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The Watch Keepers: Audemars Piguet Takes Over the Resale of Its Watches

Audemars Piguet launched The Watch Keepers, its own certified pre-owned platform, on 26 October 2026. Owners can now sell an Audemars Piguet through the manufacture, which authenticates and grades the watch and stores it until it sells. The platform is available first in Switzerland and the rest of Europe.

Eva Winterer

Audemars Piguet has opened The Watch Keepers, an online marketplace on which the manufacture certifies its own watches for resale. Since 26 October 2026, owners in Europe and Switzerland can consign an Audemars Piguet that is at least two years past its first sale. The watch remains the seller’s property, and Audemars Piguet stores it in its own customer service facilities until a buyer is found. The company plans to extend the platform to other regions in stages.

Ilaria Resta, chief executive of Audemars Piguet since 2024, oversaw the launch, part of a wider shift in the luxury watch market as brands move into the resale of their own watches.

In brief

The process. Sellers register online, verify the serial number and provide proof of ownership. An insured courier takes the watch to an Audemars Piguet service centre, where watchmakers check it against the archive registers and grade the case, dial and bracelet on a five-point scale. The manufacture’s own team photographs the watch and writes the listing. The two-year rule is meant to discourage buying a new Royal Oak only to sell it on.

The sale. The seller chooses a fixed price or a bidding format and decides when the watch goes online. Only the seller pays a commission; Audemars Piguet has not disclosed the rate. Each buyer receives a certificate of authenticity and a two-year warranty. Around 100 watches are listed at any one time, drawn from a range of collections and eras.

The organisation. The platform is run from Le Brassus together with regional service centres. Marc Montagne, director of certified pre-owned at Audemars Piguet, said the programme “responds to strong demand from collectors”. Anyone can browse the site, but only verified users can buy or sell.

A green room with arched shelves, an armchair and display plinths in the virtual villa of The Watch Keepers, Audemars Piguet's certified pre-owned platform.
A room in the virtual villa of The Watch Keepers, Audemars Piguet’s certified pre-owned platform. Courtesy of Audemars Piguet

Why it matters

Audemars Piguet now controls the resale of its own watches directly. Rolex has run a certified pre-owned programme since December 2022, but it runs through authorised retailers, the largest of which is Bucherer, which Rolex agreed to buy in 2023. On The Watch Keepers the manufacture runs the marketplace itself, so a reference that sells below retail there can no longer be put down to the grey market.

The idea took eight years to reach the market. In January 2018, François-Henry Bennahmias, then chief executive of Audemars Piguet, told Reuters that the second-hand trade was “the next big thing in the watch industry”. The manufacture tested the concept in a single Geneva boutique and then dropped it. In 2023 Bennahmias predicted that “the CPO business is going to be bigger than the new business”. Ilaria Resta, his successor, has now built the platform.

Certified pre-owned sales are growing across the luxury watch market. According to EveryWatch, certified pre-owned Rolex watches outsold unworn Rolex watches on the grey market by value in the first half of 2026, with 385 million dollars against 335 million.

For what the platform means for prices next year, see the luxury watch market in 2027.

Close-up of a mechanical watch movement, illustrating the luxury watch market in 2027 Continue · The reading Luxury Watch Market 2027: The Brands Make Fewer Watches and Take Over Resale The luxury watch industry goes into 2027 making fewer watches at higher prices and taking over more of their resale. What will decide the year?

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