Wish-based platform for vintage watch lovers - would love your thoughts

Watchprompt · Jul 14, 2025

Hi everyone,

I’m a long-time vintage watch enthusiast, and with a small group of fellow collectors, we’ve started building a platform to make connecting buyers and sellers a bit more natural - especially when it comes to vintage pieces and lesser-known brands.

The idea is centered around “wishes”: instead of browsing endless listings, collectors can post what they’re looking for, and sellers or other members can comment or promote a matching watch.

We’re also working on a matching engine, so that sellers can be automatically notified when a new wish aligns with something in their inventory and directly engage with interested buyers.

We’re still in early beta, and really open to feedback. If this sounds interesting or flawed or familiar, I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts.

If you're curious, just search "watchprompt" in your favorite search engine - happy to answer any questions or just chat vintage.

Thanks so much for reading 🙏
Julien

Tony C. · Jul 14, 2025

I have some suggestions, Julien. Separate vintage (perhaps pre-1980) from all of the rest. That would increase the efficiency of browsing, and greatly so if you are able to build up a significantly large database.

Along the same lines, place Rolex in its own category, as many vintage collectors, like myself, have little if any interest on Rolex, and consider them to be a form of pollution 😀 in search results. Alternatively, you could have a function that would allow users to delete certain words from search results (e.g. "-Rolex").

Cheers

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

Thanks so much, really helpful input, and I love that you brought it up.

The Rolex “pollution” problem is very real 😂. I think it comes down to two things:

Their sheer market share
The number of variants - size, dial color, bezel, etc. - which increases their odds of showing up everywhere.

I’ve built a matching engine based on natural-language prompts, so instead of setting every filter manually, you can just write something like:

“Vintage steel chronograph, no Rolex”

and it will return relevant matches while excluding Rolex from the results.

That said, we could eventually offer a manual “advanced filter” mode too - but I’m not sure how popular it would be, since it would increase UI complexity. That’s something I’d love to challenge with the user community.

On the vintage cutoff point: you're right - it’s a blurry line. Rather than drawing a hard limit (like pre-1980), would it be useful to let users add a release date filter?
Then you could say something like:

“Steel chronograph released before 1980”

and that would focus the results accordingly.

Once you save that kind of prompt as a wish, it notifies matching sellers who can message you directly. Could be someone here on the forum, or even a fellow collector in your area. Kind of bringing back the old-school try-it-on, chat-in-person vibe.

Does that make sense to you?
Out of curiosity - what other features would make this more useful or enjoyable for you?

(And if anyone else here has thoughts or wishes, we’re in beta, and really building this with the community.)

Thanks again!
Julien

Dan S · Jul 15, 2025

Hello Julien, welcome to Omegaforums.

My feeling is that the internet is already flooded with people trying to exploit the vintage and secondhand watch market, and I can barely keep track of the platforms that come and go. Maybe you are a tech guy, so you are focusing on the user interface, and we could discuss that ad nauseum, but that is generally not the main issue, IMO. You clearly have identified the concept of "wishes" to market the platform, and I understand that will allow you to aggregate more valuable data from your members, but unless the platform reaches critical mass, it will be useless for everyone but you. And that will depend on things other than the UI, e.g. trust.

As you know, this "industry" is over-run with scammers and newbies thinking that can make a quick buck, so your effort would probably have more credibility if it involved actual watch collectors/enthusiasts who are known to, and respected by, the community. Unfortunately, you don't have a history in this particular forum community, but maybe you can give a brief introduction to you and your partners, including your history with watches. Omegaforums comprises an extensive group of serious collectors, especially of vintage watches. So if you have been collecting for a while, you probably already know many of us.

DaveK · Jul 15, 2025

Posting a Wanted To Buy (AKA a wish) is the easiest way to meet scammers (both real and bot) who share similar interests. Dan said it really well above, and to me, not making your platform into a scammer’s paradise would be the biggest hurdle

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

Dan S
Hello Julien, welcome to Omegaforums.

My feeling is that the internet is already flooded with people trying to exploit the vintage and secondhand watch market, and I can barely keep track of the platforms that come and go. Maybe you are a tech guy, so you are focusing on the user interface, and we could discuss that ad nauseum, but that is generally not the main issue, IMO. You clearly have identified the concept of "wishes" to market the platform, and I understand that will allow you to aggregate more valuable data from your members, but unless the platform reaches critical mass, it will be useless for everyone but you. And that will depend on things other than the UI, e.g. trust.

