When I'm bored I...never mind.

 

I has opinions.

I am relatively new to this too but I think that there are some growing pains in the vintage watch world. Now that prices across the board are going up I think a gap is developing between watches that show their age, have unpleasant patina, or replaced parts and good examples. While a nice textured seamaster may go for 100-200% more than it did a year or so ago, prices of imperfect watches, IMO, have been stagnant. I assume collectors were willing to overlook imperfections on a watch when prices were low enough to barely think about it, but I'm not going to pay $750+ for a simple Seamaster with issues. I'm also not going to spend $3500 for a fair example of an 861 tritium speedmaster even though a better example 861 may go for $5000. As always, great examples will always have a market.

Really interested in following this thread and seeing all perspectives.

 

Good points - especially about the seasonality. Regarding pricing on collectors' forums, I think most people selling will start at a high price in the hope that someone who wants the watch will pay that, just like in selling houses or cars. You'd also build in haggle room, so if I decided I wanted £500 for a watch, I'd probably put it up for £550 or £600 because I'd expect a buyer to offer less than the asking price...

On Ebay, well, it's not always an auction - BIN or set starting prices might mean it still take a while to sell, but bin my experience, I've had a couple of watches that sat for weeks in FS: sections, with little to no interest (even low-ball offers)... yet I put them on Ebay at higher prices (to help offset the fees), and they sold on first listing.

 

A couple of random thoughts on the topic...

Selling here can be tough because it's a demanding audience, and also because most everyone here has the watches they want or wants to find the one owner watches. It's an experienced clan of hunters (or watch snobs as you desire ).

Ebay is likely to reach a broader audience because it has more users and Ebay markets for you. Even listing aggregators, like watchrecon, target watch collectors. Ebay targets everyone.

 

Watch doesn't sell, someone claims why is it still here, yet they did not buy it...

 

Oh, and on those "I can't believe it hasn't sold yet comments, it more often than not seems to me that it's a way for a fellow of the seller to offer a free bump and maybe stir up some interest more than any real shock or dismay about a particular piece selling or not.

 

Two years ago a Railmaster 2914-1, an Original Trinity Master, with extract but replacement hands, languished in the Sales Forum for 6 weeks. Price, $10,000 negotiable.

Three years ago, a 2998-1 collected dust.

October 2016, a 2996-1 Ranchero, much rarer than the near $10,000 2990-1 BTW), in very good condition,was available for weeks. Asking 3000€.

Luckily, we knew better.

 

+1 And “Someone get this out of my face before my willpower collapses.” I must say the tone of this thread is a tad on the dark side and I hope pertains more to other forums and not this one. I would hope that an errant seller here would get some course correct advice via PM rather that having folks talking behind his or her back. Or... support in pricing correctly. We don’t have Speedy 101 for other brands.

 

Guys, apart from everything else mentioned above, I feel there's one thing we should take into account: this is not a rational hobby (or at least not 100%). It's a mix of rational stuff (like buying at a fair market price or the so boring "buying watches as an investment") with the oh so nice emotional stuff like "damn it, I finally have that Bond watch I was dreaming of when I fist saw Sean Connery". This emotion is what puts a stupid smile on ones face when he's wearing a watch that 99.99% of the population won't give a damn and not that "Oh I made a good investment" thought... In my view, that's just a mere justification for your significant other and/ or for your own conscience.

I believe the emotional part plays a significant role in all our decisions, both when buying as well as when selling. Or am I the only one who sold a watch which did not get into the weekly rotation and afterwards regretted the sale? Or the only one who saw a FS thread in the middle of the night, contacted the seller and struck a deal in like 5 minutes. This just because that watch "felt right"?

What I'm trying to say is that trying to explain this passion only using a rational perspective is wrong from the start. Also, it's also wrong to try and explain it from a pure emotional perspective too. It's a mix of those 2 and as long as one enjoys what he's wearing and has a nerdy smile on his face, how much he paid for it is of a lesser importance. And if that asking price seems too much, he can always make an offer.

 

Well said @George.A ...

 

Interesting thread...

Firstly, there aren't thousands of people out there that have thousands of ($€£¥) burning a hole in their pockets for a watch.

Secondly, if somebody absolutely wants it, they'll make a reasonable offer for it regardless of the asking price.

