Want a new luxury watch? Trade in the one on your wrist

Washington

LUXURY watch seller Danny Govberg is very busy these days with his Philadelphia-based company, even when he is selling fewer new timepieces than he used to.

That is because his 102-year-old emporium, Govberg Jewelers, is seeing an explosion in the secondhand market, where the wealthy owners of expensive wristwatches such as Patek Philippe and Rolex are increasingly trading their used ones for a different (but not necessarily brand-new) style. It is one of the biggest changes that Mr Govberg has seen in the industry's market landscape in the past two decades.

Swiss watchmakers have traditionally viewed the preowned market as competition; as the thinking goes, the only watch that can supplant a new Rolex in the shopping cart of a brand-devoted shopper is a vintage Rolex. But Switzerland has started to embrace the resale movement, hoping to lure…