What Audemars Piguet is doing
Audemars Piguet Holding SA will begin authenticating and certifying used watches for resale, with the aim of boosting buyer confidence and curbing counterfeits and what it calls "Frankenstein" pieces built from mismatched but real parts. The company will not display these watches in its boutiques, opting instead for a marketplace model where individual sellers set the prices.
Watches will be kept at an Audemars Piguet service center, where they will be photographed, verified as genuine and in working order, and then sold with a two-year guarantee. The platform will limit inventory to about 100 watches at any one time.
The watchmaker is based in Le Brassus, Switzerland.
Why the company is moving now
The secondary watch market is rebounding after a pullback that followed the 2022 boom, when pandemic-era demand sent prices higher. Subdial data show Audemars Piguet prices are roughly 6% higher year over year in dollar terms, trailing Patek Philippe yet still beating Rolex, which dominates the resale market.
"We designed the whole model to be something that we offer clients to address a pain point, which is the trust for the buyer," Chief Executive Officer Ilaria Resta said, adding the certification program is meant to draw more customers to the brand. "The residual value on the secondary market for AP is getting stronger."
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A report published Friday by LuxeConsult says Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet together make up a little more than 60% of the secondary market, a larger share than in primary sales.
How this compares and what it means for buyers
Moser & Cie. According to LuxeConsult, Rolex's program, introduced in late 2022, generated $590 million in sales last year, a figure it had already exceeded by September. EveryWatch data indicates Rolex certified watches sell for roughly a 20% premium compared with similar non-certified models. Per the latest Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult report, Rolex sales in the primary market are estimated at about 16 billion Swiss francs in retail terms - equivalent to $19.4 billion.
Rolex is both a buyer and a seller of second-hand watches through official retail partners such as Bucherer, which it owns. Audemars Piguet will instead run a marketplace where sellers set prices while the company certifies and guarantees the pieces, taking a commission on each sale. Watches of Switzerland Group Plc, a key retailer for Rolex, intends to report pre-certified sales as a distinct line item because they are growing in importance.
Established in 1875, Audemars Piguet ranks among the few large luxury watch brands that remain controlled by the founders' descendants, and it emphasizes scarcity by keeping production constrained. Its Royal Oak line remains among the most sought after. Resta said revenue increased 10% last year and added that the company has already exceeded that mark in 2026. "We prefer to create the equivalent of the AP house in the certified pre-owned market," she said.
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