Methodology

Timepiece Hunter reads the public websites of pre-owned Rolex dealers in 16 countries, keeps the watches they list for sale, and computes median asking prices by model, reference and country. All figures are dealers' asking prices, not the prices watches sell for.

Where the listings come from

Every listing comes from a dealer's own public website: its online shop, its product feed or its stock pages. A small number of sources are marketplaces on which dealers list their stock. We use no logins, private data or paid data feeds. The dealers covered are listed on the markets page.

Our crawler identifies itself as TimepieceHunterBot and follows each website's robots.txt. If a website does not allow it, we do not read that website. Some dealers' websites refuse requests from the network our servers run on; those are read by a scheduled job run elsewhere, which follows the same robots.txt rules, and the pages it reads are processed in exactly the same way.

Each watch is counted in the country of the dealer that lists it.

How often listings are checked

Each dealer's full catalogue is read every 6 to 24 hours, depending on the dealer. About once an hour we also read each dealer's page of newest listings, so new watches are found between full reads.

For most dealers, each watch's own page is also checked: a watch not confirmed for more than 30 hours is queued for a check, and each listing's page also comes up for a rotating spot check five days after its last one. If a dealer's pages show watches as sold three times within two weeks while its catalogue still lists them, every one of that dealer's listing pages is checked daily.

A watch is treated as sold when the dealer marks it sold, in its catalogue data or on the watch's page. It is treated as removed when its page no longer exists or redirects elsewhere, or when it is missing from two complete catalogue reads in a row. A catalogue read that finds far fewer watches than the dealer had listed is treated as incomplete and removes nothing.

Watches marked reserved or on hold are left out of the catalogue and the figures. A watch that has not been confirmed for 10 days is hidden until it is confirmed again. A newly listed watch appears on public pages as soon as it is read and passes the checks below.

What is left out

Only Rolex watches are kept, and each listing needs a title, a photo and an identified model. Listings that cannot be read with enough confidence are held back.

Parts and accessories. Listings whose title shows they are not a whole watch, such as an empty box, a strap or bracelet on its own, a bezel insert, a clasp, a dial, spare links, booklets or a deposit, are left out.

Modified or doubtful watches. Listings whose text suggests a watch is not genuine or has been modified, with words such as "replica", "custom dial", "refinished dial" or "aftermarket bezel", are left out.

Implausible prices. A listing priced below 30% of the median for its reference (where at least five priced listings of the reference exist) is treated as a part, a deposit or a misread price, and hidden. Without a reference, the threshold is 20% of the model's median; for a reference with fewer than five priced listings, it is 10% of the model's median.

Duplicates. Two listings in the same country with the same model, reference and exact asking price in the same currency are treated as one watch, and the copy with a reference, more photos and stated box-and-papers details is preferred. A dealer that shows one watch on two of its pages (same reference, first photo, year, box and papers) is counted once, at the lower price. When a marketplace shows the same reference at the same price and currency as a dealer we read directly, only the dealer's listing is shown.

How references and models are identified

The reference number is read from the listing title or, failing that, from its description. Both the usual form (126610LN) and Rolex's long form (M126610LN-0001) are recognised; numbers that are prices, years, calibres, case sizes or serial numbers are rejected.

The model follows from the reference, using a table of Rolex references. Without a reference, the model named in the listing is used. A few dress references were sold under more than one model name (the 114200 as an Oyster Perpetual or an Air-King, for example); for those, the dealer's own wording decides.

When the model or reference is still missing, a language model reads the listing. Its answers are kept only where the listing supports them: a reference must appear in the listing's text, a model must be one of the Rolex model names we use, and a year must be written in the listing.

Year, dial, bracelet, and box and papers come from the listing text. Where a listing does not say whether the box or papers are included, they are recorded as unknown, not as missing; most dealers do not say either way.

Prices and currencies

Prices are recorded in the currency the dealer uses. To compare them, each price is converted to US dollars at the latest daily reference rates from the Frankfurter exchange-rate service, which are fetched once a day; a listing's dollar value is updated when rates have moved by more than 1%. Figures are then shown in the currency you choose.

We show prices as dealers state them and do not add or remove sales tax, VAT, GST, import duty or shipping. Watches listed without a price ("price on request") are shown and counted as for sale, but are not used in any median.

How medians are computed

Every price figure is a median: the middle asking price when the listings are sorted by price, or the average of the two middle prices when there is an even number. A median is not moved by a few very high or very low prices.

