Buying from Dealers

Which dealers and auction houses are included on your website?
This is determined by a combination of sellers of pieces of interest (to us) and a bit upon reputation (when possible). We do not include marketplace sales on this site, as we find they are often out of date, or duplicative with other watches that are directly available from dealers. However, this site does NOT filter specific watches (too many watches to try to do so, and I don’t have the expertise regardless). So will there be watches that are fakes, frankens, or simply represented as something other than what they are listed? Unfortunately, yes. And I won’t know which ones they are. If you are looking to learn more about the reputation of a particular seller, which you should always do before purchase, make sure to check out the largest watch forums, which offer a wealth of reviews and opinions. And even the most well-known sellers and auction house may, inadvertently or not, present a watch as other than it is. We wish we had transaction experience with tons of dealers that we could curate all those included here. Perhaps one day…perhaps. Editor’s note: would require us to win the MegaMillions/Powerball jackpot
How dealers and auction houses source watches

Sure you can go it alone, but a wiser course might be to establish a relationship with a trusted dealer, particularly for more expensive pieces, and/or those where you need an expert’s eye.

To find pieces, dealers look in many of the same places you would on your own:
– eBay (I shudder to think how many saved searches they have),
– Chrono24, where private individuals in particular may have interesting pieces, and
– auctions worldwide.

If you have the ability to attend auctions, here you can get a firsthand look at dealers actively looking to purchase for clients or themselves. You might not know why a dealer is purchasing – sometimes it can be just to protect the price(s) of their existing inventory of the same/like pieces.

Beyond these “basics”, dealers have a number of advantages:
– will be contacted directly about pieces for sale by individuals (as well as other dealers) who may know of them from industry articles, social media, referrals, and so forth,
– may be a part of WhatsApp and other groups of dealers who regularly buy and sell pieces within their network,
– relationships with their existing clients looking to sell,
– “pickers” who find watches at estate sales, antique stores and the like, and
– retailers, who will see watches come in from an owner and then offer them out to a number of dealers, with the best offer winning the piece.

Dealer frankens and deception

You might expect that auction houses, under serious time pressure, would be where bad watches slip by. But we can’t leave dealers out. On the below, I am not implying that in all cases the dealer knew that they were selling fakes, of course. But good dealers (and this applies to really any online seller) have turned bad, some have sold known fakes, some have simply stolen goods.

Everyone: please do your homework before buying (Google dealers, find references, see if they have been banned from forums, search their past…)! Even better if the dealer has a permanent storefront you can visit. If there are alarm bells in your head going off, step away. Pay with a credit card. Always. No wires. Use an escrow service. Don’t send money using PayPal to “friends and family”. Buy safe!