Vintage watch dealers - how many of them are actually trustworthy?

amuscare87 · Jan 14, 2026

reggie_v
Yes really was disappointing. As the saying goes, “buy the seller”. When you look at their polished instagram you like to assume they’re a 100% trustworthy operation.

Here’s a snippet of how the initial conversation went down.

Once again, full disclosure they did refund me my money. So they’re not criminals. I just don’t like how they warped the truth.
This is between me and their business WhatsApp number.

As mentioned I took it to my friend who’s a watchmaker who confirmed the watch was in fact in need of a good lubrication at a minimum if not a full service and the rotor was loose (I may be butchering that, rotor post, rotor bearing? I can’t remember the technical term for it he said as my knowledge is limited in watchmaking) and that was what was causing the knocking sound.

Glad they at least refunded you with no questions asked. I did see they just announced they were opening a private location, appointment only in early 2026 and then a storefront in London late in 2026. At least then, you would get to see their watches in person before purchase if you are local.

kvikster · Feb 16, 2026

This is a topic i think about often and it makes me sort of furious knowing majority (read: most of them) of vintage watch dealers are totally untrustworthy and dishonest.

As far as i'm concerned there are basically 3 types of vintage dealers.

1. Overpolished and refurbished dials type, promises originality and provides certificate of authenticity and warranty, but you know they buy any crap that comes on ebay including frankens, watches with missing parts, projects etc (trustworthiness 0/5, authenticity 0/5)

2. Seemingly authentic patina and condition type, here the watches look more proper with scratches and patina but are sourced from the same dubious places, patina is usually ugly and watches in not good condition indicating it was sourced for cheap and 'serviced' (trustworthiness 2/5, authenticity 2/5)

3. Collectible and authentic type, this one on the surface seems the most legit (especially to someone who knows their bit about watches) but in reality some watches will not be proper (example: two watches put together to create a perfect example, sourced from questionable dealers or collectors, sourced with ruined case but doing a good polish and offering as NOS or great condition when in reality the case was basically ruined etc) (trustworthiness 2/5, authenticity 3/5)

I've caught all these types of dealers on their bs and over the years saw plenty of examples of watches being offered when they was presented in a manner that didn't reflect their original state/original. It's truly horrible out there.

Dan S · Feb 16, 2026

reverbtime
Even Wind Vintage has his controversial listings. I remember this supposedly "NOS" 62MAS, from a few months ago on Reddit.

Search the forum, you'll find much worse. It's amazing how people just forget and move on, treating dealers and auctioneers like influencers/celebrities.

Davidt · Feb 16, 2026

It’s funny how this thread makes you examine things more closely. I’ve never bought from Kibble but from a brief view of their listings over recent times I had them down as one of the better dealers.
However, they’ve just listed a 1603 DJ which looks like a redial to me and a Camaro (which I’m in the market for and which made me look at their current watches) with scratches on the dial which aren’t mentioned at all in the listing.

I’ve said it before but I kinda think ‘buy the seller’ is no longer good advice. You need to know yourself what you’re buying to be 100% safe.

Otherwise collectors are the best people to buy watches from as they’re not motivated by profit. I think I buy well, so when I sell I tend to break even or make a small profit, but I don’t need to, so if I need to take a loss on a watch I’m moving on, it’s no big deal.

I think this is partly the driving force behind the lack of dealers who tick all three boxes for good prices, good quality watches and descriptions, and fully transparent. The fact is, it’s hard to make a profit ticking all three so even people who start out with genuinely good intentions are often forced to compromise on something or throw in the towel.

ErichKeane · Feb 16, 2026

You make me want to start my anti-buy the seller rant 😁

The problem is it is impossible to criticize "high" reputation sellers after they do bad, because a million folks will come out of the woodwork about how they had a super great experience with that seller.

Here's the thing: it is stupid easy to get a high reputation as long as you get lucky enough that nothing bad happens. Take money, give watch is absolute simple, anyone other than an outright scammer can get this right, and will have 99% feedback because of it.

Where sellers really need to be evaluated is when they screw up. What happens when it doesn't go right? For example, a common seller here (not going to name names as that is unfair to the point) got a criticism thread on TRF because they owed someone a bunch of money at the beginning of December, then took weeks to send a check (refusing to wire for some reason?), and went radio silent for a bunch of the time.

