Sears has been rescued from bankruptcy by billionaire Eddie Lampert, a hedge fund financier who is chairman of Sears and its former chief executive, in a buyout worth $5.2bn (£4.0bn).
The court-approved bail out is expected to keep more than 400 stores open and protect up to 45,000 jobs.
Sears and Kmart, which it owns, have closed almost 3,000 stores since 2007, and shed more than 250,000 workers.
The department store giant and its ecommerce business are significant channels for several major watchmakers including Citizen, Bulova, Seiko and Casio.
A current ‘Madness’ sale sees swathes of even Sears’ bestselling watches discounted by 40-50%.
Its ecommerce site also acts as a marketplace for third party sellers, which do a lively trade in pre-owned watches. There are currently over 500 used Rolexes listed on the site.
