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In one paragraphUK pre-owned luxury watch demand, channel mix, stock-route composition, and reference-level liquidity, compiled from BQ Watches' own transaction record.
Tudor reached the monthly suppression threshold at BQ Watches for the first time in the index series in July 2026 — its highest monthly share since the series began, published for the first time in an individual monthly edition after having previously been reported only at quarterly resolution. The Rolex family list narrowed to three at monthly threshold (Datejust, GMT-Master, Submariner), with Oyster Perpetual and Daytona both dropping below threshold after their June 2026 appearances. All-stock median days-to-sell for pre-owned Rolex was 63 days versus 84 days in July 2025 — a seventh consecutive month of year-on-year improvement. Rolex share of BQ Watches transactions rose to a series-high 62.5% (unrounded).
Tudor reached the monthly suppression threshold for the first time in the index series. With 12 transactions in July 2026, Tudor cleared the ten-observation threshold at monthly resolution for the first time since the index began — the brand had previously been reported only at quarterly-pooled resolution in the Q1 2026 quarterly edition, where the multi-year Tudor decline storyline was first published. The July 2026 Tudor reading is the brand's highest monthly share in the series to date at approximately 5% of transactions. Whether Tudor sustains at or above threshold across subsequent editions is now added to the active watch-list.
The Rolex family list at monthly threshold narrowed to three. Only the Rolex Datejust (57 transactions), Rolex GMT-Master (24) and Rolex Submariner (18) met the monthly suppression threshold in July 2026. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual, which reached monthly threshold for the first time in our June 2026 edition, returned below threshold with 8 transactions — resolving the June watch-list item as "not sustained after one-month appearance". The Rolex Daytona also fell below threshold after its June return; the family has now been sub-threshold in May and July, at-threshold in March, April and June. The July 2026 three-family list is the narrowest monthly at-threshold Rolex coverage since the inaugural January 2026 edition.
Pre-owned Rolex turnover ran faster than the July 2025 comparison for a seventh consecutive month. All-stock median days-to-sell for pre-owned Rolex at BQ Watches in July 2026 was 63 days versus 84 days in July 2025 — a 25% year-on-year improvement, wider than the 13% narrowest-margin reading recorded in the June 2026 edition and consistent with the sustained-acceleration pattern first surfaced in Q1 2026. On owned-only terms the July 2026 all-Rolex median was 85 days, close to the July 2025 all-stock reading of 84 days — the stock-route composition remains the primary source of the gap between the two measurements, and the owned-only reading is the cleaner "in-inventory market signal".
Rolex share of BQ Watches transactions rose to a series-high unrounded 62.5%. Rolex accounted for approximately 60% of all transactions in July 2026 (62.5% unrounded), up from approximately 55% in June 2026 and the highest unrounded monthly share the brand has recorded in the index series to date. Within Rolex, the Datejust reached its highest-ever within-Rolex share at approximately 39%, materially above the 25-33% range the family has occupied across most of the series. The concentration of transactions in Rolex, and within Rolex in the Datejust, is the tightest single-brand and single-family reading in the series.
In-person showroom contact rose to approximately 30% of completed-sale contact, tying with the website for the first time since April 2026. In-person contact at the Radlett showroom and Hatton Garden viewing office accounted for approximately 30% of completed-sale contact in July 2026, alongside bqwatches.com at approximately 30% and telephone enquiry retaining a marginal lead at approximately 35%. The in-person reading is the highest since April 2026's series-high approximately 35%, and the tie between in-person and web at approximately 30% is the first three-way parity across the two channels since April.
The Rolex reference families that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in July 2026, ranked by transaction share within Rolex:
The Datejust reclaimed the top rank in its most concentrated within-Rolex reading of the series to date, accounting for approximately 39% of Rolex transactions (57 sales). The GMT-Master moved up to second place ahead of the Submariner — the first time since April 2026 that the GMT-Master has held the second within-Rolex rank. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Daytona, Yacht-Master, Day-Date and Sea-Dweller all recorded transaction volumes below the suppression threshold at monthly resolution in July 2026 and are aggregated within the "other Rolex" grouping for this edition.
| Reference family | All-stock Jul 2026 | Owned-only Jul 2026 | All-stock Jul 2025 | Direction (all-stock YoY) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolex GMT-Master | 30 | 34 | n/a | n/a (Jul 2025 sample below threshold) |
| Rolex Submariner | 31 | 32 | 26 | Slower |
| Rolex Datejust | 126 | 131 | 125 | Marginally slower |
| All Rolex (combined) | 63 | 85 | 84 | Faster (all-stock) |
The all-Rolex composite continues the sustained YoY improvement pattern, but the family-level YoY story is more nuanced than the all-Rolex composite implies. The Rolex Submariner ran slower than its July 2025 comparison for the first time at monthly resolution in the series (31 days vs 26 days) — noteworthy given the family has consistently held the fastest sustained rhythm across the year. The Rolex Datejust ran marginally slower than July 2025 (126 vs 125 days), consistent with the family's slower-and-broader velocity profile. The Rolex GMT-Master's 30-day reading is the family's fastest at monthly all-stock resolution since April 2026 (16 days), but the July 2025 comparison sample fell below threshold so no YoY direction is computable. The owned-only all-Rolex reading of 85 days sits within one day of the July 2025 all-stock reading of 84 days; on a like-for-like basis, the pace of BQ Watches' owned Rolex inventory turnover in July 2026 is broadly in line with the equivalent 2025 period, with the all-stock composite reduced by the consignment mix.
