The decency of collectors and the watch community

So darn we rightly often complain of the scammers, beaters, flippers and all the other shenanigans in the watch world but I have met with/received help from/been treated decently by/done and received favors from and for numerous people I have met in the watch collecting. As we speak someone is mailing me a midsize seamaster to check out make sure I like it prior to paying. I explained I would prefer to send them the money first but they refused. Someone here did the same thing for me with a vintage seiko and requested payment via personal check.
I did my neighbor, a favor by getting him a Rolex sky dweller someone was trying to sell me at a good price, I just didn’t want to put that much into a watch but told him I knew someone who wanted one and I hooked the two up. Since then my neighbor has been hiring me on the weekends to teach some of his employees how to repair machinery I worked on before I got hurt.
He wanted to hire someone to work a couple days a week preparing rods for a Swiss screw machines. It’s actually a mindless job but I hooked him up with the gentleman who buys the gold watches I find, shoot I think two days of work he is now making more than I make all week. He ( my neighbor) needs a couple more people and I got two other watch friends I can send to him. They both need work.

I’ve met a lot of decent people through just collecting watches. Can’t lose sight of that. The idiots get all the news and talk but on a larger scale most of us our are just normal people willing to lend a hand if possible and not looking to burn or take advantage of anyone.

The bad apples (1%) get 99% of the limelight.

Ya certainly and people collect all kinds of stuff. It doesn’t necessarily imply anything about them. A few weeks ago I was at someone’s house for the first time and they had this tremendous collection of books and other materials associated with the Roman Catholic Mass. Now I’m catholic but I’m really into theology of many religions. Just always found it a cool topic. I got kinda excited and asked the guy about some of the books, he said “oh I never read that stuff I just collect it as it reminds me of my mother, she never missed church a day in her life.” Yeah not actually the discussion I expected but whatever he likes his collection right. So collecting anything doesn’t imply that much, unless it’s like houses and Van Gogh paintings I guess, that might imply your living at a level few reach but we are all heading the same place and we ain’t taking any of our collections with us.

I just felt the need to write something a bit positive as that 1% that pulls the scams gets such loud coverage the 99% who are just decent people who dig watches gets overlooked sometimes I think and that 1% really does affect the overall level of trust when-you are looking to buy a watch, even if it’s just that little voice in the back your head that says “darn am I gonna get screwed.” As you push purchases.

Oh and I got a great thread coming up how a brand new PO or SM ended up 4 to 5 feet underground carrying sewage through it but now is not the correct time yet, but it’s a doozy.

I thought Rolex was the only company that was full of shit.

I agree entirely with your thoughts Walrus, but I believe it carries through all of humanity. With few exceptions the vast majority of people just want to live a peaceful and happy life. Part of that life requires kindness and or empathy toward others. My personal experience is that you get what you give. If you are trusting toward people then it follows that people will trust you with very few exceptions.
Great post, thank you.
LuckyLes

Yes I would expand this through humanity just using watches as a “baseline”. I don’t think it’s true we “get what we give” all of the time but it’s important to give and have empathy regardless. Sometimes people are carrying heavy loads and won’t return a kind gesture or what have you for reasons we cant see surface level. But alas I’m drifting off here and I’m certainly not trying to portray myself as saintly as darn I can be a real prick sometimes. Well often actually.

So yes I agree the topic is much greater than watches but I limited it to that since this is a watch forum. Do good everyday, don’t sell fake watches, pay for the watches you buy and if you can help someone else beyond that in the course of watch interactions even better. Certainly not a prerequisite. I’m not old yet, but I’m getting closer to old than young, can’t say I’m a big fan of aging but I do like the wisdom that comes along with it, even if I ignore it 90% of the time.

I actually traded very valuable spare parts and got two vintage speedmasters in return with OF members. Those deals even were between the US and Europe adding quite a bit of logistics.

When you think about it, it did involve an amazing amount of trust between us... A very pleasant experience 👍.

Yes, and since it went well you probably thought “ah cool, nice guy” and you in return did the same. Like numerous people since it went well you were pleased but probably didn’t make a post about it. Now had it not gone well you might have warned people not to deal with said dude. Numerous positive transactions go that way and don’t get a mention (certainly some do get mentioned of course) but in general it’s the deals gone bad we hear about.

We left positive notes for each other in the relevant thread of the sales section : very useful for background checks.

My experiences with people on watch forums have been fantastic. Much better than the average interaction with people outside this community.