Market Index Methodology

Methodology, definitions, and the standing reference for every edition of the BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index.


The BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index is a recurring data publication compiled from BQ Watches' own transactional record. It exists to provide a UK-specific, transaction-grounded reference point for buyers, sellers, journalists, analysts and the wider trade in a market where most published indices report movement in asking prices on listing platforms rather than in completed transactions. Each edition publishes share, rank, index and median figures. No edition publishes absolute revenue, absolute transaction counts, or margin-related metrics.


This page is the canonical source for the index methodology, the glossary of terms, the standing rules that govern every edition, and the answers to the most common questions about how and why the index is produced. Each monthly, quarterly and annual edition links here rather than reproducing the content, so readers always see the most current version of the rules and so the index series accumulates authority on a single source page.

Why BQ Watches publishes this index

The UK pre-owned luxury watch market lacks a public source of transaction-level data. Major international indices, including the WatchCharts Overall Market Index and the Subdial Bloomberg Watch Index, report movement in asking prices on listing platforms — useful, but not the same as movement in completed transactions. Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry data covers global new-watch exports, not the UK secondary market. Auction houses publish hammer prices on a small sample of high-value lots. None of these sources answer the question a UK buyer or seller actually asks: what is happening in the UK pre-owned market right now?


BQ Watches has been buying and selling pre-owned luxury watches in the UK for over thirty years. The transactional record that underpins this index reflects real completed sales — what watches actually changed hands at what cadence, through which channels, at what relative pace — at a UK pre-owned dealer of meaningful scale. Publishing the index, in proportional and directional form, is BQ Watches' contribution to a market that benefits from more transparent reference points.

Editorial cadence

The index is published as a three-tier series.


A monthly edition is published in the first half of the month following the reporting month, after the prior month has been fully reconciled. Monthly editions cover brand-level and Rolex-family-level cuts.


A quarterly edition is published in the first month after each calendar quarter closes. Quarterly editions add reference-level analysis where the suppression threshold is met, the BQ Watches Transaction Price Index, and the Liquidity Report.


An annual edition is published in February for the prior calendar year. Annual editions add full reference-level analysis with year-on-year comparison, channel-mix evolution charts, and editorial market commentary.


Every edition is published with a one-month minimum lag from the reporting period to allow for full reconciliation of returns, late-clearing transactions and any post-month adjustments.

How the data is sourced

Each edition is compiled from BQ Watches' own invoiced transactions and stock acquisition records for the reporting period. Each completed transaction contributes one observation. Returns are netted out before publication. No third-party data is used in the index calculations themselves; public indices such as WatchCharts, Subdial and FH Switzerland are referenced where helpful for context but do not influence the figures reported.

What the index publishes — and what it does not

To protect commercially sensitive information about supply, pricing economics and trade activity, the index publishes share, rank, index and median figures only. The following classes of data are excluded from publication entirely, in any edition:

  • Absolute revenue, sales totals, or any figure that maps directly to revenue
  • Absolute transaction counts of any kind, including total monthly counts, brand-level counts, family-level counts and any breakdown from which a count could be reverse-derived
  • Gross profit, gross margin, or any metric from which channel margin economics could be inferred
  • Stock cost basis or current inventory value
  • Trade-customer dependency data
  • Specific named third-party platforms as line items in published channel breakdowns; these are aggregated as "third-party platforms" or described directionally in editorial prose
  • Raw transaction-level data, including in any downloadable dataset

The following classes of data are acceptable for publication:

  • Brand share as a percentage of unit transactions, rounded to the nearest 5%
  • Reference family share as a percentage of within-brand transactions, rounded to the nearest 5%
  • Median days-to-sell, in whole days
  • Rank lists
  • Index values relative to a baseline period
  • Quarter-on-quarter or year-on-year directional comparisons
  • Editorial prose describing channel-mix evolution at category level
  • A methodological credibility statement confirming that all published cells in an edition meet the suppression threshold of at least ten observations per cell

The suppression rule

Any cell or row in the index supported by fewer than ten observations is either suppressed or aggregated up to a parent grouping until the threshold is met. This applies uniformly across brand-level, family-level, channel-level, contact-method-level and reference-level breakdowns. The threshold itself (a minimum of ten observations per cell) may be referenced in the methodology section of any edition as a credibility marker; the actual observation counts may not be published in any edition. When a named brand, family, channel or contact method falls below the threshold for a given period, its row is rolled up into a parent "other" category for that period's edition.

