Hi again guys. I was curious if people would be interested in sharing other sites/places with which they've had luck purchasing vintage or pre-owned Omegas? Seems like there are a good amount of eBay stores selling used luxury watches, specifically Omega brand, but they have to be sourcing them somewhere themselves right?
They're often dealers, pawnbrokers etc that get people walk into their store and sell them, or bid on them at auctions or whatever, or have people approach them to sell their watch, or private sellers
I think that most pieces that are new to market are coming from estate sales (or the car "boot", as they say in the UK). The family tries to clear out Grandpa's old stuff, sometimes not having a clue as to value. Some wind up at various charity thrift stores, but these charities are getting wise and setting up auction sites for the better pieces. I know Goodwill has such a site. Recently just missed on an extremely rare back-set Harwood watch there. There are some pickers who make serious bucks from finding these pieces and putting them up on eBay. Pawn shops are right behind them. These guys are pros and know what they are doing. Hope this helps, gatorcpa
That was about what my guess was. Seems like a lot of work picking things over to try to find a deal. Not bad motivation to stop into an estate sale every once in a while though.
In the Uk http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb works well - now keep this quiet Enter you interests and an email will arrive whenever something is coming to auction. Have to say imo these sites have pushed prices up a bit but there is still a chance of a bargain at local auction houses that have not signed up for internet presence.
You can check other watch site's sales forums using either of these two search engines: www.elitedealseeker.com www.watchrecon.com
I agree that searching out smaller auction houses can yield nice watches, and at times great value. I recently acquired a NOS Jenny Caribbean dive watch for half of what it would have gone for on a popular sales site. It does take some time and effort, but I consider that to be a good thing. It feels terrific when such effort is amply rewarded.
Tony - you can say eBay here. Watch: eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay eBay See? I wasn't struck by lightning. Okay, enough fooling around - there are very few restrictions.
Thanks guys. Tony, I agree with most anything that spoils of effort paid in full feel more appreciated. I'm going to definitely check all these out. I'm focusing on Omega for now since it's the brand I've liked for a while, but would eventually like to learn more about other manufacturers.
For vintage omegas: Price range $5000 or below: eBay is overwhelmingly the best source. Also filled with risk. Other auctions, local or otherwise are good also but none can match eBay's sheer number. I also think the FS section in this forum is slowly picking up steam. Going to estate sales, yard sales, garage sales, flea markets, small local auctions is well and good but for me very time inefficient. If you enjoy this sort of thing and have the time then go for it but don't expect to find that 321 speedmaster for $10 more than once in a lifetime (if that). Price range $5000 and above: Specialty auctions like Antiquorum, Christies, Sothebys and to a lesser extent eBay (though for many of these high value vintage omegas, they end up being sold before auction end). And private collectors selling among themselves. And would love to learn about other brands but haven't even come close to mastering vintage omegas - learning something new there all the time so will sticking to the brand for the short to medium term. Long term who knows - can't think that far ahead!
Aside from few local watch blog, there are middlemen in Jakarta that will search vintage watch for you. They usually supply second hand watch stores. watchmaker in here also makes their living by selling vintage watches because the service cost is very low. Interestingly all of them is aware of current vintage watch price trend (well at least for Omega and Rolex). Thanks to eBay, WUS, Rolex forum, and other forum including our beloved Omegaforum.