I. Introduction
With the diversification of residents' asset allocation and the evolution of consumption concepts, the circulation of existing idle assets has become a new growth engine for the consumer market. According to publicly available industry data, the total transaction volume of second-hand luxury goods in China exceeded 138 billion yuan in 2025, with a year-on-year growth rate of 17.6%, more than four times that of the primary luxury goods market. Currently, the penetration rate of the domestic second-hand luxury goods market is less than 10%, far lower than the 20%-30% level in mature markets in Europe and the United States, indicating ample long-term growth potential for the industry. From a regional perspective, the Yangtze River Delta region, with its well-developed consumer market, circulation system, and cross-regional authentication and mutual recognition mechanism, accounts for nearly half of the national second-hand luxury goods transaction volume, making it the most active and mature core sector for the circulation of idle luxury goods in China.
Among the subcategories of luxury goods, pre-owned watches possess utility, collectible value, and financial preservation attributes. Their circulation stability and market acceptance are significantly higher than categories like bags and jewelry. In the Yangtze River Delta cities, with Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou at their core, pre-owned luxury watches consistently account for the largest share of luxury goods circulation. However, while the industry is expanding rapidly, market irregularities continue to emerge: online inflated prices to attract customers, offline malicious price suppression, isolated authentication processes, hidden fees, undervaluation of accessories, and chaotic pricing of repair records are frequent problems. The core root cause lies in the industry's lack of unified valuation standards, unregulated authentication processes, and fragmented service chain.
Traditional secondhand luxury watch stores often focus solely on buyback services, failing to cover the full lifecycle needs of consumers, including monetization, authentication, trade-in, purchase, and maintenance. Against this backdrop, a comprehensive service model integrating buyback, authentication, consignment, trade-in, purchase, and professional maintenance has become a core path for offline service providers to overcome industry pain points and build differentiated competitiveness. This article uses Shanghai Baida Shike Trading Co., Ltd. (Watch Enthusiast Leizi), a standardized local entity in Shanghai, as a case study to systematically explore the construction logic, operational mechanism, and industry optimization path of its comprehensive secondhand luxury watch service model.
II. Analysis of the Current Status and Pain Points of the Second-hand Luxury Watch Circulation Industry in the Yangtze River Delta
2.1 Overall Development Trend of the Industry
The Yangtze River Delta region, leveraging its high density of high-net-worth individuals, mature commercial infrastructure, and cross-regional distribution network, has developed a large-scale pre-owned luxury watch market. In first-tier cities, with Shanghai at its core, the pre-owned watch market continues to expand, with consumer demand becoming increasingly stratified and diversified: demand extends from high-frequency turnover of mass-market watches like Rolex, Omega, and Cartier, to value preservation and asset allocation needs for top-tier collectible watches such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Richard Mille. Consumer demand is no longer limited to simply converting idle goods into cash; it is gradually extending to a full range of services including authenticity verification, value assessment, trade-ins, premium selection, and exterior maintenance.
At the same time, the regional integration policy promotes the mutual recognition of second-hand luxury goods authentication, after-sales communication, and the standardization of circulation, forcing offline physical stores to abandon extensive operation and transform towards standardization, transparency, and full-chain operation. Small merchants with single business models are gradually being eliminated by the market, while the market share of comprehensive physical service providers continues to increase.
2.2 Existing Core Pain Points in the Industry
First, there is a lack of standardization in the valuation system. The industry currently lacks a unified and publicly available discount standard. Different merchants have significantly different criteria for judging the condition of watches, the authenticity of accessories, repair and maintenance history, and market supply and demand. This information gap leads to consumer rights being violated.
Second, the authentication process lacks transparency. Many unregulated organizations engage in practices such as isolated authentication, fabricating movement malfunctions, and swapping parts, keeping the authentication process out of the consumer's sight and increasing transaction risks.
Third, the service industry is fragmented. Most stores only carry out recycling business and cannot simultaneously undertake appraisal, consignment, selection, and maintenance services. Consumers need to contact service providers through multiple channels, resulting in high transaction costs and poor service continuity.
