Pre-Owned Watches: Trust, Stories & That Giddy Feeling
Luke Brewer, watches.co.uk, speaks to host Faye Soteri about the pre-owned market.
The Real Value of Buying Pre-Owned Luxury Watches
The world of pre-owned luxury watches has never been more relevant. As collectors look beyond authorised dealers, waiting lists and inflated retail prices, the second-hand watch market has become a destination in its own right — offering rarity, value, and something new watches often lack: character. From discontinued icons to investment-worthy modern pieces, buying a pre-owned watch today is less about compromise and more about confidence.
In this episode of Watch World with Faye, I sit down with Luke Brewer from Watches.co.uk, one of the UK’s most established pre-owned luxury watch retailers, to explore how the market really works. From authentication and pricing to scarcity, sustainability and emotional value, we go beyond the sales pitch and into the realities of collecting watches that have already lived a life — and are ready for their next chapter.
The excitment around pre-owned watches is palpable. Luke Brewer has worked in UK watch retail for nearly three decades, from high street dealers to Hatton Garden, before joining Watches.co.uk.
Why Pre-Owned Luxury Watches Are More Popular Than Ever
There’s something deeply reassuring about speaking to someone who knows exactly why they love watches — and isn’t afraid to admit that, on paper, they are entirely unnecessary.
I headed to Chiswick to sit behind several layers of security doors (Fort Knox, but with better lighting) with Luke from Watches.co.uk. What followed was an honest, occasionally chaotic, and refreshingly human conversation about pre-owned watches, trust, scarcity, and why some of the most valuable things we buy have absolutely nothing to do with money.
From High Street Retail to Pre-Owned Watch Specialist
Luke’s watch journey begins the way many good ones do: at 16, in an Ernest Jones in Kingston upon Thames. From there, it snowballed — Goldsmiths, Hatton Garden, and eventually Watches.co.uk, where he now lives what he describes as the horological equivalent of working in a sweet shop.
What stood out early on was that even when Luke was surrounded by brand-new pieces in authorised dealerships, it was always the pre-owned cabinet that pulled him in. The variety. The personality. The fact that watches from the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s felt less cookie-cutter and more… lived in.
And that, really, is the heart of pre-owned luxury watches.
The Value of Buying Pre-Owned Watches
Stories, Character and Emotional Value
Buying new is wonderful — it’s a blank slate, a story waiting to be written. But pre-owned watches arrive with chapters already filled in.
Luke talked about Tudor Submariners worn by Navy divers, vintage pieces with scars earned honestly, and even a Patek Philippe chronograph that has been sold to Watches.co.uk not once, but twice — bought, sold back, bought again. You simply don’t get that kind of relationship with a brand-new watch still clinging to its factory stickers.
A pre-owned luxury watch invites curiosity:
Who wore it before you?
What did it see?
Why did it come back?
That sense of continuity — of time layered on time — is where a lot of the magic lives.
When Second-Hand Watches Make Financial Sense
While not every pre-owned watch is an “investment,” buying second-hand can often mean better value retention, access to discontinued references, and realistic pricing in a post-hype market. Slow, steady growth beats dizzy peaks every time — something today’s collectors understand far better than they did a few years ago.
How the Pre-Owned Watch Buying Process Works
For anyone intimidated by the idea of buying pre-owned luxury watches, Luke broke it down simply: it starts with people.
Most stock comes from private clients — collectors with three watches or thirty — who are refining, reshaping, or simply making space for the next obsession. Watches are appraised, inspected in-house, checked by experienced technicians and watchmakers (including a former Rolex-accredited specialist), and vetted through international stolen watch registers.
If anything feels off, they walk away.
In nearly 30 years, Watches.co.uk has never been caught out — and they don’t intend to start now.
How Pre-Owned Watches Are Priced
Pricing is equal parts data, experience and market psychology. UK listings, condition, box and papers, auction results and time on the market all play a role. If a watch doesn’t sell, it’s reviewed. No mysticism. No ego.
What you’re really buying isn’t just a watch. It’s peace of mind.
Investment Watches vs Watches You Actually Wear
Yes, people ask about investment — all the time. But Luke’s advice was refreshingly blunt: if you don’t love it, don’t buy it.
Even the best “investment” watch makes no sense if it leaves you cold. Most people want something they can wear, enjoy, and build memories with — not something locked in a vault gathering theoretical value.
The watches people cherish most are rarely the most expensive. They’re the ones worn by a parent, bought with a first bonus, or carried through a milestone moment. Cost and value are not the same thing — and the pre-owned watch market understands that better than most.
Investment Watches vs Watches You Actually Wear
Yes, people ask about investment — all the time. But Luke’s advice was refreshingly blunt: if you don’t love it, don’t buy it.
Even the best “investment” watch makes no sense if it leaves you cold. Most people want something they can wear, enjoy, and build memories with — not something locked in a vault gathering theoretical value.
The watches people cherish most are rarely the most expensive. They’re the ones worn by a parent, bought with a first bonus, or carried through a milestone moment. Cost and value are not the same thing — and the pre-owned watch market understands that better than most.
Iconic Pre-Owned Watches We Discussed
During the conversation, we handled some extraordinary pieces:
Pre-owned Patek Philippe Nautilus with a perpetual calendar
Platinum Rolex Daytona
Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy
Rolex Submariner (non-date)
The now-legendary Tiffany blue Oyster Perpetual
Some trade above retail. Some well above. And some — not surprisingly — are already under offer.
Why Buying Pre-Owned Watches Isn’t a Compromise
If there’s one misconception Luke would like to retire, it’s that pre-owned means less than.
Sometimes it means more:
More character
More access to discontinued icons
More sustainability
More immediate availability (no waiting lists, no politics)
In many cases, buying a pre-owned luxury watch isn’t the cheaper option at all — it’s the rarer one. And in today’s luxury landscape, scarcity is the real flex.
Last Thought
What I loved most about this conversation wasn’t the watches — as spectacular as they were — but the perspective.
Pre-owned isn’t about shortcuts. It’s about continuity. It’s about trust, relationships, and understanding that a watch doesn’t just tell the time — it tells a story.
And sometimes, if you’re lucky, it tells more than one.
Faye Soteri, Watch World with Faye, December 16, 2025
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