What Rolex attaches to a second-hand watch
On 1 December 2022 Rolex tells its retailers and the watch trade that it will certify second-hand Rolex watches. The announcement carries a Geneva dateline, and the four trade reports published that day carry no quotation from a named Rolex executive.1 Rolex had not previously operated in the resale of its own watches.
Rolex's published description of the process is that a watch entering the programme "must return to the brand's workshops, where its original configuration is rigorously verified", and that it "is fully disassembled, allowing each component, from the case and bracelet to the movement, to be meticulously checked and authenticated".2 Trade reporting from 2024 onward describes a more distributed arrangement, in which authorised dealers with in-house watchmakers carry out certification themselves, and WatchPro reports that from 2025 those watchmakers take on more of the workload before Rolex signs the work off and issues the guarantee.1,3
What the watch comes back with is fixed. A Rolex Certified Pre-Owned seal, a guarantee card bearing the words Certified Pre-Owned, and a new two-year international guarantee running from the date of sale. Only retailers displaying a Rolex Certified Pre-Owned plaque may sell it.2 At launch a watch has to be at least three years old; from 2025 the threshold is two.1
Rolex does not make the original papers a condition of entry. The new guarantee card is itself "an official certificate of authentication", and the certified watch is delivered with pouch, seal, card, service booklet and official papers.2
Rolex also states an exception. It says that certified watches "perform like new" and that "exceptions are made for some of the oldest models regarding their degree of waterproofness and original precision". It also frames the programme as an environmental one: providing the same care to pre-owned watches, it says, "reflects our willing commitment to sustainability".2
Source: Rolex Youtube
The second-hand market in 2022
Seven weeks before the announcement, Deloitte puts the second-hand watch market at around 20 billion Swiss francs and forecasts 35 billion by 2030, which would be more than half the new-watch market. In the same study, 48 per cent of millennial watch enthusiasts surveyed and 37 per cent of those in Generation Z say they are likely to buy a pre-owned watch within a year, against 12 per cent of baby boomers.4
Rolex states its aim as bringing "added value to the existing supply of Rolex watches on the pre-owned market", and argues that "when they change owners, the authenticity of these watches must be officially confirmed at the time of their resale".2 Almost three years later, at Dubai Watch Week in November 2025, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, says the programme came out of what the company observed in the United States: "We noticed that at some point of sales, the number one brand is Rolex and the number two brand is Rolex secondhand."5
What a seal is worth
Rolex publishes nothing about price, and retailers rather than Rolex set it.3 In January 2024, analysis by Morgan Stanley with WatchCharts covering more than 3,600 watches found certified stock priced between 17 and 39 per cent above open-market equivalents depending on the retailer, and a reading published that November put the market-wide average premium at 33 per cent, against 1.8 per cent for certified pre-owned cars. The listings examined were about 1 per cent of the total value of Rolex inventory on the secondary market, and the certified market remained relatively independent of the rest of it.3 United States premiums reported for 2025 run lower, from 7.3 to 28 per cent by retailer.6
Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts estimate certified sales at 319 million dollars in 2024 and around 530 million in 2025, and a second estimate for 2025 is higher; by spring 2026 the programme is carried in roughly 271 doors across 154 retailers.6
The retailer it buys
The programme launches in Bucherer points of sale, opens to other official retailers during 2023, and reaches the United States in early May 2023.1 On 24 August 2023 Rolex announces that it will acquire Bucherer outright, and gives two reasons: Jörg Bucherer has no direct descendants and has chosen to sell, and Rolex wishes to preserve a partnership dating to 1924. The retailer "will keep its name and continue to operate independently".7 The European Commission clears the transaction unconditionally on 10 July 2024.7
Before the acquisition Rolex owns one store, in Geneva.8 Its published position is that its watches, new or second-hand, "should only be bought from Official Rolex Retailers", because "only the official Rolex network can provide these guarantees".2 Dufour, in the same remarks, calls Bucherer "a small part of our distribution network" and adds: "We don't have any intention to grow further than that."5
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Contemporaneous trade reporting of the announcement, National Jeweler, "Rolex to certify pre-owned watches", Monochrome, "Rolex announces the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned programme", aBlogtoWatch, "Rolex launches the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned watch program", and Time and Watches, "The new Rolex Certified Pre-Owned programme", all published 1 December 2022, together with National Jeweler, "Rolex begins U.S. rollout of Certified Pre-Owned program", 10 May 2023, and WatchPro, "Everything you need to know about Rolex CPO", 30 October 2025, for the date and the Geneva dateline of the announcement, for the absence of any quotation attributed to a named Rolex executive in the four reports of 1 December 2022, for the original three-year minimum age and its reduction to two years during 2025, for WatchPro's account of a 2025 recalibration in which accredited watchmakers at authorised dealers take on more of the workload before Rolex signs it off, for the launch through Bucherer, the opening to other official retailers during 2023 and the United States rollout in early May 2023. Rolex's own live text gives only the year 2022. https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/11498-rolex-to-certify-pre-owned-watches, https://monochrome-watches.com/industry-news-rolex-announces-the-rolex-certified-pre-owned-programme/, https://www.ablogtowatch.com/rolex-launches-the-rolex-certified-pre-owned-watch-program/, https://www.timeandwatches.com/2022/12/the-new-rolex-certified-pre-owned.html, https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/11934-rolex-begins-u-s-rollout-of-certified-pre-owned-program and https://www.watchpro.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-rolex-cpo/
