My watch-flipping experiment

I had an idea to see how much I could learn, and profit, from a watch flipping game with myself. I'm not trying to change career and become a dealer, but saw it as a way of deepening my knowledge and contributing to the funding of my collection.
So I just picked up a lot from eBay that is going to be the start of the game. The auction cost me £11.50 plus shipping and I got a couple of Seiko 5s. Both working, but in need of a service.

First is this 7009-316J dating, I believe from my research, to January 1994. I'll call it the white one. It keeps good time but the reserve power is poor. The watch looks to be in nice condition and, I would expect, relatively easy to get working properly. It's clearly been looked after in the past with service notes inside the case back.

The patina is not great, I'm not sure if it's damaged. It has a reasonable aftermarket double-lock bracelet that suits the watch but has minimal adjustability - no removable links. The date changes bang on 12 and the day at 3.30 ish.

The second, black dial watch is 6119-6003 dating from September 1971. It's in goodish condition with possible traces of rust. Unlike the other one, I've not been able to open the back yet as I don't have a tool (the white one was loose enough for me to open with my fingers).

The black one was running really fast, like 35 minutes a day, so I took it to my WM and asked him to demagnetise it. He did this and it seemed to keep really good time for the rest of the day, gaining maybe a minute in around 9 hours, but then overnight on the bedside it raced ahead so that when I woke up it was about 20 minutes fast.

This should be the more interesting watch given its age, but I fear the dial may be wrong as I'd expect a dial code, but there is none. Besides, the dial does not go to the edge of the aperture so I think it's maybe smaller than the original. The date changes at around 1 o'clock and the day at about 2.20. It's on a newish generic leather strap.

Of course any thoughts about the above would be most welcome.

RULES OF THE FLIPPING GAME
1 No additional capital outlay. I can only buy watches with the proceeds of the previous sale including fees, but excluding shipping costs which should be neutral, i.e. I'm not allowed to deliberately inflate shipping costs to earn more from the sale.

2 No additional money to be spent on the watches after purchase, i.e no paying for servicing.

3 I may, if I have one, provide a strap from my own box of unused straps if I think it will help the sale. Similarly, I may remove a strap if I think I could get a better price by splitting it from the watch it came on.

4 The purpose is to see if I can add value by doing research and presenting the watch honestly. I will describe the watches fairly, including downsides, because I want a good reputation and that's the sort of seller I want to buy from.

5 All watches will be sold on a no-return basis. I don't want time-wasters if I'm being honest. Of course, the normal eBay rules apply for mis-representation, etc. If, as I (hopefully) move upmarket I decide to sell through other channels I'll take those rules into consideration.

6 I am allowed to improve a watch, for example, with a replacement part, but only if that part has been paid for out of the kitty.

Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll be buying a Railmaster within a few weeks. (No, I'm not serious about that).

Hopefully I'll learn about different watches because I don't want to just be guessing as to whether something is cheap enough to make a profit. At the level I'm at now with the experiment a clean looking automatic watch that is described as working doesn't need much research, but as time goes by the stakes get higher, if I'm contemplating spending say £300 on something after a few weeks of this, I'm going to need to do some fairly thorough research to be confident that there's a few quid in it for me, and that I'm not going to go badly south.

Great idea 👍 I like. I guess you are also not accounting for your time in the 'cost', as this all will/should eat up some of it (and as we know, time = money). Will watch with great interest.

Indeed! But given the going prices for Seiko 5s, I'm hopeful that I can present these two well enough to make a little money with them. And if not, I've lost nothing much.

No, this is hobby time. I charge an hourly rate for my work and if I were to charge the same for this it would not work.

No such thing on eBay. You sell a watch that is 20 minutes fast, you're getting it back, at your expense.

My seller only described the watch as working, not that it was 35 minutes fast. He didn't get it back. I'll be describing everything honestly. There should be no reason for someone to send anything back.

I also love watch hunting and flipping but starting off parlaying those two seikos and thinking you might wind up with 300 pounds to work with within a few weeks would not be realistic. Don't get me wrong I think you could do well but to get the kind of snowballing effect you are looking for will require more than buying on ebay and selling on ebay. You will need to hunt down deals in person and other venues aside from ebay.

35 minutes fast is not 'working', it's failing....it's deceptive. Don't be that guy. There's enough crooks on ebay.

Sure, I get that -£300 was really to make the point that in time I will need to study the pieces I'm considering if I'm to "stay alive" in the game.
I wasn't really thinking I'd be there within a few weeks - it could be many, many weeks. In fact, to stay alive I will need to be patient and not want to turn over my cash too quickly. That's another reason why this isn't an exercise in becoming a dealer. A dealer needs to turn their cash over quickly. It's better for them to do that even if it only turns them a tiny margin than to sit on their money. Their cash needs to be working for them constantly. I need to be patient, wait for the right deal and hopefully not be tempted by anything that might risk me losing the game.

The sellers actual words were:
"Both run when shaken not tested other than that sold as seen"
I think that is perfectly fair. there was a warning in there that I took on board and was prepared to accept the risk.

OK, well, I'm getting the distinct vibe from you guys that my initial purchase is not going to be as easy to move on at a profit as I thought! It won't be the first time I've been naive about something so at the moment I'm £11.50 down (plus postage of £4). Game on!

That's the spirit !

You can do it. You can't win them all but you certainly can't win if you're not in the game!

This.

People can, and will, return stuff even if your description is perfectly accurate. I've had people return a caseback they had hoped would fit on a completely different watch, claiming I "sent wrong item". Ebay doesn't allow for sellers to argue anymore, you have to take it back or lose your good account standing.

On the positive note - This reminds me of the guy who started with a paperclip, and traded all the way up to a house. Garnered a lot of press back in the day. Granted - the press is what probably allowed some of those moves to happen, but maybe you'll have similar results on a small scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

Have fun!!!