While Rolex increasing its prices isn’t unusual, even diehard watch fans were surprised by just how much prices jumped for some of the most coveted watches this month. Last week, Rolex announced that some of its watches would be as much as 14% more expensive in 2025. The price hikes specifically hit many of Rolex’s gold watches, thanks in part to rising gold prices which were up 27% last year.
And yet at the same time, Rolex prices on the secondhand market are falling. Rolex prices on the secondhand market hit a three-year low in 2024, dropping 6% to the lowest they’d been since 2021, reflecting the sharp pull-back from the rampant demand for secondhand watches in the pandemic years.
Paul Altieri, founder and CEO of the watch retailer Bob’s Watches, said the disparity can partly be attributed to the delay between changes in the primary market and their effect on the secondary market.
“We’ve observed that the pre-owned marketplace often experiences a two-to-four-month lag before reflecting these price increases,” Altieri said. “This means that right now is an excellent time for buyers to secure a pre-owned Rolex at current market prices before they catch up to the new retail adjustments. Rolex remains one of the few brands where quality, rarity and resale value align so consistently.”
The secondhand price declines have hit Swiss luxury watch brands broadly, not just Rolex. Only a handful of brands, like Jaeger-Le Coultre and Montblanc, saw their secondhand prices increase last year. However, the drastic price increases of Rolex on the primary market are a good thing for secondhand resellers and marketplaces. Not only do higher primary prices mean that secondhand prices may rise as a result, but they also encourage people to shop secondhand to get a better deal.
Quaid Walker, co-founder and CEO of the watch marketplace Bezel, said he is already seeing the effects of Rolex’s larger-than-expected gold price hikes. When prices go up in the primary market, it brings more people to the secondary market, he said. Swiss watch exports were down broadly last year, which is bad for the watch companies. But for the resale marketplaces, it’s further opportunity for growth. Growing interest in luxury watches from Gen Z consumers — up to 20% are likely to buy a watch in the next 12 months — will likely boost that growth, as well.
“Typically, when Rolex increases prices, those models — and oftentimes their discontinued predecessors — also increase in value,” Walker said. “We immediately saw a spike in the secondary market demand for most of the gold models affected by the 2025 increase, even when the increase was just a rumor. It will be interesting to see if these newly inflated prices sustain as the year progresses.”
