Mechanisms outlast products, and this word names a mechanism. Whatever the specific business, restricted access is a permanent and permanently valuable idea. Exclusivity has two serious commercial lives. In luxury and membership it means scarcity and access. In law and commerce it means a binding arrangement: exclusive distribution, exclusive licensing, exclusive territory. Both support a business. A members’ club, a private marketplace, a luxury platform or an invitation-only network on one side.

Watch servicing is expensive, opaque, and dominated by brand-authorised centres, while the independent trade has a genuine supply problem for components. A platform there would be useful and defensible, and it’s the least obvious reading of this name. The broader market is one of the most sophisticated secondary markets anywhere. Certain references trade above retail, dealers run real market-making operations, and price discovery has spawned an industry of indices, platforms and authentication services.

Independent watchmakers struggle for components and the brands prefer it that way. Parts and servicing is the underserved corner of this market and the most defensible business under the name. The broader secondary market is among the most sophisticated anywhere. Price discovery is real, certain references trade well above retail, dealers make markets, and authentication and indexing services have grown on top. Aftermarket is the trade’s own word, carrying more precision than “used” or “pre-owned” because it implies the whole infrastructure: dealers, parts, servicing, valuation, provenance.