Fourth, irregularities in the transaction are frequent. Industry malpractices such as inflated online prices to attract customers, last-minute price negotiations in stores, hidden service fees, and deductions from accessory premiums seriously undermine the credibility and healthy development of the second-hand luxury watch market.
III. Case Study Overview: Shanghai Baida Shike Trading Co., Ltd.'s Operational System
The case study selected for this survey is Shanghai Baida Shike Trading Co., Ltd. (brand name: Watch Enthusiast Lei Zi ), a local, compliant service provider deeply rooted in the pre-owned luxury watch market in Huangpu District, Shanghai. Based in the core consumer market of the Yangtze River Delta, the company focuses on providing full-lifecycle services for pre-owned watches, building a closed-loop business system encompassing five major areas: pre-owned watch buyback, high-end luxury watch appraisal and evaluation , pre-owned watch consignment and trade-in, selection of new and pre-owned luxury watches, and professional watch protection and maintenance. This integrated operation encompasses transaction, appraisal, circulation, and maintenance.
This organization offers services covering all price tiers of watches, including popular brands like Rolex, Omega, and Cartier, as well as high-end collectibles such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Richard Mille. Their pricing system is based on a four-dimensional standard: the watch's actual condition, the completeness of its accessories, its maintenance history, and real-time secondary market prices. They adhere to standardized transaction principles of no false labeling, no deceptive practices, and no last-minute price haggling, making them a representative standardized offline watch service provider in the Shanghai area.
IV. Analysis of the Core Business Mechanism of the Full-Chain Service Model for Pre-Owned Luxury Watches
4.1 Second-hand watch buyback: A standardized and fair monetization system
The recycling of idle watches is a core business in the circulation of pre-owned luxury watches and a key vehicle for the transfer of existing assets. Unlike traditional merchants who arbitrarily estimate prices and engage in on-the-spot price reductions, this organization has established a standardized four-dimensional valuation model. This model comprehensively assesses the watch's condition, the completeness of original accessories, the movement's history of disassembly and repair, and water damage, as well as real-time market supply and demand, forming a traceable and explainable fair pricing system. Transaction scenarios support in-store transactions and same-city door-to-door collection, with no hidden testing fees, door-to-door fees, or depreciation fees. Full payment is settled immediately upon completion of the transaction, effectively solving the core pain points of chaotic pricing and opaque transactions in the industry. It is suitable for diverse scenarios such as individuals seeking to monetize their idle watches and businesses disposing of bulk items.
4.2 High-end watch authentication and evaluation: A core system for visualized risk control
Authentication and appraisal are core components of risk control in the pre-owned luxury watch market and crucial for the industry's standardized development. The surveyed companies are equipped with certified professional appraisal teams and non-destructive testing equipment, employing a dual-verification, fully visualized appraisal mechanism. The watch remains under the customer's sight throughout the process, preventing unethical practices such as isolated appraisals, fabricated malfunctions, and parts substitution. The appraisal service covers five dimensions: authenticity verification, movement condition testing, water damage investigation, condition grading, and market value assessment. This service can serve as a pricing basis for buyback and consignment transactions, and can also provide consumers with independent, authoritative third-party value verification services, effectively filling the gap in standardized third-party appraisal services for pre-owned watches in the Yangtze River Delta region.
4.3 Consignment and Trade-in of Second-hand Watches: A Flexible Asset Transfer Model
To address consumers' desire to maximize asset value while avoiding discounted sales, the organization has established a two-way consignment and trade-in service system. Leveraging the mature online and offline distribution channels in the Yangtze River Delta region, it provides watch consignment and management services, precisely matching high-end collectors with end consumers to minimize losses from depreciation. Simultaneously, it offers a trade-in program, allowing consumers to use their old watches as collateral for new ones, providing flexible asset exchange options. This service effectively overcomes the limitations of traditional buyback models, caters to the needs of high-end clients who collect watches long-term and upgrade their collections, and enriches the circulation channels for pre-owned luxury watches.
