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Vintage watches section gone from Hodinkee shop
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hoshimachi
·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.
I don't quite catch the last part of your question.
Do you mean to ask if Hodinkee could have somehow manipulated the market to a point where "good examples" of vintage watches got more difficult to get? That they somehow dried-up all of the good vintage watches in the market to artificially increase prices?
From what I've seen, Hodinkee operates like any other online boutiques: They do their due diligence to make sure a watch is in as attractive condition as they can get it to be and charges a premium for the "effort" made.
I suppose this type of service is attractive to rich people who are willing to pay a premium to purchase vintage watches in good condition without having to worry about any "headaches".
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TigerKing
·I don't quite catch the last part of your question.
Do you mean to ask if Hodinkee could have somehow manipulated the market to a point where "good examples" of vintage watches got more difficult to get? That they somehow dried-up all of the good vintage watches in the market to artificially increase prices?
From what I've seen, Hodinkee operates like any other online boutiques: They do their due diligence to make sure a watch is in as attractive condition as they can get it to be and charges a premium for the "effort" made.
I suppose this type of service is attractive to rich people who are willing to pay a premium to purchase vintage watches in good condition without having to worry about any "headaches".
Seems to me like they are quitting their retail vintage business because it’s too labor intensive to regularly source quality, diverse watches for the “mass” market. It may also be easier for them to charge a higher mark-up on vintage watches when you aren’t publicly disclosing your prices each week. Given Hodinkee’s vintage watches tended to sell out within a day, I’m guessing that implies vintage watches paired with Hodinkee’s brand name can fetch an even higher price than they were charging
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cristos71
·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.
Seven or eight 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!
Sounds like he would never rest until he managed to find the rightful owner. Lhotse admiration for a guy like that! 😉
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joeshoup
·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.
I believe it was a home improvement show. So not porn... (unless that's your porn, I'm not judgy). Sherpa's name was dropped, and you'll be shocked to learn he was featured on Hodinkee a few years back. The snake eats its own tail
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joeshoup
·Seems to me like they are quitting their retail vintage business because it’s too labor intensive to regularly source quality, diverse watches for the “mass” market. It may also be easier for them to charge a higher mark-up on vintage watches when you aren’t publicly disclosing your prices each week. Given Hodinkee’s vintage watches tended to sell out within a day, I’m guessing that implies vintage watches paired with Hodinkee’s brand name can fetch an even higher price than they were charging
One thing I've learned from selling online is that if your item sells quickly, you priced it lower than the market will bear. It's a logical choice by Hodinkee - reduce overheads, raise prices, and profit. (Until their brand gets tired, then they'll have to pivot to wall clocks or Spring Drive-powered shoes or something.)
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hoshimachi
·Seems to me like they are quitting their retail vintage business because it’s too labor intensive to regularly source quality, diverse watches for the “mass” market. It may also be easier for them to charge a higher mark-up on vintage watches when you aren’t publicly disclosing your prices each week. Given Hodinkee’s vintage watches tended to sell out within a day, I’m guessing that implies vintage watches paired with Hodinkee’s brand name can fetch an even higher price than they were charging
I think you are right on the money with that
"allegedly"
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Scarecrow Boat
··Burt Macklin, FBI
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Larry S
··Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.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.
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sdre
·
but thanks to them, i started looking at vintage Seiko clocks....
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Braindrain
·You would find similar stories in Korea or Japan, but people here wouldn't dare refuse a nice reward (if offered) haha.
Reward? How about just getting them to accept a tip?
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hoshimachi
·Reward? How about just getting them to accept a tip?
That's what I've meant by "reward" haha
We won't refuse a nice tip. If offered, of course.
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hoshimachi
·From a purely objective POV, they had the occasional blunder, for which they were excoriated, as the collector community expected perfection, but the overall quality of what they sold was quite good. It also sold quickly. Overpriced pieces tended to sit but those were more the exception to the rule. I suspect also that as we have noticed, the inventory of vintage is on the decline as much it it has been snapped up. The juice ain’t worth the squeeze to have a vintage store. They also don’t seem to want to be a reference for price points any longer. Plenty of action and cash flow is at C&C. Full disclosure, I am not a fan of the direction their site has gone, but not a hater either. There is still content worth checking out, like the recent series on American watchmaking.
I actually like the direction they are headed.
It feels very nostalgic to read a magazine (albeit, online) to come across various information not readily available to the public.
I remember, before the internet and its crazy search engines, buying a couple magazines from grocery stores and passing around friends to share the wonders of the world outside the playground.