Rolexes are finally getting a little easier to obtain, for once. The Rolex Certified Pre-Owned Programme helps address two primary issues faced by those buying second-hand today: performance and authenticity.
To help assure purchasers, the Geneva horologists offer a certificate of authenticity, a two-year warranty, and its coveted wax seal for all watches purchased through the Programme. Eligible watches must be at least three years old, and interested buyers will need to visit a Bucherer boutique in Austria, Germany, Denmark, France, Switzerland, or the UK to obtain one of the pre-owned timepieces.
Rolex promised to expand the program to other retailers in early 2023, but it’s unclear whether those retailers will include U.S. outlets. For now, would-be buyers in the States will have to content themselves with window-shopping on Bucherer’s site. Was it something we said?
Once window shopping gets old, price action will also be worth keeping an eye on. With unofficial secondary market pricing for the luxe timepieces getting out of hand, there’s speculation that this is Rolex’s attempt to begin re-asserting control or bring inventory to a starved market. Time will tell, but for now, the watchmaker has remained characteristically cagey, saying only that their aims are “preserving, maintaining and guaranteeing what already exists” on the market.
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