Just curious from members who've had experience with ebay authenticators.

I've bought three watches which have gone through the process; two have been delivered, and one was rejected as having a refinished dial. I disagreed, but wasn't given the chance to ask any questions of the authenticators.

However, I do know where the authenticator is, at least for watches that have come to me in Indiana/USA: it's Stoll & Co, in Dayton, OH. Regardless of where the watches have shipped from in the US, they've gone to Stoll & Co.

I'm not at all interested in knocking the authenticators--plenty of other threads highlight issues that've arisen--but I'm very curious if anyone else has pieced together what other shops are serving as authenticators. I will say I'm a bit surprised that Stoll & Co isn't an authorized service center for Rolex or Omega; I know Rolex has been pulling accounts, so presumably they used to have one, but Omega/Swatch accounts are really simple to establish, at least according to the watchmakers I'm close to.

Anyway: anyone else narrowed down who the authenticators are? Just curious.

 

I think whoever told you Omega accounts are easy to get are a bit out of date. It seems like you need to jump through several hoops these days.

 

I apologize--I shouldn't have said *easy*, so much as at least feasible (unlike Rolex). As @Archer wrote elsewhere: "Any watchmaker who meets the requirements for education, experience, has a modern shop with the proper equipment, and is willing to attend training at Swatch can get an account, provided the level of work they do meets the standards that Omega requires."

 

It appears Stoll is one of the lead dogs. I've used Stoll a few times in the past for repairs with good outcome. I don't know how much they get for each authentication but it would seem to be a hassle, and disruptive, to do this kind of work. Messy, imo.

 

That's the thing—I imagine this is hugely disruptive. I have to presume ebay put out an RFP, though I don't know any watch shops who were asked to make a proposal or offer a quote. Again, not at all knocking Stoll--I think they're just fine--I'm just fascinating who ebay's using.