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·Hello,
I'm David. I've been watching over this site for a long time now and have only just started posting.
Two years ago, I knew next to nothing about mechanical watches. Longines, Omegas, Universal Geneves, Vacherons - I didn't know they existed. I was a sensible 20 year old who bought battery powered Walmart watches. What fool would spend $1000 on a watch?
It was during this time that I started experimenting with ways to make cash. I had worked at a convenient store at my university (I attend UCLA) that paid minimum wage and despised it so terribly that I was motivated to find more creative ways of earning a living. I had school loans to pay off in a few years, mind you, and living expenses.
I had earned a few thousand in my bank account and thought "what can I do?"...
I was a wayward student at that point and still an English major (thankfully I'm now in biological anthropology). As you know, sappy English majors are required to adore old dusty leather bound books, so I felt it my calling to buy and sell rare or otherwise valuable leather bound books. This was a miserable en devour. I made a few bucks at best in most transactions and the books took up space and they were heavy and expensive to ship and blah! Not enjoyable or profitable.
After switching majors, I was no longer obligated to enjoy the smell of a cracked leather bound book and switched over to buying and selling bikes. I did this mostly because I was looking for a good vintage bike to ride to school and wanted to pay for it by buying other bikes on Craigslist and selling them on Ebay.
My dream of owning a Raleigh Deluxe full chaincase was finally achieved after a few months, though I never earned enough to pay for it with bicycles.
So there I was, heaving my self up the endless hills of UCLA... on a
solid steel 40 pound behemoth, with only three gears and brakes so weak you have to grip like a gorilla and smell the rubber burn, burn, burn. Although beautiful, I had to give up the silly fantasy and get a real bike.
After my craving for bikes passed, I no longer had the initiative to buy and sell bicycles. My ventures thus far had been tedious and unprofitable.
At this point, I was musing Ebay and chanced upon a little cheap 1930's Elgin ladies watch. It was somehow interesting to me that something so delicate was still functional. I had never appreciated mechanical movement before... I excitedly won the auction for $20 and gave it to my girlfriend, who enjoyed it. I was still ignorant of how necessary "services" were or what that meant. I didn't know a thing about the varies brands or makers or movements or styles or anything.
Ever since then, my interest was sparked by watches and that interest has never died. I now support myself by selling, buying, and trading vintage (and only vintage) watches. I know every significant brand and many significant models. I can cite movements and dial variations. I can say I'm decent at spotting redials and am careful when I buy and sell. I've sold Patek's, Vacheron's, Piguet's, Longines 13zn's, you name it.
My bank account more than tripled from flipping watches in a year and a half. I'm proud to say that I've paid for college and have money left over to keep an apartment with and start a small pool of watches. My rule is that I only use money I've earned by flipping watches to buy watches I'm going to keep and I only own 3-5 watches at any one time. I also ONLY keep watches I wear at least once a week.
I deal exclusively with vintage pieces because:
1. They're generally cheaper than newer models of the same brand.
2. They're, in my opinion, often of a better quality and design (especially from the 1940's-1960's).
3. Are generally smaller on the wrist (I have very lean wrists and I usually only buy and sell watches I myself would enjoy owning, since those are the ones that peak my interest).
Now.... the moment you've all been waiting for.... Despite all the brands I've faced in the past year and a half... nothing has drawn my love more than Universal Geneve chronographs. I too think that they're undervalued and the tricompaxes are the most beautiful watches I'd ever hope to own. I hope one day to own a grey dialed screwback 1960's model with the 281 movement and the round pushers.
In any case, I am fortunate to own three Universals, though only one of them has been recently serviced and the one that has needs to be adjusted (the minute counter is off).
These are the only watches I "own" with no intention of selling them. I will only do so if my financial situation demands it, which is possible, given that I'm a recent graduate (just a few weeks ago). We'll see what happens once graduate school comes around.
I hope you enjoyed my story. 😀
P.S.: One of these watches was previously owned by a member of this forum. Can you figure out which one and who it is? 😀
I'm David. I've been watching over this site for a long time now and have only just started posting.