Glossary


Days-to-sell.

The number of calendar days between BQ Watches acquiring a watch into its stock and the watch being sold to its end customer. Reported as a median across all qualifying transactions in the period. Returns are excluded. Negative or null values are excluded.

Reference family.

A grouping of Rolex (or other brand) reference numbers that share a common model designation. For example, all Rolex Submariner references — across precious metal variants, dial colours and bezel types — are aggregated into the Rolex Submariner family.

Brand share.

For a given brand, the count of completed sales of that brand divided by the total count of completed sales for the period, expressed as a percentage and rounded to the nearest 5%. Returns are excluded.

Reference family share.

For a given reference family within a brand, the count of completed sales of that family divided by the count of completed sales of the brand for the period, expressed as a percentage and rounded to the nearest 5%.

Sales contact method.

The channel through which the customer engaged BQ Watches in the transaction that ultimately resulted in a sale (website, telephone, in-person, and so on). A single sale has one attributed contact method.

Acquisition channel.

The route by which BQ Watches acquired the watch into its stock prior to its eventual sale.

Index value.

For an indexed metric, the value relative to the baseline period (Q1 2024 unless otherwise stated), expressed with the baseline = 100. Rounded to the nearest whole index point.

Suppression threshold.

The minimum number of observations (ten) that must support a published cell. Cells below the threshold are either suppressed or aggregated up to a parent grouping until the threshold is met.

Frequently asked questions

To protect commercially sensitive information about supply, pricing economics and trade activity. The index publishes proportional, ranked and directional measures only. Methodological credibility is conveyed through the suppression-threshold confirmation in each edition rather than through disclosed observation counts.

A faster median days-to-sell for a given reference family indicates that the market is absorbing supply of that reference at the prevailing UK pre-owned price level more readily than the previous comparable period. For sellers, this typically corresponds to stronger realisable prices and shorter time-on-market expectations.

BQ Watches' own invoiced transactions and stock acquisition records. No third-party data is used in the index calculations themselves. Public indices such as WatchCharts and FH Switzerland are referenced where helpful for context but do not influence the figures reported.

An aggregated dataset of the published metrics for each edition is available as a CSV download from the foot of that edition's page, structured to match the published tables. Transaction-level data is not released. The aggregated CSV is published with a Dataset schema so it can be discovered by data search engines.

The index is currently a first-party publication compiled and published by BQ Watches under a defined methodology and suppression rule. We are open to constructive engagement with academic researchers and trade journalists; verified methodology enquiries may be directed through the BQ Watches contact page.

A new monthly edition is published in the first half of each month covering the prior month. The index hub page lists every edition; subscribe to the BQ Watches newsletter to receive each edition by email.

About the editors

The BQ Watches Pre-Owned Market Index is co-edited by Simon Evans and Spencer Dryer.


Simon Evans, Chief Technology Officer, BQ Watches. Series editor and methodology lead. Simon owns the data pipeline, suppression rules and publication standards that govern the index.


Spencer Dryer, Managing Director, BQ Watches. Market commentary lead. Spencer oversees buying and selling at BQ Watches and provides the watch-market context and interpretation that accompanies the data findings.


The index is published by BQ Watches (Best Quality Watches Ltd), a UK pre-owned luxury watch dealer based in Radlett, Hertfordshire, with a satellite viewing office in Hatton Garden, London.


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