Of course the "well I bought something from him, he's a great seller!" flooded the thread. Last I checked, the seller has STILL not come by to explain, despite being a huge seller there.

And yet, if you were to ask, they'd get a A++ rating on any "buy the seller" attempts.

ErichKeane · Feb 16, 2026

Oh. Worst part of the above story: original poster started the thread because he was out thousands of dollars with no communication for weeks. After the thread was started, he finally got his money.

A bunch of the responses were "how dare you besmerch the name of a good seller!"

Davidt · Feb 16, 2026

This to me emphasises the point that unless you’re a dealer to the stars or one of the few very well known dealers who seem to do well etc, it’s not actually that profitable for many vintage dealers.

A couple of bad months and suddenly they’re stretched with cash flow issues and struggling to cover a refund.

I’m sure some are arseholes and set out to scam people but I genuinely think many set out to sell good watches, honestly described as they come from a collecting background. However, as soon as it’s your main source of income, everything changes.

Dan S · Feb 16, 2026

ErichKeane
The problem is it is impossible to criticize "high" reputation sellers after they do bad, because a million folks will come out of the woodwork about how they had a super great experience with that seller.

It's actually even a little worse than this because buyers are increasingly using the identity of the seller as a form of friggin' provenance, if you can believe it. You will even see these statements in sales listings, sometimes with links to the original listing.

"I bought this in a Phillips auction." "Purchased from so-and-so."

And they actually think that this not only legitimizes a watch, but even adds value. When I see this BS, I just move on, because it tells me that the seller is probably clueless and has unrealistic expectations.

I get more excited if a collector is letting go of a watch that they purchased from the original owner 30 years ago, before there was so much scamming and tampering.

Mark020 · Feb 16, 2026

Davidt
However, as soon as it’s your main source of income, everything changes.

I think this is the - very painful - truth

SOG53 · Feb 16, 2026

Davidt
I’ve said it before but I kinda think ‘buy the seller’ is no longer good advice. You need to know yourself what you’re buying to be 100% safe.

This

If you know the seller and have history buying from them that is clearly helpful.

But I think “buy the watch” is better strategy.
First, you need to KNOW the watch. How it should look, what movement it should have , how to assess condition of case and dial, etc.

I think all these attempts at profiling seller types etc are waste of time and a distraction from accepting the BUYERS responsibility for doing research and acquiring knowledge beforehand

Assume that vintage watch will need full service and budget accordingly even if advertised as serviced.

If seller cannot answer your questions or provide adequate photos move on.

omegamannj · Feb 17, 2026

Archer
I get quite a few dealer purchased watches brought to me with varying claims. Often there is a claim of the watch being "fully serviced by our watchmaker" just like this most recent watch had. Further they claimed balance amplitude of 270 degrees, and a daily rate of +6 seconds.

Incoming inspection revealed that the balance amplitude did not exceed the high 240's fully wound, and it was averaging a slight loss.

The customer had just received it literally a couple of days before I took these photos, yet the case was dirty:

When I opened the case it was clear that the case back seal was very old - not something I would expect to see in a freshly serviced watch:

Of course the watch failed the pressure testing, and when I removed the seal, it basically turned to powder:

In my initial inspection, I could see that the jewels were dry:

The escapement was dry and dirty:

The easiest thing to remove was this bridge for the sweep seconds:

Looking at the underside of the jewel, the oil is dried and only heavy residue is left behind:

Based on these findings, I was asked to service the watch, and during the disassembly I checked more jewels - they were all dry:

The balance jewels were dry:

The movement was fully serviced by me, performing well within Omega specs, and in the end passed the pressure testing. I realize that this thread is more about redials and originality, but that is not the only area where dealers are frequently dishonest. In this case it's pretty clear that the claim the watch was serviced is a flat out lie - this watch hadn't been serviced in decades. This isn't some small unknown dealer either - this bi-valve dealer is often spoken of here and often in good terms. On this one they clearly fell short, and the customer had to spend extra money to get what they paid for - a fully serviced watch.

Far from the only example of this behaviour by dealers, but just the most recent that has come across my bench.

I'm dealing with this exact same thing right now, on my newest post, right down to the wording you described. Their listing said it was serviced January 2026, they tacked on same bogus near chronometer timegraph readings, and when I received it, it was reading +25 s/d and old and dried out inside. Would you be able to DM the seller you are referencing?

