We’ve known for some time that the watch industry is (finally) starting to move into the e-commerce space, but a bit of a deeper dive into the vast ocean that is Amazon revealed that there are a lot more high ticket new and pre-owned watches floating around than there were when they got into the pre-owned space a while back. We recently saw eBay promoting a Rolex sale as they partnered with retailers across North America, but for one reason or another it seems Amazon is being a bit quiet about all of this. First stumbling across a listing for a Richard Mille, of all things, we dug a little deeper and quickly realized that there an almost ridiculous number of six figure watches hiding on the site.
Can You Trust It?
The best advice we can give on this front is the same we give on a lot of purchasing decisions—do your research. While some of the retailers (Watchbox, for instance) have a longstanding history and reputation in the online sales space, whereas others in the mix (in particular the sketchy looking Luxury Bazaar CPO Watches and their 78% rating on only 9 reviews) are obvious ones to avoid. As some of our forum readers called out when the pre-owned Amazon watch market opened up, pre-owned watches are being offered with a grading from a 3rd party service called WatchFacts, however it’s not foolproof. Thankfully WatchFacts will back up their reports with a guarantee, so if for some reason the watch lands and doesn’t live up to the grading you aren’t left high and dry.
Whats Out There?
While there are a lot of more middle-of-the-road offerings from the likes of Audemars Piguet, Rolex, and others, four pieces jumped out at us while scrolling through the Amazon archives that caught our eye.
Priced at $169,500, this all platinum world timer on bracelet—complete with an enamelled world map dial—is the paramount of modern Patek world timers. Being platinum it doesn’t have that same flashy feel as solid gold pieces, making it one of those fantastic examples of “stealth wealth” so long as you’re not travelling in watch enthusiast circles.
2. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Rose Gold Tourbillon Chronograph
From stealth to not stealth at all, this more recent edition of the Royal Oak Concept. This manually wound tourbillon chronograph mates 18k rose gold with white ceramic accents for its crown, pushers, and bezel, giving it a bold and brash look that aligns well with its hefty 44mm case size.
3. Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi 126710BLRO
While nowhere near as pricey as the other selects we spotted, it’s the sheer scarcity of these Pepsi-bezel Rolex GMT-Master II models that made this posting noteworthy. Granted, they’ve got it listed at a hefty premium over retail list price—$18,995—but that’s pretty much going rate for the model for those not willing to sit through the multi-year Rolex waiting list.
4. Richard Mille RM 11 Felipe Massa Microblasted Titanium
One of several uncommon deviations of the Richard Mille RM 11, this titanium cased chronograph had us scratching our heads for a second, as other versions exist with either a red rehaut or white indices. It’s worth noting that this model was originally offered on a black strap, and not a red one, but we don’t mind the change-up one bit.
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