In one paragraphUK pre-owned luxury watch demand, channel mix, and reference-level liquidity, compiled from BQ Watches' own transaction record.
The median days-to-sell for a pre-owned Rolex at BQ Watches halved in January 2026 versus January 2025, falling from 103 days to 50 days. The Rolex Submariner was the fastest-moving Rolex family, with a median days-to-sell of 36. The Rolex Datejust remained the most-traded reference family for the third consecutive January, accounting for roughly one in four pre-owned Rolex sales. January 2026 was also the first month in which bqwatches.com overtook the telephone as the leading customer contact channel.
Pre-owned Rolex turnover roughly doubled in speed year-on-year. The median number of days from a pre-owned Rolex entering BQ Watches' inventory to the watch being sold fell from 103 days in January 2025 to 50 days in January 2026. This is the strongest pre-owned Rolex liquidity reading BQ Watches has recorded for any January in the index series.
The Rolex Submariner was the fastest-moving Rolex family of the month, with a median days-to-sell of 36 days — a sharp improvement from the 100-day median recorded in January 2025. The Rolex GMT-Master and Rolex Daytona both also moved faster than their twelve-month-trailing averages.
The Rolex Datejust remained the most-traded Rolex reference family at BQ Watches, accounting for approximately one in four pre-owned Rolex transactions in January 2026. The Datejust has held the top rank in every January since the index series began.
Cartier continued its multi-year rise in BQ Watches' brand mix, with Cartier accounting for roughly 5–10% of transactions in January 2026, up from a negligible share two years earlier. Cartier is now consistently the third-most-traded brand at BQ Watches behind Rolex and Omega.
bqwatches.com overtook the telephone as the leading customer contact channel. January 2026 was the first month in BQ Watches' record in which the website was the contact method for the largest share of completed sales (approximately 40%), ahead of telephone enquiry (approximately 30%) and in-person showroom visits (approximately 30%). The shift is consistent with a multi-year pattern of UK pre-owned luxury watch buyers moving toward digital-first engagement.
The Rolex reference families that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in January 2026, ranked by transaction share within Rolex:
All other Rolex reference families recorded transaction volumes below the index suppression threshold for January 2026 individually and are aggregated within the "other Rolex" grouping for this edition. Reference families that fell below the threshold this month include Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Rolex Sea-Dweller, Rolex Day-Date, Rolex Sky-Dweller, Rolex Yacht-Master, Rolex Explorer and Rolex Explorer II.
| Reference family | Median days-to-sell, Jan 2026 | Median days-to-sell, Jan 2025 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolex Submariner | 36 | 100 | Faster |
| Rolex Daytona | 46 | — | n/a (Jan 2025 sample below threshold) |
| Rolex GMT-Master | 47 | 119 | Faster |
| Rolex Datejust | 72 | 167 | Faster |
| All Rolex (combined) | 50 | 103 | Faster |
Days-to-sell is measured as the number of calendar days between BQ Watches acquiring a watch into stock and the watch being sold to its end customer. The metric reflects market demand for the specific reference family at the prevailing UK pre-owned price level; faster turnover indicates stronger demand relative to the rate at which BQ Watches is acquiring stock.
Rolex remained approximately 6 in 10 of all watches sold at BQ Watches in January 2026, broadly consistent with the prior two Januaries. The most notable shift in the brand mix was Cartier's continued rise into the top three brands by transaction share.
Brand share rounded to the nearest 5%. Only brands that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in January 2026 are named individually; all other brands are aggregated within the "all other brands combined" line.
In January 2026, the contact method through which a customer engaged BQ Watches before completing a sale broke down approximately as follows:
This is the first January in which website contact has been the leading channel. In January 2025 and January 2024, telephone enquiry was the leading channel by a clear margin (~42% in both years), with website second (~32%). The progression is consistent with the broader UK luxury secondary-market shift from voice-first to digital-first engagement, and with BQ Watches' multi-year investment in its on-site sourcing, valuation and live-chat tools.
All published metrics in this January 2026 edition meet the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold of at least ten observations per cell, applied uniformly across brand, family, channel and contact-method dimensions. The edition publishes share, rank, index and median figures only; absolute revenue, absolute transaction counts and any margin-related metrics are excluded from publication.
For the full methodology, glossary, suppression rules, and standing series-level FAQ items, see the canonical methodology page: About the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index.
A faster median days-to-sell for a given reference family indicates that the UK pre-owned market is absorbing supply of that reference at the prevailing price level more readily than the previous comparable period. For sellers, this typically corresponds to stronger realisable prices and shorter time-on-market expectations. For buyers, it can mean a smaller pool of available stock and reduced negotiation room on the most-demanded references.
The acceleration is consistent with several factors observed at BQ Watches over the prior twelve months: a return to confident buyer demand following a softer 2024, continued shortages of new Rolex stock at authorised retailers pushing buyers into the pre-owned market, and tighter sourcing at BQ Watches that has raised the relevance of the available inventory to current demand. The January 2026 reading sets a new index-series benchmark for January and will be tracked across forthcoming editions.
The shift reflects a multi-year trend at BQ Watches and across the UK luxury secondary market. Whether the website holds the leading position month-on-month, or trades places with telephone enquiry depending on the seasonal pattern of buyer behaviour, will be tracked in future editions. The directional pattern — digital-first engagement growing relative to voice-first — is unlikely to reverse.
A 36-day median days-to-sell on the Rolex Submariner family at BQ Watches is the strongest reading the family has recorded in any January in the index series. For a Submariner owner considering a sale, this corresponds to a market in which BQ Watches is presently turning Submariner stock more rapidly than at any comparable point. To get a current valuation for your specific Submariner reference, request a same-day valuation through the BQ Watches valuation page.
The Datejust family represents the broadest spread of references at the most accessible price points within the Rolex catalogue, spanning steel, two-tone and gold variants across multiple decades of production. That breadth, combined with the model's enduring presence on the wrists of UK buyers across every price tier of the pre-owned market, supports its consistent top-rank position at BQ Watches across multiple Januaries.
International indices that report on global asking-price movement, such as the WatchCharts Overall Market Index and the Subdial Bloomberg Watch Index, are referenced on the canonical methodology page as comparative context. The BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index reports on transactional movement in the UK pre-owned market specifically, which can move independently of global asking-price indices. Future quarterly editions of the BQ Watches index will explicitly compare the UK transactional picture against the prevailing global asking-price picture for the period.
Series editor: Simon Evans, CTO. Market commentary: Spencer Dryer, Managing Director. BQ Watches.
For the full methodology, glossary and standing FAQ, see the canonical methodology page.