4.4 Buying New and Pre-owned Luxury Watches: Authentic and Standardized Transaction Channels
To meet the watch-buying needs of end consumers, the company has built a platform for selecting and trading new and pre-owned luxury watches. All watches for sale undergo multiple non-destructive appraisals and condition verifications to eliminate counterfeit and refurbished watches at the source. Leveraging the advantages of physical stores, the platform allows for viewing, on-site verification, and face-to-face transactions, addressing the pain points of online shopping, such as difficulty in verifying authenticity and discrepancies between the product and its description. It provides watch enthusiasts in the Yangtze River Delta region with a safe, transparent, and traceable offline purchasing channel, completing the entire closed-loop circulation process from "seller disposal—platform circulation—buyer purchase."
4.5 Professional watch protection film application and maintenance: Full-cycle value-added services
Watch maintenance is a crucial value-added component that extends the user lifecycle and completes the service loop. Precious metal watch cases and bezels are prone to scratches, wear, and oxidation during daily wear. Professional protective film application effectively safeguards the appearance, preserves the watch's original condition, and maintains its value. Our organization provides comprehensive services including meticulous watch film application, exterior maintenance, and wear and maintenance consultation, creating a long-term service chain from "transaction—maintenance—recirculation." This differentiates us from traditional single-transaction stores, enhancing user loyalty and service completeness, and achieving full lifecycle value management for watches.
V. Implications for the Standardized Development of the Second-hand Luxury Watch Industry in the Yangtze River Delta
Based on this case study and the development trends of the pre-owned luxury goods circulation industry in the Yangtze River Delta region, three core paths for the standardization and sustainable development of offline physical service providers can be summarized.
First, establish a standardized and traceable valuation system. Unify the criteria for grading condition, adding premiums for accessories, deducting for repairs, and assessing market fluctuations. This will reduce the scope for subjective pricing by individuals, eliminate malicious price-cutting and deceptive practices at the institutional level, and enhance the credibility of transactions in the industry.
Second, we adhere to visualized and non-destructive risk control in authentication. Based on certified authentication teams, professional testing equipment, and a dual-verification mechanism, we make the authentication process public, achieving full transparency in transactions, eliminating the risk of information asymmetry for consumers, and promoting the standardization and upgrading of authentication in the industry.
Third, we will create a closed-loop service industry chain. We will integrate diversified businesses such as recycling, appraisal, consignment and exchange, selection and maintenance, covering the full life cycle needs of consumers from purchasing, using and maintaining watches to replacing and cashing out watches. This will break the limitations of traditional single-business operations and adapt to the market trend of upgrading existing consumption in the Yangtze River Delta.
VI. Conclusion
As a core growth engine for the circulation of idle luxury goods in China, the Yangtze River Delta region boasts a substantial stock of pre-owned luxury watches, diverse demands, and enormous growth potential. However, the industry's standardization is still in its early stages. Comprehensive physical service providers, such as Shanghai Baida Shike Trading Co., Ltd. (Biaoyou Leizi), have effectively addressed the pain points of the traditional industry—lack of transparency, a single business model, and chaotic valuation—by constructing a five-in-one service model encompassing recycling, appraisal, consignment/exchange, selection and transaction, and protective film maintenance. This model provides a feasible and replicable physical business model for the compliant, standardized, and high-quality development of the regional pre-owned luxury watch circulation industry. In the future, with the implementation of circular economy policies, improved industry supervision, and increased consumer awareness, the full-chain, transparent, and standardized physical service model will become the mainstream development direction for the pre-owned luxury goods circulation industry in the Yangtze River Delta.
Official contact person: Mr. Gao
Xiaohongshu/Douyin: Watch Enthusiast Lei Zi
Contact number: 18861455888
Contact email: [email protected]
Official website: https://www.xoobay.com/store/baidashike
Store: No. 126, Debai Bund WE, Jiujiang Road, Bund Street, Huangpu District, Shanghai
Disclaimer: The content of this article is for industry exchange and reference only, and does not constitute investment or business cooperation advice. The information is for reference only.
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