2. Rolex, "Rolex Certified Pre-Owned programme", dateline Geneva, May 2025, and the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned pages on rolex.com, all retrieved 19 September 2026, for Rolex's published description of watches returning to the brand's workshops and being fully disassembled, for the seal, the guarantee card bearing the words Certified Pre-Owned and its function as an official certificate of authentication, for the new two-year international guarantee running from the date of sale, for the retailer plaque, for the delivery of pouch, seal, card, service booklet and official papers, for the statement that certified watches perform like new and the exception made for some of the oldest models, for the sustainability framing, for the stated aim of bringing added value to the existing supply and confirming authenticity at resale, for the position that Rolex watches should only be bought from Official Rolex Retailers, and for the absence of any stated requirement that the original papers accompany the watch across these three pages as retrieved on 19 September 2026. https://newsroom.rolex.com/about-rolex/rolex-certified-pre-owned-programme, https://www.rolex.com/buying-a-rolex/rolex-certified-pre-owned.html and https://www.rolex.com/buying-a-rolex/rolex-certified-pre-owned/certification-process.html
3. WatchPro, "Rolex pre-owned partners continue to disagree on prices", 26 January 2024, reporting Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts analysis of more than 3,600 watches, and aBlogtoWatch, "Looking at data on the price premium for Rolex Certified Pre-Owned watches", for the finding that retailers rather than Rolex set certified pre-owned prices, for the retailer-by-retailer premiums of 17 to 39 per cent, for the market-wide average of 33 per cent, for the average certified pre-owned car premium of 1.8 per cent, for the listings examined representing about 1 per cent of the total value of Rolex inventory on the secondary market and for the certified market remaining relatively independent of the rest of it, for the absence of any Rolex statement on price, and for aBlogtoWatch's account of authorised dealers with in-house watchmakers carrying out certification themselves. https://www.watchpro.com/rolex-pre-owned-partners-continue-to-disagree-on-prices/ and https://www.ablogtowatch.com/ariels-thoughts-looking-at-data-on-the-price-premium-for-rolex-certified-pre-owned-watches/
4. Deloitte, Swiss Watch Industry Study 2022, released 13 October 2022, as reported by Luxus-Plus, "The second-hand watch market could be worth 35 billion Swiss francs", 17 October 2022, and Luxury Tribune, "The Swiss watch industry driven by e-commerce and the second-hand market", 13 October 2022, for the second-hand market at around 20 billion Swiss francs, the forecast of 35 billion by 2030 representing more than half the primary market, and the purchase intentions reported among surveyed watch enthusiasts by generation. Deloitte no longer serves the 2022 study at a stable URL, so the figures are cited through reports of it. https://luxus-plus.com/en/the-second-hand-watch-market-could-be-worth-35-billion-swiss-francs/ and https://www.luxurytribune.com/en/the-swiss-watch-industry-driven-by-e-commerce-and-the-second-hand-market
5. JCK, "Rolex CEO says brand is committed to retail partners", for the remarks of Jean-Frédéric Dufour, Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, at Dubai Watch Week in November 2025, for his statement that the programme came out of what the company observed in the United States, and for both quotations reproduced in the body. JCK renders his title as Rolex CEO. Revolution publishes a differing English rendering of the same remarks; JCK's is used here. https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/rolex-ceo-committed-retail/
6. Revolution, "Rolex Certified Pre-Owned, the quiet revolution", 11 April 2026, for the Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts estimate of certified sales at 319 million dollars in 2024 and around 530 million in 2025, for a higher EveryWatch estimate for 2025 published in the same article, for United States certified premiums in 2025 running from 7.3 to 28 per cent by retailer, and for approximately 271 doors across 154 retailers by spring 2026, a figure attributed there to Hamza Masood, Head of Partnerships at WatchCharts. https://revolutionwatch.com/rolex-certified-pre-owned-the-quiet-revolution/
7. Rolex, "Rolex acquires Bucherer", retrieved 19 September 2026, together with WatchPro, "Breaking news, Rolex buys Bucherer", 24 August 2023, which timestamps the statement to that afternoon and carries the fuller text naming Jorg Bucherer's decision to sell in the absence of direct descendants and Rolex's wish to preserve ties dating to 1924, and European Commission merger case M.11246 ROLEX / BUCHERER, notified 6 June 2024 and cleared unconditionally under Article 6(1)(b) on 10 July 2024. The Rolex page itself carries no date. https://newsroom.rolex.com/about-rolex/rolex-acquires-bucherer, https://www.watchpro.com/breaking-news-rolex-buys-bucherer/ and https://competition-cases.ec.europa.eu/cases/M.11246
8. SJX, "Rolex acquires Bucherer", 25 August 2023, for the statement that Rolex owned a single store in Geneva before the acquisition. Jörg Bucherer's name is spelled with an umlaut in Rolex's own statement. https://watchesbysjx.com/2023/08/rolex-bucherer-takeover.html
