Selling Watch to Preown Shop

[turboducky]

Good read & I am glad you found your dream watch. Have fun with it & I hope it brings you luck.

[flagship]

Thanks for sharing..

[palin]

Very interesting read. pal. Probably explains why I can never manage to sell my watches (old or new) online. Yah, just as there are rogue sellers, there will also be genuine ones. In a nutshell, see whether you 'heng' or 'suay'....

[watchdogsg]

Selling Watch to Preown Shop

Hello all watch lovers, many of us deliberate the pros and cons of buying pre-owned watches versus buying new. I don't have much experience in buying pre-owned watches but decided to give an account of my experience just to share.

I decided to buy my first Rolex recently after many years of deliberation. I collect many other brands but somehow have never been able to convince myself to buy a Rolex. I suppose that was a personal choice on my part.

I lost out on a Sub no date being offered by a preowned dealer I trust. A queue had formed outside the shop even before it opened. I was in third in line, and the first guy went straight for the Sub. He seemed very hesitant and unsure about the condition and price (the more unsure he was, the more my hopes were boosted) but finally took the plunge. Rather disappointed, I went back to my office empty handed.

Still haunted by thoughts of the Sub no date, I trawled through the few local watch forums and saw a Sub no date at a good price. Pictures looked good although the watch was quite old (>10 years). Only catch .. no box and papers.

I contacted the seller to ask about the condition and asked about the service history. He replied that it was serviced a few months back from the preowned shop he bought it from.

I arranged to meet him that evening and rushed down to draw the cash and fight through the traffic to meet him, at a rather strange meeting place which I assume was near his home.

Seller was a friendly chap, and we discussed the watch a bit before I made a decision. I told him that I worry sometimes about preowned watches and whether they had been serviced properly. I asked whether it had any water proofing issues or timing issues. He said no problem at all, and that the watch was recently serviced. He gave me the namecard of the dealer he bought it from and mentioned that he is good friends with the owner, and that I could also go down to the shop if I had any issues with it. I paid the cash and went off happily with the watch.

When I finally made it home after taking my family out for dinner, I put the watch briefly under a running tap and wiped it dry - this is my standard test for simple water proofing. After about half an hour, condensation began to appear. At the same time, I had synchronised the watch with my quartz clock and began timing it dial up. The timing was quite distressing, gaining 20 sec in the two hours I timed it.

I immediately sent a SMS to the seller asking for a refund since the watch was not waterproof anymore and had timing issues. The exchange was not rude but the bottomline message was clear. He never had water proof issues with it, even after he claimed to have went swimming with it. He also said that he never represented how accurate the watch would be.

I told him that this was misrepresentation on the condition of the watch and gave him 24 hours to make a refund. He replied that his conscience was clear and that he sold me a good condition and authentic watch.

The next morning, I had already cooled down and made an arrangement to have an independent watch servicer to look at it. My wife asked me why I did not want to go back to the shop mentioned by the seller ? I felt that it was better to get an independent view on things. Further, I was worried that the movement could be fake or swopped, or that the humidity inside the watch would cause corrosion.

The watch servicer took apart the watch on the spot, and thankfully, it was genuine and not corroding. It had a number of other issues though, and the general consensus was that it had not been serviced properly, and had timing issues that required a full servicing to fix. I left it with them for a full service.

I left negative feedback on the seller after the transaction. One of the seniors here also contacted me to give me some moral support (thanks bro!), although I had never met him before.

For reasons unknown to me, the seller contacted me 6 days after the transaction offering me a full refund. I told him it was rather late to do this, and I had also sent the watch for a full service. I told him that he could make it right if he wanted by paying for the cost of service. He offered to refund both the purchase price and service. I replied that I only wanted a refund of the service. He did a refund later that evening.

My wife was surprised that I did not return the watch and asked why I wanted to keep it. I explained to her that after all the upset and trouble I went through to arrange service of the watch, it didn't make sense to return the watch. Effectively, I would have done all the legwork for the service and still end up with no watch. It may not be the most logical decision, but I am sentimental by nature, and had by now "forgiven" the watch for all its trouble caused.

The story has a relatively good ending but I may not be so lucky next time. It reminds me of the advice drummed in by senior on another watch forum I frequent ... buy the seller, not the watch.