JimInOz · Feb 17, 2026

I have also encountered the same "just serviced" examples that Al has.

Unless a seller provides valid proof of service, consider a service cost in addition to the purchase.

NT931 · Feb 17, 2026

Tony C.
In my experience, high-end Japanese dealers tend to be the most trustworthy. It's a cultural thing.

+1 for Japanese watch dealers. Have bought at least 10 over the past decade from several of them (both modern & vintage) and they've all been scrupulously honest in declaring condition and flaws.

Davidt · Feb 17, 2026

NT931
+1 for Japanese watch dealers. Have bought at least 10 over the past decade from several of them (both modern & vintage) and they've all been scrupulously honest in declaring condition and flaws.

In my experience, watches from Japanese dealers generally are no better or worse than from other parts of the world. The high volume sellers like Closer in particular have a lot of watches that are absolute dogs.

The area where the Japanese sellers are head and shoulders above many others is honesty. I appreciate it’s a generalisation, but they don’t tend to describe watches as serviced, they don’t over embellish their descriptions with hyperbole, it’s just factual and as a result, the watch generally meets expectations

Dan S · Feb 17, 2026

Davidt
In my experience, watches from Japanese dealers generally are no better or worse than from other parts of the world. The high volume sellers like Closer in particular have a lot of watches that are absolute dogs.

The area where the Japanese sellers are head and shoulders above many others is honesty. I appreciate it’s a generalisation, but they don’t tend to describe watches as serviced, they don’t over embellish their descriptions with hyperbole, it’s just factual and as a result, the watch generally meets expectations

Many Japanese listings seem to disparage the watch and exaggerate any flaws. It's kind of funny, but obviously just the way they do things. I find it equally unhelpful, TBH.

Davidt · Feb 17, 2026

Dan S
Many Japanese listings seem to disparage the watch and exaggerate any flaws. It's kind of funny, but obviously just the way they do things. I find it equally unhelpful, TBH.

Ha yes I agree. I read a lot of descriptions that describe a mark or ‘burn’ on the dial and I’m struggling to see any trace of it in the photos.

Archer · Feb 17, 2026

omegamannj
I'm dealing with this exact same thing right now, on my newest post, right down to the wording you described. Their listing said it was serviced January 2026, they tacked on same bogus near chronometer timegraph readings, and when I received it, it was reading +25 s/d and old and dried out inside. Would you be able to DM the seller you are referencing?

If you are thinking it is the same place, based on your post indicating the seller of yours is in the Netherlands, it is not the same seller.

reggie_v · Feb 17, 2026

Davidt
Ha yes I agree. I read a lot of descriptions that describe a mark or ‘burn’ on the dial and I’m struggling to see any trace of it in the photos.

So true! The amount of watches in Japan where the condition is described as “fair” and I’m thinking, a U.K. dealer would describe that as NOS 😂

ErichKeane · Feb 17, 2026

Regarding the Japanese sellers: Note that there are a LOT of resellers from Japan that don't have their watches in stock. They go into local stores and buy them w hen you order them, in many cases their descriptions are just what the sales person described to them. So in those cases, they're not particularly reliable.

reggie_v · Feb 17, 2026

ErichKeane
Regarding the Japanese sellers: Note that there are a LOT of resellers from Japan that don't have their watches in stock. They go into local stores and buy them w hen you order them, in many cases their descriptions are just what the sales person described to them. So in those cases, they're not particularly reliable.

A couple people on the forum have mentioned positive experiences buying from TIMEANAGRAM before. Don’t suppose there’s anyone else out there who could shed some light? I’m actually looking at buying a Seamaster from them. Seem one of the better reviewed ones in Japan.

Slightly off topic too - despite the bad rep on the forum I’ve had a couple good experiences buying from Vision Vintage in the U.K. although I’d argue he falls into the category of dealer who very much overpromises what you’re getting in his descriptions… oh and the sky high prices

Vintage watch dealers - how many of them are actually trustworthy?

amuscare87

kvikster

Dan S

Davidt

ErichKeane

ErichKeane

Davidt

Dan S

Mark020

SOG53

omegamannj

JimInOz

NT931

Davidt

Dan S

Davidt

Archer

reggie_v

ErichKeane

reggie_v

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