Don't go to the site all that often, but just noticed today that vintage section is gone, so not sure when that happened?

Now there is only "pre-owned", which was already there before. I don't know the date cut off between vintage and pre-owned previously, but the oldest watch now for sale in pre owned is 1 example from 1970s and 5 examples from 1980s, with the vast majority from 2000 onward.

 

I remember seeing an email related to this. Found the link. It sounds like they won't be listing vintage pieces anymore but will work with people privately. I think they're too busy focusing on selling hats and totes.

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/vintage-watches-feb-8-2023

 

cool, thanks for the link. I don't totally understand, they are still doing vintage watches but privately rather than publicly?

 

Sounds like they will just broker private deals.

When they bought Crown and Caliber, I figured it was a sign that they were giving up on vintage because they didn't want to make the choices that would allow them to scale their vintage sales large enough to make them worthwhile. It probably would have required a lot of partnering with retailers. They have the name recognition to do it, but they're obviously going in other directions.

 

I think so. It's not super clear to me either. Below is from the email I referred to above.

"A few weeks ago, we told you our Wednesday Vintage Watches column would be changing, focusing more time behind the scenes and serving clients privately. Because here's the thing: Some of the best watches in the world never make it to the internet. They're traded behind closed doors (or on WhatsApp) without fanfare.

This is one of those watches. It's not listed in the Hodinkee Shop, but we do own it, and we're making it available for purchase via our private sales team. If you happen to be interested in this particular Hommage Condottieri (or really, any other early Dubuis) reach out to [email protected].

Going forward, we'll continue to tell the stories of watches we love. Sometimes they'll be Hodinkee's watches (like this week) and sometimes they won't be.

We'll focus on vintage, though we feel this category of collecting has expanded to also include "neo-vintage" watches from the '80s and '90s, like this early Dubuis. Whether we're selling the piece or not, we view this as an opportunity to pull back the curtain and show off some of the coolest watches we see on the market – especially when they're so discreet that you might otherwise miss them."

Here's the full link. Scroll all the way to the bottom to see the update I've posted above. https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/why-this-early-roger-dubuis-is-worth-knowing-about

 

I hardly bother looking at Hodinkee nowadays and when I do I'm almost always disappointed

 

Hodinkee ? Like the vanishing Act by Houdini? Sound similar anyway ..... Vintage for " Private clients " via Apps smells like laundered funds , where Money does not count ... Do they take Crypto?

 

They probably do haha.
Man, large companies in the vintage game are always so suspicious.
Reminds me of "art brokerages".

 

How much do I not want to have a beer with someone who buys a vintage watch privately from Hodinkee?

 

Reminds me of the guy who approached me about buying a watch I listed here - he said that he was a reality TV star and was alerted to my post by a consultant that he referred to as his 'Watch Sherpa'. This type of character seems like the natural prey of the Hodinkee Private Sales Team.

 

....hilarious, I think I need one!!

 

Reality TV Star ? Is that a thing ? Do they even pay ? In Crypto? Like in one of these Baking/cooking/porno flicks series? Strange.... Watch Sherpa . Must be an Enicar Fan.

 

But an over-priced bottle of champagne, now that is a different story!

 

@dsio is our Watch Sherpa.

 

Sounds like they are going to act as a private broker.

 

Maybe a false perception but it seems like I’m getting a lot more marketing emails from the Hodinkee shop lately. Pretty much every day. I don’t think it used to be like that. I’ve had to filter them out to a sub-folder that I typically just delete.

 

Apologies for being new to this hobby, but what was the perception of the quality of hodinkee’s vintage section before it was removed? Obviously overpriced relative to forum sales or eBay auctions given it’s a retail operation. I’m wondering whether they had increased difficulty sourcing quality watches that could absorb a retail markup.

 

Thread drift alert (re: "Watch Sherpa"):

Free associating here: a long, long time ago (late '70s), I travelled overland from London to New Delhi, and spent seven months in and around India. One of the highlights of the trip was trekking in Nepal, specifically the Annapurna region. While on that trek, with a sheep shearer from New Zealand, whom I had met a few weeks earlier in Darjeeling, we had been joined by a couple of other Westerners. The four of us stopped at a well to drink, and refill our bottles, and one of the men removed his watch to splash water on his face, head and arms.

Several hours later, a Sherpa caught up with us and asked if the watch, which he had brought from the well, belonged to any of us. Now, it's important to build a bit of context here. The watch was a Rolex, and was probably worth several years of the Sherpa's labor. Furthermore, he refused to accept a fairly substantial cash reward offered by the watch owner, and, perhaps most remarkably, turned right around and headed back towards the well, as his original destination was in a different direction!

While extreme, it was far from being the only time that I was impressed by the Nepalese.

So, that's my "Watch Sherpa" story!

 

Amazing story. I guess that's what happens when society isn't completely consumed by capitalism.
The Sherpa was probably content with life. He didn't need the watch to make him happy, nor did he find the need for anything beyond his reach.
That is the type of person I aspire to be, and the type of community that I hope to shape around me.

You would find similar stories in Korea or Japan, but people here wouldn't dare refuse a nice reward (if offered) haha.