The pre-owned watch business isn’t a side hustle anymore. The secondary market reached roughly $17 billion in 2025, and dealers — not auction houses — account for the large majority of that volume.
That shift matters for anyone buying and selling used watches. Auctions can make sense for trophy pieces, but the fees add up fast on both sides, and the timeline is slow. For everyday trade — the steel sports models, the neo-vintage pieces buyers are chasing, the estate watch that came in with a jewelry lot — trading directly with another dealer is simply faster and cleaner.
A few things make dealer-to-dealer work:
If watches are becoming a bigger part of what walks through your door, having a trade-only outlet to move them — without the auction premium — turns an occasional buy into a real profit center.
