A recent report from Morgan Stanley and Luxe Consult on the world’s top 50 watch brands found that Rolex now has a 32.1% market share – 300% more than its closest competitor, Cartier, with 8%. Impressive figures to be sure, but we wondered how that translated to sales in the pre-owned and vintage market. Since we happen to be the world’s largest, most reputable and most transparent online luxury-watch retailer, we’re able to answer the question more completely and accurately than any else.
Thus according to our own data, Rolex’s share of the pre-owned luxury market is actually much bigger than it’s overall market share, at 73.8%. Granted, we are the world’s foremost experts and top single-source seller of vintage Rolex, so naturally the iconic luxury brand will always account for a major portion of our sales; but since Bob’s Watches’ own market share is impressively large, this is unquestionably a leading and dependable market indicator.
The Bob’s Best-Selling Luxury Watch Brands of 2024
In terms of brand market-share, Rolex as we noted accounts for 73.8% of all Bob’s Watches sales, while the next biggest is OMEGA watches at 7.2% followed by Tudor watches with 3.9%, Oris with 2.2%, and Cartier at 1.9%. Other brands that didn’t rack up significant sales on their own, such as Patek Philippe and Breitling, when banded together accounted for 11% of total sales. Thus the top three brands – Rolex, OMEGA and Tudor – account for nearly 85% of the market. The highest-selling watch model overall was the famed Rolex Submariner, with Datejust models coming in second, while the OMEGA Seamaster and Tudor Black Bay also made a showing, albeit much lower down on the list.
The Most Popular Pre-Owned Watch Models of 2024
Regarding the most popular models sold on Bob’s Watches in 2024, Rolex again dominates the field with OMEGA and Tudor watches also putting in appearances. Our top 10 most popular watches list reads as follows:
- Rolex Submariner
- Rolex Datejust 36
- Rolex Datejust
- Rolex GMT-Master II
- OMEGA Seamaster
- Rolex Daytona
- Rolex Lady Datejust
- Rolex Date [Oysterdate]
- Tudor Black Bay
- OMEGA Speedmaster.
We’d say that the position of the Rolex Daytona on the list reflects the higher prices for those models, while the impressive showing of the OMEGA Seamaster is no doubt down to popular marketing efforts involving ex-007 Daniel Craig.
The Best-Selling Vintage Watches of 2024
Dialing in on vintage models only, of course, Rolex crushes the competition here as well, with the attractively priced Datejust 36 leading the pack. The complete list reads as follows:
- Rolex Datejust 36
- Rolex Submariner
- Rolex Datejust [any size]
- Rolex Date [Oysterdate]
- Tudor Black Bay
- Rolex Lady Datejust
- Rolex Day-Date [President]
- Rolex GMT-Master II
- Rolex GMT-Master
- Rolex Oyster Perpetual
Once again, the Tudor Black Bay’s result shows that this is one of the most sought-after non-Rolex models on the market. It’s also worth noting that among vintage models, the Day-Date, aka “President,” commands the highest average price.
Key Trends in Pre-Owned Watch Preferences
Most retailers’ data stops well before this point, but we have a lot more market insights to share with you, starting off with the breakdown of the most popular case sizes, dial colors, and metal types. For case sizes, 40mm is the reigning champ at 32%, followed by 36mm at 26%, while the once-standard 42mm is lagging a bit at 12%. Black is still the most favored dial color at 37%, with silver clocking in at 22% in the next most prominent position, though blue is gaining at 18%. And regarding metal types, stainless steel is overwhelmingly preferred at 62%, with two-tone options at 18% gaining in popularity, ahead of gold at 13%.
The Most Iconic Rolex Nicknamed Watches of 2024
And we’ll leave you with one of our favorite statistics of all, our best-selling nicknamed watch models in 2024. Of course, these are all from the most desirable brand in the world. The full list reads as follows:
- Rolex “Pepsi” [GMT-Master II]
- Rolex “Root Beer” [GMT-Master]
- Rolex “Wimbledon” [Datejust]
- Rolex “Polar” [Explorer II]
- Rolex “Kermit” [Submariner]
- Rolex “Panda” [Daytona]
- Rolex “Batman” [GMT-Master II]
- Rolex “Paul Newman” [Daytona]
Icons of beauty, precision and prestige, one and all.