As you know, this "industry" is over-run with scammers and newbies thinking that can make a quick buck, so your effort would probably have more credibility if it involved actual watch collectors/enthusiasts who are known to, and respected by, the community. Unfortunately, you don't have a history in this particular forum community, but maybe you can give a brief introduction to you and your partners, including your history with watches. Omegaforums comprises an extensive group of serious collectors, especially of vintage watches. So if you have been collecting for a while, you probably already know many of us.

Thanks, Dan S - I really appreciate your honest feedback. You're absolutely right: without critical mass and trust, a platform like this goes nowhere, no matter how clever the interface.

So let me try to give you a bit more context, not just about the project but about me.

My watch journey actually started before I can even remember. My father passed on two watches to me - a rose gold Chronographe Suisse from the late 50s, and a Yema dive watch from the early 70s. I didn't know it at the time, but that probably planted the seed.

The real turning point came around 2004. I was looking to make a statement on my wrist, and I stumbled across a pre-owned Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, 34mm, quartz, steel case, grey dial. I bought it on instinct - I didn’t even really know the brand - but I knew I wanted that watch. Back then, watches weren’t so “hype” yet, and discovering new pieces online wasn’t as easy as it is today.

From there, I just kept going. I explored different styles and brands, trying on and buying watches secondhand whenever I had the opportunity. I'm not a dealer, I don’t run a store, and I’m definitely not a flipper. I'm just someone who loves wearing his watches, even if it means keeping my budget in check.

I used to be active in a few forums (some of you might know me, though it’s been a while), but life eventually pulled me in other directions. Still, the passion never left. Each of my watches has a story, a memory. And what I've learned over time is that once you strip away the noise, most collectors are chasing something personal - whether it’s a moonphase, a tiny dial, or a specific year of production that means something to them.

The watch inventory in the world is massive, but the one watch you’re looking for is often hard to find. Not just because we’re masochists 😄 - but because the market is still structured like any other product category: brand, model, SKU. In stock or not. End of story.

So we scroll marketplaces. We go to stores. We hope to stumble on the golden nugget - even if we’ve never tried it on. And if it doesn’t fit? We start over.

That’s what led me to build WatchPrompt: a platform where, instead of searching endlessly, you post what you're looking for - and you're only contacted when someone actually has a match. No noise, no reverse-engineering of listings. Just collectors stating their wishes and seeing who can meet them.

I’ve shared the idea with a few fellow collectors, and it felt like I wasn’t completely alone. But as you rightly said, unless we can get meaningful traction, it won’t bring real value to anyone - and that’s why I’m here, openly and humbly.

Thanks again for the nudge to share more. And if anyone here wants to continue the discussion, I’d love to connect - both as a watch guy and as someone trying to build something useful for others like me.

Julien

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

DaveK
Posting a Wanted To Buy (AKA a wish) is the easiest way to meet scammers (both real and bot) who share similar interests. Dan said it really well above, and to me, not making your platform into a scammer’s paradise would be the biggest hurdle

Thanks Dave, and completely agreed.

This is 100% one of the core challenges we're thinking about, and probably the most important one if WatchPrompt is to have any credibility. “Posting a wish” sounds great in theory, but you’re right: without safeguards, it’s basically an invitation for scammers to DM you with fake offers.

I don’t have a magic bullet (yet), but here are a few things we’re doing early on to avoid building a scammer’s playground:

No direct messaging between users right away. All contact is request-based, and messages are tied to specific wishes and watches, with a goal of keeping things contextual and transparent.

Activity history & reputation are core to the roadmap, not just “stars” or “reviews” but the ability to trace someone’s past activity (which wishes, which matches, how others responded).

We’re looking at a verified seller badge, ideally reserved for people known in trusted communities (like this forum), or verified through community input.

Still, no system will beat actual collector eyes and the judgment that comes from experience, which is why I really welcome thoughts like yours. If you have ideas or have seen any trust systems work well elsewhere (or not), I’d love to learn from that.

This is exactly the kind of early feedback that will shape the platform into something useful, or stop us from building the wrong thing entirely.

Thanks again for taking the time,
Julien

Fallout Boy · Jul 15, 2025

Julien, do you want to earn money with this idea?

and ask yourself : What real problem am I solving - and for whom?

