Rolex Raises Prices a Second Time in 2026: What the Rare Mid-Year Hike Means For Collectors

You’ve likely heard the refrain “prices are going up!” way too often lately, but in this case, we are not talking about the price of eggs, but rather the behemoth of the watch industry, Rolex. It’s unusual (but not unprecedented) for Rolex to raise prices twice in a year - but they’ve done it two years running now, in both 2025 and 2026. Before those two years of dual price increases, why did prices go up every year for five years straight after sitting steady for seven years in a row? It’s worth taking a closer look at what causes price fluctuations in the first place.

Price Increases for Rolex, Explained

Annual-ish price increases were the norm for Rolex for decades until a freeze settled in, roughly from 2012-2019. This freeze was strictly a U.S. phenomenon, largely due to the relationship between the US dollar and the Swiss Franc. Rolex prices its watches in local currency, and effectively treats the US dollar and Swiss franc as its “reserve currencies”, the ones least likely to see increases. If a currency has devalued relative to CHF or USD in a given year, Rolex adjusts prices in that market the following January 1st to compensate.

For the stretch between 2012 and 2019, the US dollar was strong and stable vs. the Swiss franc, so there was no profit margin gap for them to close. This freeze finally broke in 2020 due to a variety of factors, primarily an increase in demand, but possibly also because the prices had stayed the same for so long. That was followed by the pandemic-driven price uncertainty of 2020, and subsequent annual price increases until 2025, when a second, mid-year increase was deemed necessary to offset losses incurred by U.S. tariffs on imports that reached a massive 39% at their apogee. Those tariffs have fluctuated since, and are now at 12.5% on Swiss imports, still a substantial up-charge for the average watch buyer. 

This year, the mid-year price increase is tied to the rapidly increasing value of gold, and only affects Rolex pieces that include the precious metal. For instance, the yellow gold Day-Date 36 moved from about $43,700 to $45,900 with the June 2026 increase, while the stainless steel Submariner remained at $10,050. 

How Do Retail Prices Affect the Secondary Rolex Market?

The question remains: what effect will this have on the pre-owned market? Conventional wisdom would say that all these increases should also drive up the pre-owned value of Rolex watches, but in practice that isn’t really what happens. Rolex sport watches seem to follow a supply-and demand curve that is largely independent of retail prices. Increased retail prices ostensibly mean that fewer people will be buying these watches new. This increases the demand for pre-owned pieces, which leads to more people offering watches for sale, and this increased supply can often drive the pre-owned price down. It’s a bit counter-intuitive, but makes sense once you wrap your head around it. 

However, these price compressions often don’t amount to much for popular and in-demand models. The Daytona, for instance, maintains a very strong and stable pre-owned demand, regardless of price increases at retail. 

In another bit of counter-intuitive data, pre-owned gold Rolexes seem to follow the same supply and demand curve that is largely completely separate from retail price fluctuations. One would think these would follow retail prices a little more closely, since the retail hikes are based around pure raw material prices, but the market seems to disagree. It can be seen as something of a silver lining that the collector community’s watch desires seem based more on tastes, trends, and aesthetics than on financial prospecting alone. 

Gold Prices Aren’t the Only Factor in Rolex Pricing

“Raw material moves (like gold) don’t translate 1:1 into secondary prices,” said David Cote, a watch specialist with European Watch Company. “At the end of the day, collectors are buying these as watches, not bullion, so scarcity, model, and condition tend to dominate.” This can be seen when looking at the ever-popular GMT Master II in 18kt gold. With the two 2026 price increases, this watch costs 14% more than it did at this time last year, jumping from $44,600 to the current price of $50,800. However, similar solid gold GMT Master II models have risen a more modest 5% on the overall secondhand market, seeming to follow supply and demand, rather than raw material costs. 

“I feel confident that the market will continue to grow as general Rolex demand remains historically strong and more buyers are getting comfortable with buying pre-owned - particularly with the launch of the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned program in 2022,” said Charles Tian, Founder and CEO of Watchcharts.com, who thinks that the demand for Rolex, both new and pre-owned, will continue picking up momentum as it has done for the past 15 years or so. “Last year, we estimated that if Rolex CPO were its own brand, it would already rank in the top 25 Swiss watch brands by retail sales,” Tian said. The CPO program lets authorized dealers sell used Rolexes with warranty backing, and is a structural shift in the pre-owned market. 

So is it a good time or a bad time to buy a new or used Rolex? The short answer: it’s about the same as always. For all the outrage and clickbaiting headlines every time prices go up or down with Rolex, at the end of the day, the song remains just about the same.