If I could do this all over again,

1. I would never go for a watch without a full set of box and papers
2. I would never go for a watch that was not professionally inspected and certified
3. I would never buy from an untested seller
4. I would discount any claim of service unless accompanied by a receipt from a reputable service outfit.

This is not meant in any way to be an attack on the seller. I will also not name him since it is water under the bridge and he did eventually make things right.

Rather, I hope this is an educational experience for the others, and helps to highlight some of the issues involved in buying preowned watches.

Lastly, do excuse me for my verbosity. My English teacher always thought I was long-winded.

[Flyfisherman]

Hi all,

Yes yes..I totally agreed with that statement, just take a look at my recent sharing at "How you decided to part with the money to get a rolex?" thread. Most watches are not a good investment, most will have to be sold after mnay years to breakeven or earn some profits. Qus of demand and supply, models, quantity produced, the future speculation, condition of the watch after years of usage, brand names and their status......

Thats the joy and pain of falling in love with watches.......just like fallen in love with our girlfriends, whom eventually became our wives and later on with children along the way...

Only watches don't complaint nor give u a hard time or worst, stop talking to u for a week........

[crazyaboutwatch]

Anyone has any experience in selling off their used rollies to any preowned watch shop in Sg? Do they offer reasonable prices?

I'm looking to trade my GMT II and EXP II to fund my next purchase (IWC BP 5004).

Thanks.

you could try this watch dealer,
newly opened watch shop, so price must be very competitve.


Edited: Removed weblink.

[Mio]

Preown shops will be taking your watch at a much much lesser value...

Hi all,

Yes yes..I totally agreed with that statement, just take a look at my recent sharing at "How you decided to part with the money to get a rolex?" thread. Most watches are not a good investment, most will have to be sold after mnay years to breakeven or earn some profits. Qus of demand and supply, models, quantity produced, the future speculation, condition of the watch after years of usage, brand names and their status......

Thats the joy and pain of falling in love with watches.......just like fallen in love with our girlfriends, whom eventually became our wives and later on with children along the way...

[paijo]

Preown shop will be taking your watch at a much lesser value...

Try selling online should be a better option...

when I put it online, a lot of request come from preowned watch dealers. in my opinion, online is only feasible when you are not in the rush selling situation.
in my case, usually I need to sell my watch coz another watch that I want, need a rush payment too.

[Flyfisherman]

Try trading in with shop that has the BPs. This model is very popular and there r a number of sites that have mint condition BP on a regular basis...............

[oasisash78]

Thanks for the all the replies. I will post the watches online next month. Nearer to my arrival date back to Sg.

[adrian28]

Preown shop will be taking your watch at a much lesser value...

Try selling online should be a better option...

[ah_benz]

Why Not check the prices that Dealers quote you and you probably advertise in online garage, advertise it little bit more above dealer's price? You sell at slight higher price, and end user buy it lower than dealer's advertising price.

my 2 cents opinions. :>

[Oceanklassik]

You may consider trying to sell them here in the forum first and see how it responds. Read the rules on selling it here and you may get lucky .

Good luck, dude!

[oasisash78]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm kinda doing a "research". Currently I'm in the US , will be back in Jan 10. Will posted some threads online to try and sell them off. The watches come with full boxes and certs. They are daily beaters. Hence they ought to be some fine scratches on them, nothing that a polish can remove. The GMT II is worn by my dad now, while I'm wearing the EXP II. Really tempted to buy the IWC BP now as I found a good deal on line.

[triton]

if u sell privately compared to a dealer, the price difference maybe anywhere between 500-1000. safe estimate.

why? this is because it depends on

1) condition of watch
2) last service date
3) box and papers availability

do note that when u sell the watch to a second hand dealer, you get cash immediately. the dealer has a shop front, so the dealer has to make some money to cover the cost of rental & a profit for the dealer

also current market condition do not favor the watch model you have to trade/sell.

one suggestion is use the search function in advanced mode and use keywords such as

1) Explorer II or GMT II
2) isolate your search in the SOLD section and/or Rolex Garage section, with this, you can look and the price sold or being asked for.

do note that the price is just INDICATIVE as no one can authenticate the actual transacted price. use this as a gauge and post it here to sell for say 1 month.

if your asking price is not met, then review your pricing. if you feel that the asking price is reasonable, you may then pop by the preown shops.

before you reach the preown shops, have a price you want to sell. never tell them your asking price first. ask them to quote. move between 3-4 preown shops and you will have the price that they will trade with you.