Peemacgee · Jul 15, 2025

Watchprompt
That’s what led me to build WatchPrompt: a platform where, instead of searching endlessly, you post what you're looking for - and you're only contacted when someone actually has a match. No noise, no reverse-engineering of listings. Just collectors stating their wishes and seeing who can meet them.

This will be the hardest thing to achieve/resolve.

OF has a WTB section and members get DMs from scammers along the lines of "I have a friend with exactly what you are looking for...."

Watchprompt
We’re looking at a verified seller badge, ideally reserved for people known in trusted communities (like this forum), or verified through community input.

Still, no system will beat actual collector eyes and the judgment that comes from experience, which is why I really welcome thoughts like yours. If you have ideas or have seen any trust systems work well elsewhere (or not), I’d love to learn from that.

First question is - who is the platform meant for?
A one-off purchaser or collectors?

If it is essentially a wish-based transactional market place will you really be building a community?

OF has for sale sections but they are a side-line to the actual community and so are policed by curious members browsing.
Will you achieve the desired policing of watches for sale if the platform is simply transactional? (and indeed will the transactional conversation be public?)

Seller verification is a good idea in principle but how will the collector who doesn't normally sell (but wishes to) be verified and so does that mean that sellers are only likely to be regular sellers/dealers?
Aggregating dealers in one place may be useful but it will likely reduce the presence of reasonably priced (and good quality) watches available.

The responses you are getting may sound negative but I feel that they just go to prove the enormity of the task that you are taking on.

Porteroso · Jul 15, 2025

I think it is a good idea, but essentially it is the internet equivalent of having a relationship with a good watchmaker, or jewelry shop, someone you can tell "I'm looking for this or that, let me know if you run across it."

I think your idea of limiting these messages for sellers is good. I'd also maybe have an escrow system for sellers under 20 completed sales, and for anything over $50k.

You will take on some risk and liability by handling the money, but it is probably just the cost to do business.

And strict rules about packaging, photos/videos take of the packaging even, will go a long way.

If you pull off a good website, you simply have to get people to purchase 1 watch easily and with confidence. After that, they are hooked, but if they find a watch, and dont buy because of trust issues, bad photos, you will likely lose that customer forever. Your competition is already established, has built trust, and has plenty of watches to sell.

And I hope you mean what you say about no extra emails. No marketing bs, just an email once a watch you want is available.

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

Great questions - and I’ve been asking myself those exact ones from the start.

To the first: yes, at some point I’d like this to be something that earns money - not VC-scale money, but enough to make it sustainable, maintain it with care, and justify the time and energy that goes into building and supporting it. Right now, it’s a personal project fueled by passion, but it needs a path to viability if it’s going to last.

But I also know that monetisation only works if you're solving a real problem, which brings me to your second question.

What am I trying to solve, and for whom?

It’s for collectors, people like me, who don’t necessarily identify as “buyers” or “sellers” all the time, but are always thinking about the next piece they’d love to find. And the problem is that the market, despite all the tech and volume, still doesn’t really reflect the way real enthusiasts search for watches:

We don’t always know the exact reference, just the era, case shape, dial type, movement family.

We’re often not in a rush. We’re willing to wait. But there’s no great way to just say, “this is what I’m after, let me know if you’ve got it.”

And the current platforms mostly cater to volume and hype, not nuance, not wishful discovery.

So WatchPrompt is my attempt to flip the flow: start from the wish, let sellers respond, and give collectors a calmer, more meaningful way to connect. And if we can make that work without flooding it with spam or friction, then maybe it earns the right to stick around - and eventually, yes, generate some revenue from power users, verified dealers, or added tools (but never in a way that compromises the experience).

I’m just trying to build something I’d actually use, and see if others would too.

Appreciate you keeping the conversation honest - that’s the only way to build something worth building.

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

Porteroso
I think it is a good idea, but essentially it is the internet equivalent of having a relationship with a good watchmaker, or jewelry shop, someone you can tell "I'm looking for this or that, let me know if you run across it."

I think your idea of limiting these messages for sellers is good. I'd also maybe have an escrow system for sellers under 20 completed sales, and for anything over $50k.

You will take on some risk and liability by handling the money, but it is probably just the cost to do business.

