Frequently Asked Questions About Selling Your Watch

Because a listing price is an asking price, not a completed sale. The gap between the two is where every buyer in this industry operates, and any buyer who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you.

When we buy your watch, we take on the cost of authentication, any servicing it needs, insurance, photography, and the time it sits before it sells — plus the risk that it does not sell at the number we expected. A private-party sale can beat our offer, and we will tell you so when it is true. What you get from us instead is certainty, speed, and no chargeback risk. Those are worth something, but they are not free.

We explain how we arrived at your specific number. If our reasoning does not hold up against what you can see on public marketplaces, push back — that is a fair conversation to have.

Six factors, roughly in order of impact:

• Reference and generation. The single biggest input. Two Submariner Dates from different generations can differ by thousands.
• Dial originality. A refinished or replaced dial reduces collector value meaningfully, even when it looks cleaner than an original.
• Case and bracelet condition. Over-polishing rounds off the lug lines collectors check first. Honest wear on an unpolished case beats a heavily buffed one.
• Completeness. Box, warranty card, booklets, and hang tags.
• Service history. Documented service adds buyer confidence, and confidence flows back into the offer.
• Current market. Values shift constantly. We price against live data, not a static guide.

Typically 10–20% on modern pieces, and often more on sports references where provenance matters to serious collectors. The warranty card carries the most weight, because it ties the serial number to a documented purchase date.

On vintage watches the effect can be larger still, since surviving paperwork from the 1960s and 1970s is genuinely scarce. If you have an original receipt, a service card, or even the retailer’s envelope, include it — small documents move numbers more than people expect.

Conditions are better than they were through the post-peak correction. Morgan Stanley’s second-quarter 2026 analysis found seven of the eight brands it tracks improving on value retention compared with the first quarter — meaning secondary-market discounts narrowed. Cartier was the single exception, where retail price increases widened the gap.

Volume supports that picture. Across the first half of 2026, the Daytona was the top-selling line on the international pre-owned market at roughly $962 million, with the Datejust close behind near $940 million and growing about 44% year over year. Outside Rolex, Patek Philippe’s Aquanaut climbed roughly 65% to around $225 million, overtaking the Royal Oak Offshore for the first time.

What this means practically: the speculative froth of 2021–2022 is gone, but liquidity is healthy and well-known references sell quickly. If you own a mainstream reference in good condition, you are selling into a functioning market. See our analysis of US tariffs and the pre-owned market for the broader context.

Not automatically, and this is one of the most common misconceptions we encounter. Rolex raised retail prices on January 1, 2026, by roughly 7% on average, with gold models climbing more than steel. Retail prices and secondary-market prices are two separate markets, and they do not move in lockstep.

A retail increase can lift secondary values when supply is genuinely constrained. When it is not, the increase simply narrows or closes the gap between new and pre-owned — and for some references, a rising retail price has actually made the pre-owned example look less attractive rather than more. Your watch is worth what buyers are paying for that reference today, not a fixed percentage of the new list price.

Three steps. First, you submit your watch details and photos through our form or by phone — reference number, condition, and whatever paperwork you have. Second, our team reviews the submission against the current secondary market and responds with an itemized offer, explaining how we reached the number. Third, if you accept, you either ship the watch with insured overnight service or hand it to us in the New York metro area, and payment goes out the same day we receive and authenticate it.

There is no step where you are locked in. You can stop at any point.

Most sales complete within two to three business days from first contact. Offers usually come back the same day you submit. If you accept and ship overnight, we authenticate on arrival and release payment that day. Bank wires typically clear the following business day.

If you would rather take a week to think it over, that is completely fine — we will re-confirm the number when you are ready, since the market can move.

No. Every offer is genuinely no-obligation. Take it to another buyer, sit on it, or simply decline — none of those outcomes cost you anything, and none of them will get you a follow-up sales call.

If you have already shipped the watch and then decide against selling, we return it to you at our expense, fully insured.

No. We are a direct buyer, not a broker or a consignment service, so there is no commission taken out of your number. The offer we quote is the amount you receive. Appraisal is free, shipping is covered, and there are no listing, authentication, or processing fees deducted at any stage.

This is a meaningful difference from consignment and auction routes, where seller commissions commonly run 10–25% and payment can take months.

Yes, and it is extremely common. Many of the watches we purchase arrive with nothing but the watch itself. Missing paperwork affects the offer — usually in the 10–20% range on modern pieces — but it has never disqualified a sale.

Before you assume the papers are gone, it is worth checking. Warranty cards turn up in filing cabinets, safe deposit boxes, and the original retailer’s envelope surprisingly often, and finding one is the highest-value fifteen minutes you can spend before selling.

It depends on the brand and the era. On a Rolex made before 2005, the serial is engraved between the lugs at the 6 o’clock position, which means removing the bracelet to read it. From 2008 onward it is laser-etched on the rehaut — the inner ring between the dial and the crystal — and is visible without taking anything apart. Watches from the 2005–2008 transition may carry both.

