Watch geeks drive booming trade in preowned pieces

Around two dozen traders sit in an open-layout second floor of a building in suburban Philadelphia. Surrounded by computer monitors, loud conversation and ringing phones, the energy on this trading floor is high and the commodity is blingy.

At the headquarters of Govberg, they’re not dealing in diamonds or gold but preowned luxury watches, of which company sells about $200 million worth a year.

Some 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast, 23-year-old Christian Zeron sits in his parents’ dining room in suburban New Jersey looking at around 30 preowned vintage watches. In a few days, he’ll put them up for sale on his company’s website, theoandharris.com, which sells $2 million worth of watches annually.

Govberg, in the watch business for 35 years, and Theo & Harris, founded only three years ago, are part of the thriving preowned luxury watch business. Along with dozens of other companies, they are the core of an industry that has exploded over the past few years, rivaling the new luxury timepiece business in size.

“It’s bigger than people think,” said Reginald Brack, executive director and industry analyst for watches and luxury at NPD Group, which studies $2 trillion in consumer spending across 20 industries.

Brack said it’s difficult to quantify precisely the market for preowned watches because nobody tracks it thoroughly. But some estimates put it at three times the new luxury watch market, itself estimated to be worth up to $10 billion just in the U.S.

“I wouldn’t disagree with that statement,” Brack said. “And it’s only getting bigger.”

Even though watches have been disappearing from people’s wrists with the spread of mobile phones, luxury watches remain a popular status symbol. In fact, sales have slightly crept up in the last two years.

The preowned business allows shoppers to get a good deal on modern watches like Rolex Submariner, while also offering a large selection of vintage pieces like an early 20th Century Cartier Tank.