Hey guys - I'm in seattle twice this month. Anyone got any pointers for vintage watches other than Nesbits? Thanks!
I'll be in Seattle shortly as well and was interested in Nesbit's, but I just called them and they only service watches, they don't sell them. The most interesting place I could find is WT Hoyt, who has mostly bands but also has parts and vintage watchmakers tools for sale.
Some lovely new shops - eyed up Omega, Zenith, Glashutte and Nomos amongst others.... Seems weird that there isn't a vintage scene here....
Seattle has hidden corners and gems, and a thriving vintage community. You can ask the good folks at Nesbits by going there. Should be able to guide you well, ask for Jan
If you haven't checked out subterranean Seattle, it's well worth a look. Check out Wikipedia if interested.
The economics of the vintage watch market doesn't allow the margins necessary to pay for things like rent, insurance, business licenses (taxes?) etc., etc.
Hopefully I'll have the energy to do so but one day I'd like to open a true retail vintage watch store. If I can find another interested and like minded collector, we could start out with a decent inventory of 500 to 1000 vintage pieces. I (we) would purchase the property so we'd have zero pressure to make sales just to pay rent. Vintage watches are one of a very short list of distinct items where your inventory doesn't necessarily depreciate like a log in a fire. There are interesting ways to monetize watches. For example: I'm sure young brides and grooms would like to wear 50 thousand dollar wrist thunder for their special day and for this to be memorialized in photographs and video. How about high school re-unions?? Lol This model works for expensive items like high end cars...why not watches? And, I don't need to worry about people drag racing a Calatrava. Of course there are unique nightmare scenarios for wrist watches but proper planing can mitigate most disasters. There are certain places in the United States such as Scottsdale, AZ where I truly believe a modern vintage watch store would do pretty OK...