Two years ago, I knew next to nothing about mechanical watches. Longines, Omegas, Universal Geneves, Vacherons - I didn't know they existed. I was a sensible 20 year old who bought battery powered Walmart watches. What fool would spend $1000 on a watch?
It was during this time that I started experimenting with ways to make cash. I had worked at a convenient store at my university (I attend UCLA) that paid minimum wage and despised it so terribly that I was motivated to find more creative ways of earning a living. I had school loans to pay off in a few years, mind you, and living expenses.
I had earned a few thousand in my bank account and thought "what can I do?"...
I was a wayward student at that point and still an English major (thankfully I'm now in biological anthropology). As you know, sappy English majors are required to adore old dusty leather bound books, so I felt it my calling to buy and sell rare or otherwise valuable leather bound books. This was a miserable en devour. I made a few bucks at best in most transactions and the books took up space and they were heavy and expensive to ship and blah! Not enjoyable or profitable.
After switching majors, I was no longer obligated to enjoy the smell of a cracked leather bound book and switched over to buying and selling bikes. I did this mostly because I was looking for a good vintage bike to ride to school and wanted to pay for it by buying other bikes on Craigslist and selling them on Ebay.
My dream of owning a Raleigh Deluxe full chaincase was finally achieved after a few months, though I never earned enough to pay for it with bicycles.
So there I was, heaving my self up the endless hills of UCLA... on a
solid steel 40 pound behemoth, with only three gears and brakes so weak you have to grip like a gorilla and smell the rubber burn, burn, burn. Although beautiful, I had to give up the silly fantasy and get a real bike.
After my craving for bikes passed, I no longer had the initiative to buy and sell bicycles. My ventures thus far had been tedious and unprofitable.
At this point, I was musing Ebay and chanced upon a little cheap 1930's Elgin ladies watch. It was somehow interesting to me that something so delicate was still functional. I had never appreciated mechanical movement before... I excitedly won the auction for $20 and gave it to my girlfriend, who enjoyed it. I was still ignorant of how necessary "services" were or what that meant. I didn't know a thing about the varies brands or makers or movements or styles or anything.
Ever since then, my interest was sparked by watches and that interest has never died. I now support myself by selling, buying, and trading vintage (and only vintage) watches. I know every significant brand and many significant models. I can cite movements and dial variations. I can say I'm decent at spotting redials and am careful when I buy and sell. I've sold Patek's, Vacheron's, Piguet's, Longines 13zn's, you name it.
My bank account more than tripled from flipping watches in a year and a half. I'm proud to say that I've paid for college and have money left over to keep an apartment with and start a small pool of watches. My rule is that I only use money I've earned by flipping watches to buy watches I'm going to keep and I only own 3-5 watches at any one time. I also ONLY keep watches I wear at least once a week.
I deal exclusively with vintage pieces because:
1. They're generally cheaper than newer models of the same brand.
2. They're, in my opinion, often of a better quality and design (especially from the 1940's-1960's).
3. Are generally smaller on the wrist (I have very lean wrists and I usually only buy and sell watches I myself would enjoy owning, since those are the ones that peak my interest).
Now.... the moment you've all been waiting for.... Despite all the brands I've faced in the past year and a half... nothing has drawn my love more than Universal Geneve chronographs. I too think that they're undervalued and the tricompaxes are the most beautiful watches I'd ever hope to own. I hope one day to own a grey dialed screwback 1960's model with the 281 movement and the round pushers.
In any case, I am fortunate to own three Universals, though only one of them has been recently serviced and the one that has needs to be adjusted (the minute counter is off).
These are the only watches I "own" with no intention of selling them. I will only do so if my financial situation demands it, which is possible, given that I'm a recent graduate (just a few weeks ago). We'll see what happens once graduate school comes around.
I hope you enjoyed my story. 😀
P.S.: One of these watches was previously owned by a member of this forum. Can you figure out which one and who it is? 😀
