Anyone in the watch trade on here?

[JCKST1]

Mainly just out of curiosity this one, but with there being quite a vast majority of smaller companies dealing in pre-owned luxury watches some which look to be working from a small office or home address it got me thinking about how they get their stock?

Are they all bought pre-owned from Ebay, Gumtree etc or do they come from larger shops who are looking to clear older stock?
I have flipped a few watches over the last few years, mainly Rolex and made a bit along the way, I managed to get these from shops in Europe and with a good exchange rate meant that I could keep the watch a while and when I wanted to move on I made about £500+ per watch..

Thanks in advance

[ecain63]

Many independents in the UK get their Rolex stock from BQ Watches. Having had many so called 'refurbished' watches in for a refinish I can say that BQ are not really great value for what is supposed to be 'as new'. There is almost no money to be made by a dealer either as you only have a couple of hundred quid available in mark up, which a customer will quickly haggle off on condition assessment.

Buying off the street and ebay is a much cheaper, although more risky way to buy stock.

[glazbagun]

I used to work for a top London watchmaker who did repair work for quite a few well known shops. It taught me that if I was ever to make real money, it wouldn't be from buying & selling used watches! For many watches the markup is easily swallowed by the cost of a proper service and refinish, so it wouldn't surpise me at all to find many "as new" watches were actually refinished but unserviced and the retailer is just betting on the watch to outlast whatever guarantee they offer.

It must be even worse if you buy wrong and end up with something where no-one can get you the parts (except the manufacturer, who certainly won't lose any money!)

[JCKST1]

Makes sense they go to a supplier such as BQ and so on.
I initially thought their stock was reliant on private individuals selling there watches, which I presume would be an issue with supply as you might not get any offers for a matter of days or weeks.

So majority go to larger suppliers, negotiate a deal and then stick a bit on top?
All seems a bit cut throat!

[Jez m]

Auction houses. Fellows etc. are a big source of pre-owned stock.