Bucherer is the world’s largest distributor of luxury watches, which means it’s responsible for representing the various brands it sells and providing a unique experience for every customer that comes in the door. But, for a long time, it’s been missing out on the lucrative pre-owned market. Other businesses, such as Watchfinder, have had great success based only on pre-owned sales, so it makes sense for Bucherer to dive in as well. Oddly, I hadn’t even noticed up until this point that they didn’t have a pre-owned section, but it makes sense for them.
“We want to redefine the luxury pre-owned watch market and offer these wonderful watches the platform and environment that they deserve as luxury goods[…]“
Guido Zumbühl
CEO of Bucherer
Bucherer owned brands in the US and UK have already had their own pre-owned programs, both Tourneau and The Watch Gallery have been selling second-hand watches for a while now, but Bucherer doing so itself is another step. For me, part of the problem with the pre-owned market is that some watches are straightforward to replicate (think Panerai and the like) to a high degree, making buying them pre-owned a nightmare that could go wrong at any point. Unfortunately for some, buying new watches like Panerais means the owner is stuck with the depreciation. Panerai isn’t the only brand that depreciates, mind, most of them will, but they warrant extra care to avoid being stung.
This new program should at least give people some peace of mind; companies like Bucherer will undoubtedly take special precautions to avoid reselling on high-quality counterfeit timepieces which are most definitely not fiction.
Bucherer not only sells a lot of high-end brands but provides servicing of their watches for them as well, meaning that it can offer investigations into certified pre-owned watches before they go on sale.
As a reseller of pre-owned watches, Bucherer will provide:
- An inspection to determine authenticity
- Checks to ensure the watch runs accurately and reaches full power reserve
- Reviews of all functions if included including quick-set date, chronographs etc
- Checks to ensure previous work carried out on incoming timepieces used genuine parts
- Ultrasonic cleaning and polishing of the case and bracelet
- Box and papers (if originals are missing expect a Bucherer box)
- A two-year warranty
For now, you need to be in Switzerland to get hands-on with their pre-owned timepieces, an entire floor of their sales premises in Geneva has been dedicated to pre-owned watches, with Germany to follow in late 2019 and Covent Garden in London due to see something like this in 2020. Bucherer will also offer pre-owned watches for sale online.
Visit Bucherer here.
