The 2 Best Days Of The Year To Resell Luxury Watches For The Most Money Back

The pre-owned watch market works round the clock, but its busiest times follow the calendar. Each Valentine's Day brings a clear rise in luxury gift buying. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans planned to spend a record $27.5 billion on the holiday in 2025, with $6.5 billion of that going to jewelry and watches, more than they'll spend on flowers, candy, and cards combined. That Valentine's Day spending creates a short window for sellers to get better offers on luxury watches that might otherwise sit unsold for months, even with cheaper Rolex alternatives now trending.

Marketplaces that handle luxury items see the increase first. The RealReal, the world's largest authenticated resale marketplace, tells consignors that diamond jewelry, and by extension prestige watches, sell well on Valentine's Day and Christmas, making February 14 one of a few times each year when both buyer traffic and closing prices rise together.

Specialist watch sites follow a similar pattern. Bob's Watches curates a "Rolex Valentine's Day Collection" and publishes gift guides each year because inquiries and conversions grow in the run-up to the holiday. Even bullion and estate jewelry buyers like American Gold & Diamond say Valentine's Day is the best time to sell diamond pieces.

December's holiday rush turns gift shopping into a spending wave, and jewelry, watches included, rides right at the top. Mastercard's SpendingPulse reports U.S. holiday sales rose 3.8% in 2024, with jewelry up 4%. Ten percent of all holiday spending happened in just the five days before Christmas Eve. For anyone selling a high-end watch, that last-minute surge means more buyers with bigger budgets hunting for gifts when listings are few. In fact, the Yuletide season is one of the few moments workers think of buying a gift for their bosses.

Resale platforms back up the trend. The RealReal's seller guide names Christmas, along with Valentine's Day, as one of just two peak moments when diamond jewelry and luxury watches "sell well," thanks to a mix of emotion and limited supply. On the dealer side, WatchGuys, via City A.M., saw a 33% jump in December sales in 2023 and expected even more activity in 2024 as buyers were likely to chase deals on Rolex, Cartier, and Patek Philippe before the holidays wrap up.

To catch the best offers as a seller, you can list just after Thanksgiving. This gives time for authentication and photos before the holiday rush. Since jewelry gifts are bought in the final days before Christmas, listing by early December puts your watch in front of serious buyers when inventory is low and demand is high. Miss that window, and you might wait a full year.

Smart sellers don't just wait for the big holidays, they take advantage of other days that can still increase the demand for luxury watches. Brand moments are a key example. When the Victoria & Albert Museum launched its major Cartier exhibition in April 2025, running through November, over 350 items including watches and clocks filled social media and fashion coverage, putting Cartier back in the spotlight.

The second big moment comes with the watch industry's own launch season. Every April, Watches & Wonders Geneva turns into the watch world's version of fashion week, and buyers respond fast. In 2024, the event drew a record 49,000 visitors and over 10,000 retailer meetings, with organizers seeing a sharp rise in direct client orders.

When brands like Rolex and Cartier reveal new models, collectors often sell off older pieces to make room (and money) for the latest release. Listing a similar pre-owned watch during, or right after, W&W helps private sellers catch that wave of upgrade traffic while major retailers are still low on stock. Then, there are calendar moments tied to gifting and big spending. In the U.S., for example, Mother's Day drives around $6.8 billion in jewelry sales (including watches), according to the National Retail Federation, a trend that would not fade away even as more Americans are going child-free.