Philipp Man, youthful co-founder of pre-owned reseller, Chronext, offers his own frank feelings on the future of what people used to call the grey market, in the wake of Richemont?s purchase of Watchfinder and a recent spate of ?refurbished? vintage initiatives by several top-end brands

When Marc Rich (nicknamed the King of Oil) envisioned the spot-market for crude oil in the 1970s, thereby creating the largest commodity house in the world (Glencore today), trading oil at the equilibrium price of demand and supply was unthinkable. This was something left for pork-bellies and agricultural products, surely not oil ? a product mostly sold at long-term contracts back then.
Much as Marc Rich revolutionised the commodity landscape, Audemars Piguet CEO Francois Bennahmias? statement that ?second-hand is the next big thing in the watch industry? sent paradigm-shifting tremors through the collective minds of watch brands. The pre-owned luxury watch market has been estimated by some to be as large as ?20 billion in sales annually with ?900 billion in watches across the globe waiting to be traded. Before the AP chief?s statement, this market was regarded as something of a dusty offline obscurity moving digitally through uncontrolled means. Pre-owned and vintage watch sales have been highlighted as the next big thing by Audemars Piguet CEO Francois-Henry Bennahmias
But the industry has now shifted significant focus onto the ?Certified Pre-owned future? it is facing. Recent initiatives...