In one paragraphUK pre-owned luxury watch demand, channel mix, stock-route composition, and reference-level liquidity, compiled from BQ Watches' own transaction record.
In March 2026, BQ Watches recorded the first transaction in its record where the customer's discovery source was attributed to ChatGPT - the first time generative AI search has appeared in the BQ Watches customer-acquisition mix. The acceleration in pre-owned Rolex turnover first reported in January 2026 extended to a third consecutive month, with the all-Rolex median days-to-sell at 46 days versus 93 days in March 2025. Approximately 30% of March 2026 sales involved consignment-route stock - the first edition in which this dimension is published in the index series.
BQ Watches recorded its first ChatGPT-attributed transaction. In March 2026, a customer's discovery source was attributed to ChatGPT for the first time in BQ Watches' record. The transaction is, to BQ Watches' knowledge, the first publicly documented case of a UK pre-owned luxury watch dealer recording a generative AI search referral as the customer's stated discovery source. While too early to publish as a metric, the milestone marks the entry of generative AI search into the customer-acquisition mix that the index will track in future editions.
The acceleration in pre-owned Rolex turnover extended to a third consecutive month. The median days-to-sell across all Rolex transactions at BQ Watches was 46 days in March 2026, compared to 93 days in March 2025, and broadly in line with the 41-day reading set in our February 2026 edition. Pre-owned Rolex turnover at BQ Watches has now run at materially less than half its prior-year pace for three consecutive months — the most sustained acceleration recorded since the index series began.
Approximately 30% of March 2026 sales involved consignment-route stock. March 2026 is the first edition in which the index publishes the share of sales involving stock that was acquired into BQ Watches' inventory under a consignment arrangement, alongside outright owned stock. The dimension is enabled by a recent change to BQ Watches' transactional source data and applies prospectively from this edition onwards; prior editions do not include the dimension.
The Rolex Daytona transacted at the index suppression threshold for the first time in 2026, with a reading materially affected by consignment composition. After being suppressed from the days-to-sell table in January 2026 and February 2026, the Rolex Daytona met the threshold for both rank and days-to-sell in March 2026. Approximately half of the Daytona transactions in March were consignment-route stock, which structurally transacts at very low days-to-sell readings; the family's reading should be interpreted alongside that composition note rather than as a like-for-like comparison with owned-stock-only readings.
In-person contact at the Radlett showroom and Hatton Garden viewing office softened in March 2026 after February's year-on-year rise. In our February 2026 edition, the share of completed-sale contact attributable to in-person engagement had risen to approximately 25% from approximately 20% in February 2025. In March 2026, in-person contact share moderated to approximately 20%, below the March 2025 reading of approximately 30%. The single-month reversal is consistent with month-to-month volatility and the channel-mix patterns observed across the broader UK luxury secondary market; the directional in-person signal will be reassessed across forthcoming editions before any sustained shift is concluded.
The Rolex reference families that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in March 2026, ranked by transaction share within Rolex:
The Submariner reclaimed second place from the GMT-Master after the GMT-Master had moved into second in February 2026; the Datejust held the top rank for the third consecutive month of the index series. The Rolex Sea-Dweller, which appeared at threshold for the first time in the previous edition, recorded fewer than ten transactions in March 2026 and is therefore aggregated within the "other Rolex" grouping for this edition. All other Rolex reference families also recorded transaction volumes below the index suppression threshold for March 2026 individually.
| Reference family | Median days-to-sell, Mar 2026 | Median days-to-sell, Mar 2025 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolex Daytona | 1 | — | n/a (Mar 2025 sample below threshold; see composition note) |
| Rolex GMT-Master | 24 | 9 | Slower YoY |
| Rolex Submariner | 39 | 23 | Slower YoY |
| Rolex Datejust | 107 | 146 | Faster |
| All Rolex (combined) | 46 | 93 | Faster |
The all-Rolex picture continues the multi-month acceleration trend, but March 2026 is the first edition in which year-on-year direction is mixed at the family level: the Datejust was materially faster than its March 2025 comparison, while the Submariner and GMT-Master both transacted slightly slower than their exceptionally fast March 2025 readings. The Rolex Daytona's 1-day median in March 2026 is materially affected by consignment composition (see the Stock route composition section); approximately half of the Daytona transactions at threshold this month were consignment-route stock, which transacts at structurally lower days-to-sell readings than owned stock. Future quarterly editions will stratify the days-to-sell metric by stock route to support cleaner like-for-like comparison.
