New York-based online watch retail platform TrueFacet.com has just launched a “holy grail” service in the form of being the first third-party retailer to offer brand-certified pre-owned luxury timepieces on their website. This means that consumers can browse pre-owned* timepieces which have a valid warranty from the brand itself as well as the implicit seal of approval that the watch is in good condition and operational. TrueFacet is launching brand-certified pre-owned watch sales with seven participating brands including Zenith, Faberge, Frederique Constant, Ernst Benz, FENDI, and Raymond Weil – with more brands to launch in the future. The platform is also designed to offer certified pre-owned jewelry in addition to timepieces.

This adds to the existing customer services on TrueFacet, which include being able to purchase traditional pre-owned watches from a variety of dealers, being able to purchase select brand new watches as an authorized dealer, and also being able to accept trade-in watches from customers looking to cash in their older watches for something else. Brand-certified pre-owned is further valued by the watch industry because it is actually a big step toward changing the dominance of the gray market when it comes to the sale of pre-owned watches. With brand-certified pre-owned watches brands not only authorize each timepiece sold, but also have more control about what is being distributed and where. The gray market exists because of the over-production of timepieces, and has made it very challenging for the watch industry to properly distribute new timepieces in the online space.

A pre-owned watch sales platform that includes the brands pulls inventory away from what would be the gray market and allows for a more systemic pricing system that offers consumers a fair price without overly harming brand value equity. In other words, brand-certified pre-owned watches will be sold for prices that brands understand, but it of course will also need to be a price consumers are willing to spend.

I put an asterisk next to “pre-owned” because the term can be a few things. Frankly speaking, not all of these watches are actually pre-owned in the sense that a person sized and wore the watch around for a while. Many of these watches are unsold inventory that has perhaps changed hands a few times but in reality isn’t something that has ever been worn by anyone. Brands and retailers run into issues when unsold watch inventory is labeled as “new,” because it can easily confuse customers and make those watches look like factory fresh new stock. As always, consumers looking to understand the “nature” of each brand-certified pre-owned watch should simply look at the stated condition of each timepiece.

TrueFacet is also a data company as well as a sales platform for luxury watches. Information about consumer interest and sales will be shared with brands in the hopes that it will allow them to better plan for how many watches to produce, what watches they should ship to what parts of the world, and to better understand modern consumer buying preferences. We are only now entering the era when watch brands are beginning to understand how to analyze contemporary sales distribution data in regard to it helping them make better logistical and production decisions – not to mention marketing and advertising decisions. It will still take a few years before the watch brands fully know what to do with this data, but with the help of companies like TrueFacet they will finally be receiving more valuable information about their own markets that in many instances eluded them previously.

TrueFacet aims for a simple and transparent customer experience in regard to buying brand-certified pre-owned watches. It is important to note that TrueFacet succeeded where other retailers have so far failed in gaining the trust of major luxury watch brands in hosting brand-certified pre-owned sales. I spoke with TrueFacet co-founder Tirath Kamdar about the development and launch of this new service and this is what he had to say about brand-certified pre-owned watch sales at TrueFacet.

Ariel Adams (AA): What percentage of the watches via the TrueFacet platform will now be brand-certified pre-owned watches?

Tirath Kamdar (TK): For now, the majority of our 90,000 listings are from consumers and the industry. These undergo the same certification procedures that TrueFacet has always had, which is a strict process checking every element of each piece. The rest will be sourced from the brands directly and offered in our new Brand Certified Pre-Owned category. At the time of launch, with seven brands on board so far, that accounts for approximately 5% of supply, but growing everyday.

AA: “Brand-certified pre-owned” is a precise-sounding statement but not a lot of consumers entirely understand what it means. Can you explain the term and put it into context for us?

TK: I want to be clear that from the very beginning, every pre-owned item on TrueFacet has been verified and certified in-house by our well-trained experts. They have authenticated thousands of pieces over the years from brands like Rolex, Cartier, and more. Now we’re simply building upon our core mission by partnering officially with brands to carry their certified pre-owned pieces, and this time, instead of being authenticated by us in-house, now the brands are signing on with us as partners to inspect, certify, and authenticate their own pre-owned inventory, further backed on TrueFacet by a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty.