We all know that for many years Rolex seems to have not benefited from the “gray” or secondhand watch market, where the price difference between the market and the retail price seems to only benefit the sellers in the gray market or the flippers (those who sell hand-to-hand). Rolex has made a lot of efforts to limit the sale of Rolex watches on the gray market.

But perhaps things will change in 2023 when Rolex announces a program to authenticate and certify genuine watches and provide an additional 2-year global warranty. This program also allows authorized retailers to buy and sell used Rolex watches.

Especially, this CPO program only applies to watches purchased at official dealers/retailers of Rolex after 3 years to avoid sellers outside or speculators bringing new unused Rolex watches into the program.

In the future, customers who buy Rolex from the CPO program will receive a certificate of authenticity, an additional 2-year warranty and a tag “Rolex Certified Pre-Owned” issued by Rolex.

The impact of Rolex’s CPO program?

In my opinion, the biggest beneficiary is the customer when they have a chance to access used Rolex more safely. I’m not sure if the buyer agrees to sell Rolex back to the company or not, or if Rolex has any measures to buy back or recover used watches floating on the gray market.

Expanding out, if Rolex provides this authentication service widely, then the watch authentication units on the market will be more or less affected. We will not need those controversial “Genuine Standard” cards. Instead, we will be guaranteed by the company with an additional global warranty period.

Thirdly, the participation of authorized retailers in distributing used Rolex watches will certainly affect the gray market. But whether it affects positively or negatively for sellers, we still need to wait until this program is officially launched. It is expected that it will start in December at Bucherer boutiques in 6 countries (Switzerland, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark, and UK), other stores and units authorized by Rolex can register for this program from early 2023.

 

-Hodinkee & Monochrome-