• A median on a model, reference or country page is shown only when at least 3 priced listings feed it.
• The worldwide median used to compare a listing or a country with the market needs at least 5 listings of the reference.
• Price changes on the price index compare the latest day with the latest day at least four weeks earlier; its lists of rising and falling references include only references with at least 10 listings on both days. Monthly reports show changes only over at least 7 days of history within the month.

A model's figures include all of its listings, whether or not the reference is known.

Comparing countries like for like

Countries stock different watches: one market may hold more gold or older pieces than another. So a country's overall median is never compared with another's. Instead, for each reference listed in at least two countries, with at least three listings in each, we divide the reference's median in a country by its worldwide median. A country's figure is the median of those ratios, shown as a percentage above or below the worldwide median. A country is ranked only when at least five references can be compared.

A reference whose median in one country is more than 40% below or 60% above its worldwide median is left out of that comparison, as this usually means a different watch under the same reference, such as a gem-set dial, or a misread number. A model's cheapest market is found the same way, from two or more of the model's references, and only when at least two countries can be compared.

These figures are recomputed from the watches on sale each day. The study Where used Rolex is cheapest is a snapshot frozen at a single date, with stricter rules and open data, so its figures differ from the live ones.

What "below market" means on a listing

A listing's price is compared with the worldwide median asking price for the same reference. Where at least five listings of that reference with box and papers are on sale, a watch with box and papers is compared only with those; in the same way, a watch the dealer says comes without papers is compared with others without papers. Otherwise it is compared with all listings of the reference, which needs at least five.

A watch card shows "x% below" when the price is at least 3% under that median. No comparison is shown when the price is more than 30% below the median or more than 2 times it, which usually means a misread reference or price. The comparison uses converted prices, so exchange rates affect it, and it does not take account of condition, year or dial.

How price history is recorded

Once a day, from 03:00 UTC, we record the median asking price of each model, each reference and each model in each country, wherever at least three priced listings exist. Daily records began on 19 October 2026. Price history charts show one point a week (the latest day, then every seven days back) for up to 12 weeks, and appear once there are three points. Charts on country pages show the worldwide history for the model or reference and are labelled as worldwide.

No daily record was made from 4 to 10 November 2026. Those days are missing from every price history and were not reconstructed; see the corrections log.

Limits

• Asking prices, not sale prices. Dealers may agree a lower price, and we do not see what a watch finally sells for.
• Tax differs by country. Whether an asking price includes sales tax, VAT or GST depends on the country and the dealer. We do not adjust for it, so part of a gap between countries can be tax.
• Not every sale is marked. Some dealers delete sold watches instead of marking them sold. Those watches count as removed, so sales counts understate sales.
• Box and papers only when stated. A share of watches with box and papers is shown only where at least half of the listings say either way, so silence is not counted as "no".
• What dealers say. Condition, year, authenticity and paperwork are as each dealer describes them. We do not inspect watches.
• Coverage. The dealers we read are not the whole market. Private sales, auctions and dealers without a readable website are not included.
• Exchange rates. Comparisons between countries use converted prices, so a country's position can shift when its currency moves.

Dealer inclusion policy

Since 21 October 2026, a dealer is added only after we check that:

• it is an established business selling pre-owned Rolex watches, with a physical shop or a company registration we can verify;
• its reputation can be checked through reviews and public records, and shows no serious unresolved concerns, such as legal or regulatory action against the business;
• its stock is published on its own public website, and its robots.txt allows our crawler to read it;
• its listings say which model or reference each watch is; and
• its website shows when a watch is sold or no longer available, so the stock we show stays current.

A dealer is paused or removed when it no longer meets these criteria: for example, when it stops selling online, when a serious concern of the kind above comes to light, when its website stops allowing our crawler, or when its stock is no longer kept current. If a dealer's website cannot be read, its watches leave the public pages within 10 days. A dealer can also ask us to correct or remove its listings or photos by emailing support@timepiecehunter.com.

Dealers do not pay to be listed, and we are not paid when you click through to a dealer. The button on a listing goes straight to the dealer's own page for the watch, with nothing added to the dealer's link; we count those clicks, but no one pays for them. If the site later carries dealer sponsorship, anything sponsored will be clearly labelled and will not change the order of results or which dealers are listed. Being listed is not an endorsement: always confirm a watch, its condition, authenticity and price with the dealer before you buy.

Corrections

Errors we find in the data, and how they were fixed, are recorded in the corrections log. To report one, email support@timepiecehunter.com with the page address and what looks wrong.