Rolex accounted for approximately 60% of all transactions at BQ Watches in July 2026 — the highest unrounded monthly share the brand has recorded in the index series to date. The full published brand mix:
Brand share rounded to the nearest 5%. Only brands that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in July 2026 are named individually; all other brands are aggregated within the "all other brands combined" line.
July 2026 is the first monthly edition of the index series in which five brands have been named individually in the published mix. Tudor met threshold at monthly resolution for the first time (see Headline findings). Cartier held its top-three position for the seventh consecutive edition; Omega recorded its lowest published monthly share of the series at approximately 5% (5.2% unrounded), continuing the moderation observed since April 2026. Breitling met threshold for the third time in the series at monthly resolution.
Approximately 25% of completed sales at BQ Watches in July 2026 involved consignment-route stock, broadly consistent with the approximately 25-30% band the dimension has occupied across every edition in which it has been published:
Stock-route composition has now run within the 25-30% band across March, April, May, June and July 2026, sustaining the pattern of the dimension being a broadly stable structural feature of BQ Watches' transactional mix rather than a moving metric.
In July 2026, the contact method through which a customer engaged BQ Watches before completing a sale broke down approximately as follows:
Other contact methods — including consignment-scheduled appointments — represented the remaining share but the aggregated other-contact category was below the suppression threshold at monthly resolution and is not published as a separate line.
The in-person reading of approximately 30% is the highest since April 2026's series-high approximately 35%, and the tie between in-person and website at approximately 30% is the first parity between these two channels since April. Telephone enquiry retained the marginal lead position for the fifth consecutive month at approximately 35%. The July 2025 in-person reading was materially lower at approximately 25%, sustaining the multi-year direction observed at Q2 quarterly resolution where in-person contact has held broadly stable within a 25-30% band across three years.
All published metrics in this July 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, contact-method, stock-route and days-to-sell 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.
Dual reporting of Rolex days-to-sell (all-stock and owned-only), introduced from the June 2026 monthly edition onwards, continues in this edition. The owned-only reading is the cleaner "in-inventory market signal"; the all-stock reading remains the metric with year-on-year comparability across the index series to date because prior-year source data does not carry a consignment flag. Prior editions (January to May 2026) are not retroactively updated.
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.
Tudor met the ten-observation threshold at monthly resolution for the first time in the index series in July 2026, with 12 completed sales. Historically Tudor has run in a declining pattern at BQ Watches — the multi-year decline was first published at quarterly-pooled resolution in the Q1 2026 quarterly edition (7.1% in Q1 2024 → 4.5% in Q1 2025 → 2.5% in Q1 2026 unrounded shares). The July 2026 monthly reading of 5.2% unrounded is Tudor's highest monthly share in the series to date and represents at least a temporary pause in the decline trajectory. Whether the July reading marks a genuine turnaround or an isolated month above threshold will be tracked in subsequent editions.
Three factors combined in July 2026 to produce the narrowest at-threshold Rolex family list since the inaugural January 2026 edition. First, the Rolex Datejust concentrated approximately 39% of within-Rolex transactions in July — its highest within-Rolex share in the series — leaving proportionally less volume distributed across the other families. Second, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual's June 2026 first-time-monthly-threshold appearance did not sustain, with July recording only 8 transactions. Third, the Rolex Daytona also recorded 8 transactions below threshold after its June return. At quarterly-pooled resolution these families continue to meet threshold; the narrowing is a monthly-resolution phenomenon rather than a structural change in BQ Watches' Rolex mix.
The Rolex Submariner recorded a 31-day all-stock median in July 2026 (owned-only 32 days) — slower than the 26-day all-stock reading in July 2025 and the first monthly edition of the series in which the Submariner has run slower than its year-on-year comparison. The Submariner has held one of the fastest sustained rhythms of any Rolex family across the year (owned-only readings across April-July: 35, 39, 41, 32 days). The July slowing is against a very fast Jul 2025 baseline (26 days) rather than a departure from the family's recent pattern. Whether the Submariner's YoY comparison improves in August 2026 will be tracked.
Partially. Customer-side ChatGPT attribution recorded one transaction in July 2026 — the first customer-side ChatGPT-attributed record since April 2026, following two consecutive zero-record months in May and June. Sample sizes remain well below the index suppression threshold. Spencer Dryer's forecast in the Q1 2026 quarterly editorial commentary of a measurable share by the Q2 2026 quarterly did not materialise; the pattern of one customer-side record in July after two zero months is a single-record data point rather than confirmation of recovery. The Q3 2026 quarterly edition will provide the higher-confidence pooled reading for the period.
The owned-only all-Rolex median for July 2026 (85 days) sits within one day of the all-stock July 2025 reading (84 days), which on a like-for-like basis suggests that the pace of BQ Watches' owned Rolex inventory turnover in July 2026 is broadly in line with the equivalent 2025 period. The gap between the all-stock reading (63 days) and the owned-only reading (85 days) is the compositional effect of consignment-route transactions recording close to zero days in stock. Prior-year data does not carry a consignment flag, so a true like-for-like owned-only comparison against July 2025 is not computable; the all-stock comparison remains the metric with historical continuity.
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.