Secondary market finally escapes its Covid hangover

The secondary watch market seems to have put the boom and bust of the Covid bubble behind it, as the major groups all recorded increases in prices.

Morgan Stanley’s Q1 report for 2026, in conjunction with WatchCharts, showed that the modest increases for Richemont, Swatch Group, and LVMH contributed to secondary prices rising by 4.9% overall in 2025.

However, the report flags up the issue of what it calls the “value retention gap.’ This represents the difference between the inflation-fuelled price rises on the primary market, and the more modest increases in the secondary market. In other words, second-hand watches are losing value in real terms, with the exception of the ‘big three’ — Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe — which continue to trade above retail.

Patek Philippe tops the value retention charts with +10.7%, with Rolex at 6.7% (not helped by its January 1 price hikes).

Lower down the food chain, the mid-market continues to be propped up Cartier and Omega, which showed quarter-on-quarter price growth of 2.3% and 0.4% respectively. 

Rolex’s impressive Certified Pre-Owned (RCPO) programme has also continued to flourish and grow, with 2025 sales exceeding $500 million. Because of the way that the programme has been rolled out, and because of how careful Rolex is to protect its brand reputation, it has been able to command premiums of +25.9% over traditional pre-owned dealers globally. Morgan Stanley’s report suggests that RCPO has helped expand the entire secondary eco-system rather than cannabalise sales in the market.

The conclusion of the report is that last year marked the end of the post-Covid burst bubble, and that the market has found its new equilibrium, with Q1’s encouraging figures supporting this. This post-Covid market looks different to the speculative Covid one, with more pragmatic and considered consumption. 

Certified Pre-Owned programmes are likely to become become an essential lever for brands to protect equity and support retail sales through formal trade-in ecosystems in the coming year, hot on the heels of the success of the RCPO. In turn, traditional secondary dealers will find their place in the new universe, with more competitive pricing and the ability to offer the type of service and flexibility that certified pre-owned programmes simply can’t.