers, they like that for sure. But it’s not that easy. But now believe me, not all of them are willing to do it because they realize it’s not so profitable. You need to have a very good organization to do it. Then your business is different, like WatchBox, they’re doing it, and they have over a hundred people working for that. So that’s what I say to retailers. “You want to do it, but how are you going to fix those watches? And what about price? Do you feel comfortable to have the new watch at $50,000 and the same watch but pre-owned at $200,000? It’s not easy to deal with it. So for Patek Philippe, no, it’s not what I will do. I focus only on new watches.”
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