Secondary market consolidation continues with RCPO still flying
The latest edition of the WatchCharts Watch Market Report, in partnership with Morgan Stanley, has been released for Q2 (2Q26).
Secondary watch market prices rose by +1.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in 2Q26, representing the fourth consecutive quarter of gains exceeding +1%.
The positive results are from a broader base than previously, with 27 of the 35 tracked brands posting positive QoQ performance, up from 25 brands in 1Q26.
Drilling down into the detail of specific brands and groups, the three big publicly listed groups — Richemont, Swatch Group, and LVMH — all saw positive price rises, at +1.3%, +1.0%, and +1.7% respectively.
Throwing Rolex SA as a group into the mix as well (covering Rolex and Tudor), its price rises were modest at +1.1%. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, all four groups are positive for the first time since early 2022.
LVMH’s TAG Heuer was a particularly strong individual performer, up +3.8%, while stablemate Zenith was up +2.8%, and Richemont’s Cartier also showed significant gains at +2.2%.
Although the value retention premium (VR) — the amount a watch sells for on the secondary market relative to its retail price — improved sequentially for most leading brands, only the ‘big three’ ofPatek Philippe (+15.4% VR), Rolex (+9.8% VR), and Audemars Piguet (+3.0% VR) commanded secondary market premiums.
Another conclusion of the report is that a spike in listings in April ahead of Watches and Wonders — in part led by speculation about the discontinuation of the Rolex GMT-Master II ‘Pepsi’ — that led to excess inventory in May and June, causing a -1.0% fall in prices. Some effects of this excess supply may still be felt in the second half of this year.
An incontrovertible success story continues to be the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programme, which posted record sales of $186 million in 2Q26, up +28% QoQ and +67% YoY. Sales in the first half of the year reached $330 million, which represents two thirds of what the programme achieved in the whole of 2025.
These numbers in the Rolex CPO programme are not being fuelled by rapid expansion — only three new retailers joined in 2Q26 — but by limited stock (inventory actually went down for the first time in the programme’s history) and higher sales per door. The median active CPO retailer generated $899K in sales in 1H26, up from $578K in 1H25.
The premium that Rolex watches in the programme command over those outside of it continues to be significant and stable, averaging +22.6% across Rolex’s catalogue.