Thirdly, too many people have it ingrained in their mind that it's time to cash in on their "investment". Thus, a plethora of overpriced watches. Only very few watches have that quality. The majority of watches are expensive jewelry that lose value. Trying to recoup your money or even make money is an exercise in futility...

 

Thank you.

 

Some watches are very much FAB (find a buyer), which can take time - but it just takes one buyer.

 

Hi @Speedmasterfan88 , I have a soft spot for numbers as well, thanks for posting this information.

Whilst we know the asking price for the watches sold we do not know the final price negotiated for each of the watches.

I would be interested to know from others who have sold or bought watches, on average, how close is the selling price to the original asking price?

Are we talking 5%, 10%, 15% or more off the original asking price? I would think the more reasonably priced the watch is the closer the final selling price will be to the asking price.

 

Hi @omegaswisst you'r correct on that point.

I do go through every thread though, too see if there was a price reduction made, but I take the last stated price as final in my calculations. As I said it's only for fun and more a rough estimate.

From personal experience with selling here: after making one or two price reductions, if any at all, the price stated in the FS add was the final price the buyer paid. But I guess you'r right and this will not be the case with all listings.

Cheers,

Max .

 

I think there is a lot of truth in this, I have not sold any of my watches because I am somehow emotionally attached to them and I remember what made me buy them in the first place. Buying watches is also totally irrational and based on personal and unjustifiable preferences, however, once I have decided that I have to have a particular watch I only really notice that support my excellent decision and taste. So far I don't think this has got me into too much trouble but I do find the amount I am prepared to spend on a watch keeps going up and that will probably mean at some point I will suffer buyers remorse and my kids will wonder where their inheritance has gone.

 

For the small part of the market I pay attention to, I don't see any real macro issues, other than folks seem to have more disposable cash to buy luxury watches. I mostly see an increase in supply since prices have gone up, more people are selling to cash in, that creates an oversupply and I've recently seen pieces not sell and prices come down. For instance, take the '69 Straight Writing Speedy... when I was looking for a decent one a 1+ year ago, they were few and far between and anything half decent was $5000+. Now, there are several available, and not selling at $4500. I just see this as standard supply/demand cycles at work.

 

There is also some psychological games at work. Often times on eBay the buyer is looking for the deal of the century. Sometimes the buy it now price hurts that (“oh, it’s available for $1200? I thought this watch was worth $3000”) other times sellers start bidding at 90% of what they’re willing to take. It will have 89 watchers and then no-bids usually because other owners are trying to sell if it’ll sell for that price. Buyers want a deal even if the buy it now would have been lower. The NR auctions make people go crazy.

Recently the new trend is “estate sale” and no reserve auctions. If you’re brave enough to start the bidding at $1 you’ll see a flood of bids and it’ll likely get to what you wanted and it’s sort of the true market value of your watch. If people will only pay $1800 then either you didn’t list it to the best of your ability or that’s actually what your watch is worth on the economy. When I see modern speedmasters on eBay for $5800 and no “make an offer” I assume this is some sort of money laundering operation because there is no way these ever sell.

On one estate sale website not named eBay I saw a Tudor 9411 snowflake. The description was vague but it was missing a crown, the crystal was toast, and it wasn’t working. It had no box or paperwork. Still people thought that this must have come from somebody’s grandparent’s sock drawer and was surely unmolested. It started at $1 and sold for $7400. The site never implied that the dial, hands, or movement were original. It was just assumed because this is from an estate sale website. Incidentally that website now takes items from individuals wanting to sell things. They say they have an in house horological person to inspect the watch but only for authenticity and I doubt they can identify Frankens. Unlike eBay the allure of an unmolested estate find is rocketing up prices.

Just my .02

 

Good watches sell, mediocre ones languish.

I've found it ten times easier to sell an expensive piece, $5-10k then it is a relatively inexpensive piece $350-1000.

The lower end stuff is damn near impossible to move for some reason, and the buyers can be a challenge as many are new to the hobby and not versed in buying and selling.

I am not sure why, but I haven't had many people make offers lately, even when I run a reverse auction. Hell, make an offer...it might get accepted!

A shop worn watch might as well have a redial...price to move or your listing is toast