The reference number sits between the lugs at 12 o’clock, opposite the serial. First-time sellers mix these two up constantly, so photograph both. Our Rolex serial number guide covers every era in detail, and the Watch Education Hub has equivalent guides for Cartier, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, IWC, Breitling, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Physically, and in person. We examine the engraving depth and character spacing under magnification, verify the serial location matches the production era, cross-check the serial against the reference’s documented production window, inspect the movement caliber for era consistency, and confirm any paperwork matches the engraving exactly.

Online serial checkers are a useful first filter, but they cannot tell you whether a correctly formatted serial sits on a genuine case, whether parts have been mixed between watches, or whether papers were forged. That determination requires the watch in hand.

It is not automatically a problem. Decades of wear, or aggressive polishing by a previous owner or service shop, can thin a lug engraving until it is barely legible. On watches forty or more years old this is common and entirely innocent.

A missing serial does mean more work. We assess the movement, case, dial provenance, and market comparables instead, and we are upfront that the offer will reflect the additional buyer uncertainty. What we will not do is treat a faded engraving as evidence of fraud without looking properly.

Almost never, on both counts. A factory service runs $800–$1,200 or more and rarely returns that much in a higher offer, and many buyers prefer to arrange servicing themselves so they control the timing and documentation.

Polishing is worse. It permanently removes metal and rounds off the crisp lug lines collectors specifically look for, and it cannot be undone. An honest, unpolished case with visible wear is worth more than a buffed one. Clean the watch gently with a soft cloth, and stop there.

Once you accept an offer, we walk you through it step by step. We recommend FedEx overnight with full declared-value insurance. Place the watch in its inner box, that inside the outer box if you have it, and everything inside a sturdy, unmarked third carton with generous padding.

Two rules matter more than the rest: never label the package with a brand name, and never use standard ground or basic postal services for a luxury watch. Photograph the packed contents before you seal it.

Yes. Shipments are fully insured for the declared value, and we cover the cost of the shipping and the coverage — you are not out of pocket to send us a watch, and you are not exposed if something goes wrong in transit.

If you decline the offer after we have received the watch, the return shipment is insured on the same terms and also at our expense.

Payment goes out the same day we receive and authenticate the watch. You choose the method: bank wire, PayPal, cryptocurrency, or check. Wires typically clear the next business day, PayPal is effectively instant, crypto settles same-day, and a mailed check adds a delivery day.

We do not hold funds pending further review. Once the watch is confirmed as described, the transaction is complete and the money moves.

Yes. We are based in New York and welcome in-person handovers across the New York metro area for sellers who would rather not ship. You see the appraisal happen, ask questions in real time, and leave with payment arranged on the spot.

For everyone outside the metro area, we buy nationwide across all fifty states, and insured overnight shipping is arranged from anywhere.

Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Cartier, Omega, Breitling, Hublot, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC Schaffhausen, A. Lange & Söhne, Vacheron Constantin, Panerai, and Tudor.

If your watch is a Swiss luxury brand not on that list, submit it anyway. We regularly buy independent and lesser-traded makers, and the only way to know is to ask. For anything other than Rolex, start at our sell my luxury watch page.

Yes. A watch that does not run is still worth real money — often far more than owners assume, because the case, dial, movement, and bracelet all carry value independently. Water damage, a seized movement, a cracked crystal, or a missing crown are all workable.

Tell us upfront what is wrong. A known fault priced honestly always produces a better outcome than a surprise discovered at inspection.

Regularly. Submit the whole group in a single inquiry rather than piece by piece — it is faster for you and it lets us price the collection as a whole, which sometimes produces a stronger total than the individual sums.

For estate situations we are used to working with executors, attorneys, and multiple beneficiaries, and we can provide written valuations for probate or division purposes. If you are working through an inheritance, our guide to selling an inherited Rolex is a useful starting point.

Yes, though it changes how we price. Aftermarket bezels, dials, and non-factory diamond settings almost always reduce value against an original example, because the collector market pays for originality rather than customization. That is true even when the added stones cost a great deal.

If you still have the original factory parts that were removed, include them. Reuniting a watch with its original bezel or dial can recover a meaningful share of the difference.

It depends on your location and whether you sold for more than you paid. In the United States, a gain on a collectible is generally taxable, while a sale at a loss generally is not. Watches sold below their original purchase price — which describes a great many sales — commonly produce no taxable gain at all.

Keep your original purchase records and speak with a qualified tax professional about your specific situation. We are watch buyers, not tax advisors, and we cannot give you guidance here.

Yes. Your details are never shared with third parties, sold to lead brokers, or used for marketing beyond your own inquiry. We do not publish transaction details, and we do not identify sellers.

For high-value pieces where discretion matters — estate sales, divisions of assets, or simply personal preference — we are accustomed to handling transactions quietly, and we will follow whatever level of confidentiality you ask for.

Start by not doing anything to it. Do not polish it, do not have it “cleaned up,” and do not open the caseback. Inherited watches are frequently damaged by well-meaning preparation before anyone establishes what they are worth.

Then photograph the dial straight on, both case profiles, the caseback, and the clasp. Look through paperwork for a warranty card, receipt, or service record. Send us what you have, and we will identify the watch and tell you what it is — whether or not you decide to sell. Plenty of people contact us purely to find out what a family piece is, and that is a perfectly good reason to get in touch.