Buying & Selling
Discussion
Fellow watch enthusiasts, I thought it may be of interest to share my on going experience of trying to buy and sell a few watches privately.
The watches in the sell column are two Rolex, a rose gold Day-Date and a Daytona, and a JLC Master Chronograph. All owned from new.
In the buy column, it's a toss up between rationalising three watches into either one very expensive watch, or two moderately expensive watches. At the moment the leading contenders are both Patek Philippe’s, the green faced annual calendar chronograph in steel or the blue faced annual calander in white gold. Both are priced in the mid 40’s on the secondary market.
Alternatively, there is a lovely rose gold annual calendar going for mid 30’s which would leave money left over for another watch up to about £14k. Recommendations welcome!
The only fly in the ointment is the selling process is proving more difficult than anticipated so far. They've only been on ebay and Chrono24 for a week or so but I’ve since binned off the ebay listing as I couldn’t put up with the ‘what’s you best price?’ anymore.
Chrono24 has been better, but seems to be populated entirely by dealers looking for stock. I did have one potential buyer come and look at the Day-Date only for him to turn out to be a dealer as well. The watches are full sets and in excellent condition and I’ve priced them at a good discount to the dealers. Has anyone else had any luck selling on the platform privately? How long did it take you? Do people not want to buy expensive watches privately?
I bought a watch through Chrono24 fairly recently and it was pretty straightforward so I know it does happen!
Anyway, thanks for reading and new watch suggestions welcome!
The watches in the sell column are two Rolex, a rose gold Day-Date and a Daytona, and a JLC Master Chronograph. All owned from new.
In the buy column, it's a toss up between rationalising three watches into either one very expensive watch, or two moderately expensive watches. At the moment the leading contenders are both Patek Philippe’s, the green faced annual calendar chronograph in steel or the blue faced annual calander in white gold. Both are priced in the mid 40’s on the secondary market.
Alternatively, there is a lovely rose gold annual calendar going for mid 30’s which would leave money left over for another watch up to about £14k. Recommendations welcome!
The only fly in the ointment is the selling process is proving more difficult than anticipated so far. They've only been on ebay and Chrono24 for a week or so but I’ve since binned off the ebay listing as I couldn’t put up with the ‘what’s you best price?’ anymore.
Chrono24 has been better, but seems to be populated entirely by dealers looking for stock. I did have one potential buyer come and look at the Day-Date only for him to turn out to be a dealer as well. The watches are full sets and in excellent condition and I’ve priced them at a good discount to the dealers. Has anyone else had any luck selling on the platform privately? How long did it take you? Do people not want to buy expensive watches privately?
I bought a watch through Chrono24 fairly recently and it was pretty straightforward so I know it does happen!
Anyway, thanks for reading and new watch suggestions welcome!
Edited by Francois de La Rochefoucauld on Wednesday 26th June 13:01
Edited by Francois de La Rochefoucauld on Wednesday 26th June 13:10
Stick the watches for sale on here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by bristolbaron on Wednesday 26th June 13:03
Francois de La Rochefoucauld said:
Do people not want to buy expensive watches privately?
I've sold numerous watches privately, up to about £3k, relatively easily if they are keenly priced, and that seems to be roughly the cut off point where people are comfortable buying privately.More than that price point, and they want to buy from a known dealer or a 'bricks and mortar' store for several reasons:
The risk of buying a fake is very real, and they want protection from that.
The risk of buying a stolen watch is real, and they also want protection from that.
They might want to buy the watch using finance.
They want some sort or warranty/guarantee.
Somebody said:
Have you tried selling to Watchfinder? I was pleasantly surprised by their initial offer which they stuck to, and they arranged a courier to pick it up.
Watchfinder would be my suggestion. 
Try Dominic Hackett of Hackett watches. He is DomH on here if memory serves, but I've not seen him post for ages.
Dom's a gent and a true enthusiast. Tell him what you're looking to buy as well as what you're looking to sell. Knowing Dom he'll try to "help". But, if he can't he'll tell you and may well give useful advice.
Dom's a gent and a true enthusiast. Tell him what you're looking to buy as well as what you're looking to sell. Knowing Dom he'll try to "help". But, if he can't he'll tell you and may well give useful advice.
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