Dear Hansaboy and dear OF readers. Many thanks for all of your kind words.
馃槈
In all honesty these kind of messages and some of these insulting responses from certain OF members are a quite interesting since you learn from it but you also tend to respond emotional. Quite logical if you ask me with this tone of voice. Please let me explain why.
Since I started my watch business I tend to write as much information as possible about all the watches that I post on my website and on c24. I have a full library here with among them many books, magazines and catalogues. And yes within the descriptions I use information from the wide web but also from this library. The information that I provide is to inform my customers. The reason to describe the watches that I sell with as much information as possible is with I belief the right intentions. Most of the times I tend to give credits to all but sometimes you forget and on c24 you are not even allowed to give a weblink.
So let me emphasize: l
essons learned here I should be more careful and give all credits to those who have done the research. In the nearby future I will amend the posts and add footnotes where they are not visible. But please this isn't a PHD thesis, these are watches and they should be fun not salty.
Second to tell you the truth the tone of voice of forums with post and comments like these which are quite condemning, judgmental and insulting without knowing a real human person and without asking upfront that really puts me off from certain brands. Do I condemn you that you look at watches during your 9-5 job? Would be really stupid from my behalf haha. Would you also communicate in this way if we would meet face to face? These rants without the right of rebuttal by people who resemble a bit like the keyboard warriors on Facebook pages of media outlets, are quite the thing why internet has become a harsh place. For this reason I know that many dealers who are really passionate watch enthusiasts have turned their backs from forums. I experienced a similar thing on a Dutch forum, where I posted an interesting post the first year that I started trading watches about my launch and why I started trading watches. People were fast as lightning to ban the post if it was a witch hunt. Apparently they were convinced of my bad commercial intentions. I should have known better and have asked upfront for permission to post since the message was contrary to the forum rules. They also could have contacted me "hey Wouter you are new here sorry this isn't really allowed perhaps you can do it like this or that or what so ever". But as a result I have seldom posted any more things on that forum. Cause I really don't like the cut throat attitude of certain forum members. Fortunately in the real world at redbar events, watch fairs/auctions and speedytuesday events etc you can still meet people who are really nice and know how to communicate like proper grown-ups.
Third please let me make one thing clear. Yes I am a professional and yes I do have a family which I take care off. And yes of course the sole reason that I trade watches and make money out of it is that i I do this to make easy money. Belief me it ain't that easy. It can be really a pain in the ass and even quite dangerous. I buy and sell many pieces with my own money and also on behalf of certain collectors who are happy with the watches that I sell. The reason that I trade watches is that I like watches as long as I remember and I want to tell the stories about watches by describing them and trying my best to make the best pictures I can. This is all a one man show. So if you look at my watches they are not the run of the mill new and pre-owned piece but interesting collector pieces. I stand for the quality and service that I provide. If there is something with a watch people have the right to send them back and I will solve it or return their money. This is kind of different when you buy watches from consumers or random places....I only want happy customers since I want to treat my customers like how I would like to be treated myself.
But many thanks for the constructive feedback underneath and I will learn from it. If you have anymore constructive gentle feedback or just want to say that I just suck please let me know, cause seriously I am willing to learn. But please be clear on the message and kind on the communication. That would make this and especially our watch world a better place in my honest opinion.
