New Vs Pre-Owned Watch Price Comparison

If you have never considered buying a second hand watch you might be surprised. New Rolex’s come in a range of prices, but when you buy them new it is only possible to buy one at the retail value. 

When you buy a Rolex in the second hand market, often you are buying from a personal seller, so, you will be surprised at the savings you can find.   You are also able to buy a model from an earlier year which can reduce the price.   

But what about the condition? Well, you might have been put off buying pre-owned watches in the past because of the condition.  But if you use a marketplace, for example, Chronoexpert.com, you can easily filter watches by condition which ensures you don’t end up with any surprises whilst unboxing your new watch.  

Each watch is checked for condition, you might pay slightly more for a mint condition Rolex but if you compared the price with a new Rolex you are still saving money. 

Of course this does depend on the model!  The great thing about the second hand market is there are so many different models from over 100 years of watch-making. 

In today’s post we are only going to compare new models since we want a direct comparison between the watches for sale online at Rolex and the same model available in the pre-owned market.   Let’s take a look.

Pre-Owned Rolex GMT Master II Vs New

The first watch we are going to compare is the Rolex GMT Master II, we are going to look at the version which is available online at Rolex.com, vs the versions available on Chronoexpert.com, a second hand watch market place. 

The GMT Master II 2019 in Oyster Steel is listed online for £7,150, this is the base price and the price increases depending on the material chosen.  It’s also important to note, you cannot buy a new Rolex through the Rolex.com website but need to visit a retailer near you. Sometimes retailers have waiting lists, so if you do want to buy new make sure you get down to your local retailer and get your name on the list.

On Chronoexpert.com we can see over 60 GMT Master II’s for sale starting at $6,540 / £5,089.  The year of this model is 1997 and the watch comes with its relevant papers to show its authenticity, it is listed as Very Good Condition which is the second highest rating under New.

That is a saving of over £2,000 by buying a pre-owned watch from an earlier year.

Pre-Owned Rolex Datejust Vs New

Now let’s take a look at the Rolex Datejust, a classic Rolex model.  The new 2019 model is listed on Rolex.com’s website for £5,300 in the Oyster Steel.   On Chronoexpert.com’s website there are over 500 Rolex Datejust watches listed, 250+ in the Steel version.

There is a Rolex Datejust from 1973 listed at $1,690 / £1,315 in Very Good Condition, if this is a bit outdated and you are looking for a newer model you can find a 2005 Rolex Datejust for $3,300 / £2,567 and a 2011 listed at $4,400 / £3,423, all of these models give a large saving over buying the new 2019 version.

Pre-Owned Rolex Sea-Dweller Vs New

Finally, for a more sturdy and practical style, let’s compare Rolex’s new 2019 Sea-Dweller. The 2019 version comes in Oyster Steel & yellow gold and is listed online for £12,400. 

In this particular comparison it gets a bit trickier since the yellow gold and steel was only brought out in 2019 for this particular version.  So, if you want to purchase a yellow gold & steel Rolex Sea-Dweller from the pre-owned market you need to look for the exact model. 

Chronoexpert.com has one 2019 Sea-Dweller listed for $17,650 / £13,734, a good £1000 over the listed price on Rolex.com.  Of course, you are able to have this watch delivered from an online store, so that does make it more convenient but you would need to weigh up the extra cost & whether it is worth paying a little bit extra to get the watch more quickly, or get on the waiting list at your local Rolex retailer instead. 

Making this comparison also allows us to make an important point. One of the benefits of the pre-owned market is that you don’t have to by newer, more expensive models.  You can enjoy the benefits of buying a vintage, luxury watch with history and a reduced price tag. If new is your thing, and you only want 2018 + 2019 models, then you might find that the pre-owned market is more expensive in some cases. 

The best thing to do is to check out what’s out there for yourself!   Dive into the world of second hand, vintage watches and enjoy the experience of uncovering your own finds + great value watches! 

Now it’s your turn, we want to hear from you! Tell us in the comments, what do you think of buying pre-owned?