Watch Value Calculator
An indicative range, read from the tier, the condition and what came in the box.
Most pre-owned luxury watches sell for about 50–80% of their current retail price, and a dealer buying for stock pays about 35–60%. A few makers beat that: in mid-2026 Patek Philippe, Rolex and Audemars Piguet traded on average above retail, while Omega and Cartier sat around 25–35% below it. The exact reference, condition and box and papers move the figure most.
Figures reviewed September 2026
$1,440 – $3,400
Mid-luxury Swiss · excellent · box and papers
The reference itself. Two watches from the same maker, the same year, can trade four times apart on demand alone.
A full service on a movement of this kind runs roughly $350 – $750. A buyer will subtract it if one is due.
The reference itself moves this more than anything above
An orientation, not an appraisal. Two watches with the same specification and different references routinely trade several times apart.
An indicative range, not a formal valuation.
What a watch is worth, and why the reference matters more than the maker
A watch does not have a price; a reference does. Two watches from the same house, the same year and the same case metal can trade four times apart because one reference is wanted and the other is not. That is the single hardest thing to explain to somebody who has inherited a watch and wants a figure, and it is why every honest estimate is a range.
This calculator works in tiers rather than names. It takes the level the maker sits at, the kind of watch, its condition, its age and what comes with it, and returns an indicative secondary-market range. It is an orientation before you talk to a dealer, not a valuation.
Box and papers are worth real money
On a modern luxury watch, the full set — outer and inner box, warranty card or certificate, booklets, spare links, tags — routinely accounts for ten to twenty percent of the value. It sounds absurd for cardboard until you understand what a buyer is really paying for: proof of where the watch came from, and evidence it has not been assembled from parts.
If you have them, keep them together with the watch. If you do not, price accordingly rather than hoping nobody asks.
Originality beats condition
Collectors pay for original parts, not for shine. A repainted dial, replaced hands, a service bezel or a heavily polished case all move a watch from collectible to merely wearable, and the discount is severe on anything vintage. Over-polishing is the most common damage of all: it rounds the case edges and thins the lugs, and it cannot be undone.
Honest wear on original parts is worth more than a watch that has been made to look new. Do not have anything cosmetically restored before you sell it without asking a specialist first.
Service history, and the bill a buyer subtracts
A mechanical movement wants a full service every five to seven years. On a mid-luxury Swiss watch that is a few hundred dollars; at the top of the market it runs well into four figures. A buyer looking at a watch that has not been serviced in a decade does the arithmetic and takes it off your asking price, so a documented recent service is often worth more than it cost.
Quartz watches escape this. A battery and a gasket check is the whole story, which is also why they are valued as objects to wear rather than as machines to keep.
Retail, private sale and a dealer's offer
The figure here is an indicative secondary-market range — what a comparable watch changes hands for between individuals. A dealer buying for stock will offer meaningfully less, because they have to fund it, service it, warrant it and wait for a buyer. Insurance replacement value is a different question again, and higher.
Which makers hold their value in 2026
The Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts value-retention figures for the second quarter of 2026 put three makers' pre-owned prices above retail on average: Patek Philippe at about 15 percent over, Rolex at about 10 percent over and Audemars Piguet at about 3 percent over. Omega and Cartier sat roughly a quarter to a third under retail, and most other Swiss makers further below. Over the year to that quarter, retention improved for every maker tracked — pre-owned prices rose faster than the makers' own retail increases.
Those are brand averages across the references the index tracks, which lean towards the most traded models. Inside any maker the spread is wide — a steel sports reference and a precious-metal dress watch from the same house can sit on opposite sides of retail.
The arithmetic, in the open
The calculator starts from a mid figure for the maker's tier, multiplies by factors for the kind of watch, condition, what comes with it, whether it has been serviced and its age, and returns a range from sixty-two to one hundred and forty-five percent of the result. The tables below are computed from those figures.
| Maker's tier | Indicative secondary-market range | Makers usually read at this tier |
|---|---|---|
| Fashion or high-street | $28 – $66 | Fossil, Michael Kors, Daniel Wellington |
| Entry mechanical | $270 – $630 | Seiko, Hamilton, Tissot |
| Mid-luxury Swiss | $1,400 – $3,400 | Tudor, Longines, TAG Heuer, Oris |
| Luxury Swiss | $6,100 – $14,200 | Rolex, Omega, Cartier, IWC |
| Independent or haute horlogerie | $23,200 – $54,300 | Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne |
From the calculator above. The tier is an average; a wanted reference from a top maker can trade well above its row, and an unloved one well below.
| Input | Factor applied |
|---|---|
| Maker's tier (starting mid figure) | Fashion or high-street $140 · Entry mechanical $620 · Mid-luxury Swiss $2,600 · Luxury Swiss $11,000 · Independent or haute horlogerie $42,000 |
| Kind of watch | Quartz, three-hand ×0.55 · Mechanical, three-hand ×0.90 · Automatic with date ×1.00 · Diver or pilot ×1.20 · Chronograph ×1.35 · Complication (GMT, moonphase, perpetual) ×1.75 |
| Condition | Unworn ×1.15 · Excellent ×1.00 · Good, honest wear ×0.82 · Fair, needs attention ×0.60 · Not running ×0.40 |
| What comes with it | Box and papers ×1.15 · One or the other ×1.05 · Watch only ×0.90 |
| Serviced in the last five years | Yes ×1.08 · No ×0.94 |
| Age | Luxury tiers lose about 3.5% a year for a decade, then recover slowly on wanted pieces; entry mechanical loses 7% a year and fashion watches 14% |
| Range | ×0.62 to ×1.45 around the result |
Indicative US secondary-market figures. Sold prices for your exact reference override every row.
Questions we are asked
- How much is my watch worth?
- Set the maker's tier, the kind of watch, its condition, age and what comes with it above for an indicative range. Be aware that demand for the exact reference moves the figure more than any of those inputs — sold listings for your specific reference are the only real answer.
- Do watches hold their value?
- A small number of steel sports references from a handful of houses hold most of their retail price or exceed it. Almost everything else loses between a third and two-thirds on the way out of the shop, and fashion or quartz watches lose nearly all of it.
- Does a watch service increase its value?
- It protects value more than it adds it, but a documented recent service is often worth more than the bill, because a buyer prices in the cost of the service they would otherwise have to pay for.
- Is it worth polishing a watch before selling?
- Usually not. Polishing removes metal, rounds the case lines and reduces value on anything collectible. Clean it, do not refinish it.
- Which watch brands hold their value best?
- In mid-2026, Patek Philippe, Rolex and Audemars Piguet were the only makers whose pre-owned watches traded above retail on average, at roughly 15%, 10% and 3% over respectively. Omega and Cartier held roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of retail, and most other brands less.
Watch Resale Value by Brand
What the watches people actually own fetch on the secondary market, against what they cost new — dated, sourced and read maker by maker.
Beyond the EstimateRead the watch itself
This calculator works from what you type. The instrument works from a photograph — the watch recognised, and a range with it.