It’s lastly occurred: Rolex is within the pre-owned watch enterprise sport, with the Rolex Licensed Pre-Owned Programme. In a long-expected transfer, which some would possibly insist is lengthy overdue, Swiss watchmaker Rolex made the announcement simply yesterday in Geneva, and the reverberations will probably be felt for years to return. Audemars Piguet has been attempting to kind out its personal pre-owned enterprise mannequin for years; Richard Mille has really made it occur; and the Richemont Group made its personal play with the acquisition of Watchfinder & Co. In fact, all these names are dwarfed by the colossus that’s Rolex, however a very powerful query has but to be settled: there isn’t a phrase on how retailers will deal with pricing.
So what do we all know for now? In a nutshell, Rolex is taking a stand on the way forward for its watches, even after they’ve been offered to the general public. Official retailers, or licensed sellers as they’re additionally identified, will start to supply pre-owned Rolex watches on the market; these are licensed as genuine and assured by the model, and as such include a brand new worldwide guarantee, legitimate for 2 years from the date of any given re-sale. At press time, just one retailer has been revealed as a participant within the Rolex Licensed Pre-Owned Programme: Bucherer.
The European retailer has run its personal pre-owned watch enterprise for some years now — this author contemplated shopping for a Rolex Oysterquartz at considered one of its shops in Zurich however finally demurred. The Rolex Licensed Pre-Owned Programme will probably be accessible in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Denmark, and the UK by way of Bucherer, to start with. Rolex’s launch on this topic notes that this transfer will, in its view, alleviate the overheated demand for Rolex watches worldwide, ultimately.
Right here is an excerpt of mentioned launch: “The brand new programme makes it doable to buy pre-owned watches that the model itself has licensed and assured. Its intention is to deliver added worth to the prevailing provide of pre-owned Rolex watches. As a result of when these watches change palms, their authenticity should be attestable on the time of resale by the Official Retailers.“
“Rolex advocates the sturdiness of its merchandise. Because of uncompromising high quality requirements, the model produces watches with the longest doable lifespans. It subsequently needs to accompany the second lifetime of its watches already circulating in the marketplace, with a view to preserving, sustaining and guaranteeing what already exists. This strategy is consistent with the Perpetual philosophy: the relentless pursuit of excellence and a long-term dedication to future generations.”
Those that hope that this can kind out the ugly state of affairs the place model new watches are re-sold for above RRP will probably be dissatisfied to be taught that the Rolex Licensed Pre-Owned Programme solely applies to watches which might be at the very least three years previous. In different phrases, don’t go relying on that Oyster Perpetual Submariner pre-owned simply but. However, this can probably imply that there’ll as soon as extra be Rolex watches on show which might be accessible on the market from licensed sellers, the place guarantee and authenticity points are resolved by Rolex. Whereas we await phrase from our native retailers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and, in fact, the North American market, we really feel assured that this transfer will probably be welcomed by Rolex collectors in every single place. We’re additionally upbeat on the pricing difficulty, though navigating this can require a great deal of talent on the a part of retailers.
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