Rolex returned to approximately six in ten of all watches sold at BQ Watches in March 2026, recovering from the approximately 50% share recorded in February 2026 and broadly in line with the January 2026 reading. The Rolex share has now run between approximately 50% and approximately 65% across the first three editions of the index series; the longer-run direction will become readable across the quarterly edition.
Brand share rounded to the nearest 5%. Only brands that met the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index suppression threshold in March 2026 are named individually; all other brands are aggregated within the "all other brands combined" line.
March 2026 is the first edition of the index in which the share of completed sales involving consignment-route stock is published. The dimension is enabled by a change to BQ Watches' transactional source data that flags whether each item was, at any point, held under consignment prior to its eventual sale.
Consignment-route stock transacts at a structurally different days-to-sell rhythm from owned-stock route, because the consignment arrangement typically begins close to the eventual sale and the watch does not sit in BQ Watches' working inventory in the same way. Where a finding in a future edition is materially affected by consignment composition, the affected reading will be flagged with a composition note. Future quarterly editions will publish stratified days-to-sell figures (consignment vs owned) where sample size permits the suppression threshold to be met within each route.
In March 2026, the contact method through which a customer engaged BQ Watches before completing a sale broke down approximately as follows:
The telephone-enquiry lead over bqwatches.com was slightly wider in March 2026 than in February 2026, while remaining within the band the two channels have run in across the index series to date. The in-person reading of approximately 20% is the lowest of the three editions of the index series and represents a partial reversal of the year-on-year growth in in-person engagement reported in the February 2026 edition; whether the March 2026 reading marks a return to a longer-run baseline or a one-month dip will be reassessed in subsequent editions.
All published metrics in this March 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 and stock-route 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.
This edition introduces the published stock-route composition dimension (consignment vs owned) for the first time, enabled by a recent change to BQ Watches' transactional source data. The dimension is added to subsequent editions onwards; prior editions 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.
The single transaction recorded in March 2026 is too small a sample to publish as a metric, but it marks the moment generative AI search joined the customer-acquisition mix that BQ Watches tracks. As models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude continue to surface UK pre-owned luxury watch retailers in their answers, the share of customers attributing their discovery to a generative AI search engine is expected to grow. BQ Watches will track this dimension across forthcoming editions and report when ChatGPT or any other named generative AI source meets the index suppression threshold.
Approximately half of the Daytona transactions that met the index suppression threshold in March 2026 were consignment-route stock, which transacts at very low days-to-sell readings because the watch does not sit in BQ Watches' working inventory in the same way as owned stock. The reading is correctly computed under the index methodology and reported under the suppression threshold, but readers should interpret it alongside the composition note rather than as a like-for-like comparison with owned-stock-only readings from prior editions. Future quarterly editions will stratify days-to-sell by stock route.
Consignment-route stock refers to watches sold through BQ Watches under a consignment arrangement with the original owner, rather than watches that BQ Watches purchased outright into its own inventory before sale. Both routes are standard in the UK pre-owned luxury watch trade. The dimension is being published from March 2026 onwards because BQ Watches' transactional source data now reliably flags the route per transaction; prior editions did not have access to the same flag and are not retroactively updated.
The 46-day all-Rolex median in March 2026 is fractionally above the 41-day reading in February 2026, but well below the 93-day comparison set in March 2025 and the 117-day reading from February 2025. The three editions of the index series to date all sit in a 41-50 day band for all-Rolex median days-to-sell, against prior-year readings between 90 and 120 days. Whether this represents a new sustained baseline for UK pre-owned Rolex turnover or a temporary state will be readable across the first quarterly edition.
The Sea-Dweller's first appearance at the index suppression threshold in February 2026 was published as a notable but not yet sustained finding. March 2026 saw the Sea-Dweller record fewer than ten transactions, returning the family to the aggregated "other Rolex" grouping for this edition. The index will continue to track whether the Sea-Dweller meets the threshold in subsequent editions; one month at threshold remains a notable entrance rather than a confirmed shift.
The quarterly edition for Q1 2026, due to be published in the first month following the close of the quarter, will pool transactions across January, February and March to support reference-level analysis at higher statistical confidence. The quarterly edition will also stratify the days-to-sell metric by stock route (consignment vs owned), introduce the BQ Watches Transaction Price Index, and present the Liquidity Report at family level with three months of pooled data. The findings reported in monthly editions are point-in-time snapshots; the quarterly edition is where deeper structural analysis becomes possible.
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.
