Rolex is still the king of the hill on the pre-owned market—but its fellow watchmakers are catching up.
The Swiss brand’s share of sales on Chrono24 has dropped from its pandemic-era boom, now sitting at 30.5 percent compared to 44 percent in 2022, according to the online watch marketplace’s new report. The change brings the watchmaker back to its pre-Covid figures at the retailer.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Rolex is close to losing its crown, though. The watchmaker still reigns as the largest brand on Chrono24, accounting for 31 percent of sales volume in Q2 of this year. Its closest neighbors, Omega and Patek Philippe, are set as 11 percent and 6 percent, respectively, over the same time period. Pre-owned Rolexes also experienced bonkers demand during the pandemic, with prices for its models soaring higher than its competitors. It makes sense, then, that as secondary market prices come back down to earth in the post-post pandemic era, the Crown is seeing the biggest shift in the market compared to other brands with less price movement over the past few years.
Rolex shines the brightest in the $10,000 to $20,000 range on Chrono24, making up 61.4 percent of sales there: Described as the brand’s core segment, that tier includes timepieces such as the Submariner, the GMT-Master II, and the steel Daytona.
