Audemars Piguet, best known for its Royal Oak model, is starting its long-anticipated certified pre-owned watch service program, launching a digital platform called ‘The Watch Keepers’ that will bring together buyers and sellers of the Swiss brand’s watches inspected and guaranteed by the company’s in-house experts.
Images courtesy Audemars Piguet
Designed as a digital marketplace, the program will roll out in Switzerland and Europe starting today and will facilitate sales of pre-owned Audemars Piguet watches at least two years old. Approved sellers will securely ship watches to the brand, where Audemars Piguet will examine and certify them as genuine and authentic. The brand will then photograph the watches, document them with listing details, and list them for sale at a set price or via bidding on The Watch Keepers platform, offering them to potential approved buyers using the service. Audemars Piguet will hold and store the watches until they sell and will facilitate delivery to buyers, who will receive a two-year functioning service guarantee on timepieces purchased on the platform. However, the seller will remain the owner of the watches until they are sold and delivered to a new owner.
The launch of the Audemars Piguet CPO program marks a significant expansion of the brand’s sales channels, as it already sells most of its new watches through company-owned boutiques. It also further legitimizes the secondary, or pre-owned, watch market and follows Rolex’s entry into the market with its own CPO program, facilitated by authorized dealers, including Watches of Switzerland, the parent company of Hodinkee, beginning in December, 2022. The Rolex CPO program began in Switzerland and Europe. It quickly expanded to other markets, including the U.S. Rolex CPO reached a record quarterly sales total of $229 million in the third quarter of 2026, with participating Rolex authorized dealers selling about 10,300 CPO watches over the three months, according to data compiled by WatchCharts.
Audemars Piguet has been considering entering the certified pre-owned market for years, dating back to former CEO François-Henri Bennahmias, who left the brand in 2024 and was replaced by Ilaria Resta. The former Procter & Gamble executive hired Marc Montagne, previously of Vacheron Constantin and Jaeger-LeCoultre, to lead Audemars Piguet’s own CPO program. The Watch Keeper platform is expected to increase customer contact, gather data and insights from clients and watch owners, and generate revenue through user fees.
The new AP CPO program “responds to strong demand from collectors and reinforces our commitment to supporting the long-term lifecycle of our watches,” Montagne, the Director of Audemars Piguet CPO, said in a statement.
The secondary market for pre-owned watches is growing faster than the primary market for new premium and luxury watches, according to Oliver Müller, the head of Swiss-based consulting firm LuxeConsult, with secondary market sales expected to overtake the primary market sometime between 2032 and 2038, depending on growth rates.
Secondary market sales transactions grew about 7% in 2025 to between CHF 22 billion and CHF 24 billion, according to LuxeConsult. That compares with primary, or new, watch retail transactions of about CHF 61 billion during the same period.
Just three brands, Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, account for about 61% of transaction values on the secondary market compared with about 45.5% of primary retail value, the consulting firm says in a new report.
Source: LuxeConsult
The Watch Keepers site will list about 100 Audemars Piguet watches at a time, and each listing will include a five-point grading system that assesses the aesthetic condition of the case, dial, and bracelet, the company says. Prospective buyers can consult brand sales associates in the form of digital avatars that guide and recommend products buyers may be interested in.
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