And strict rules about packaging, photos/videos take of the packaging even, will go a long way.

If you pull off a good website, you simply have to get people to purchase 1 watch easily and with confidence. After that, they are hooked, but if they find a watch, and dont buy because of trust issues, bad photos, you will likely lose that customer forever. Your competition is already established, has built trust, and has plenty of watches to sell.

And I hope you mean what you say about no extra emails. No marketing bs, just an email once a watch you want is available.

Thanks so much, Porteroso, this is really thoughtful and encouraging.

I like your comparison to a good relationship with a watchmaker or trusted shop. That’s exactly the kind of vibe I’m trying to recreate, where someone can say, “Here’s what I’m hunting for, let me know if you ever come across one.” Low-pressure, high-respect.

To be honest, I’m actually more in favour of the in-store experience or at least building relationships within a local collector community. Maybe it’s because I’ve had a couple of bad online experiences myself, and that pushed me to value real human contact even more. So I don’t see WatchPrompt as a replacement for that, but rather as a way to start more meaningful conversations, ideally between people who can meet in person, or at least feel confident doing so.

And yes, I completely meant it when I said no marketing BS. If you post a wish, you only get notified when someone actually has something that matches. No “just listed” newsletters, no “suggested watches,” no sponsored spam. Just what you asked for, when it exists.

Again, thanks a lot for the feedback. It’s exactly the kind of thinking that’s shaping this early on and if you’re up for it, I’d love to keep bouncing ideas off you as we build.

pdxleaf · Jul 15, 2025

Watchprompt
No direct messaging between users right away.

This is a requirement. No way should anyone give up their contact info.

This wish list concept made me think of my friend's shop. After 35 years in business, he has a lot of contacts. When a customer wants a certain watch but he doesn't have it, he reaches out to another dealer to see if they have one.

It's also like a used auto parts market. Junk yards have a network that they can use to request a part and other yards can respond.

So I can see your concept being more useful to the wholesale, commercial space. Frankly, I would likely not use it as an enthusiast. Part of the hobby, if it is that, is the hunt. When you do find what you're looking for, price is important. It's fairly easy to find about anything, if you have a big budget. A question is who makes the first bid? I want the seller to tell me their price first. As a buyer, I'm not going to say I will buy X for $$. Will your platform require sellers to say how much they want when responding to wishes? That might help deflect some hustlers. But I think your application might be more viable as a subscription service for dealers. There are so many places to find watches already

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

pdxleaf
This is a requirement. No way should anyone give up their contact info.

This wish list concept made me think of my friend's shop. After 35 years in business, he has a lot of contacts. When a customer wants a certain watch but he doesn't have it, he reaches out to another dealer to see if they have one.

It's also like a used auto parts market. Junk yards have a network that they can use to request a part and other yards can respond.

So I can see your concept being more useful to the wholesale, commercial space. Frankly, I would likely not use it as an enthusiast. Part of the hobby, if it is that, is the hunt. When you do find what you're looking for, price is important. It's fairly easy to find about anything, if you have a big budget. A question is who makes the first bid? I want the seller to tell me their price first. As a buyer, I'm not going to say I will buy X for $$. Will your platform require sellers to say how much they want when responding to wishes? That might help deflect some hustlers. But I think your application might be more viable as a subscription service for dealers. There are so many places to find watches already

Thanks so much, really appreciate the thoughtful reply.

First, totally agreed: no one should ever have to give up contact info just to post a wish, and they won’t on WatchPrompt. The whole flow is designed to protect buyers: you create a wish anonymously, and only hear from people who match it, without ever showing your contact info publicly or being spammed by generic offers.

I also love your analogy about your friend’s shop and the junkyard network, that is kind of the spirit. It’s about letting collectors or dealers quietly say, “Hey, I’m looking for this,” and giving others a way to respond, without needing a massive search or endless listings.

That said, I hear you on the joy of the hunt. That’s a real part of the hobby, the late-night scrolling, the deep-dive research, the surprise finds. I’m not trying to replace that. I see WatchPrompt more as a tool for when the hunt has hit a wall, or when you’ve got something specific in mind and you're ready to wait for the right one to surface.

As for pricing: sellers are required to state their asking price when replying. That’s intentional. It keeps the power with the buyer, avoids fishing for bids, and filters out unserious responses. No auctions, no bidding wars. Just: “Here’s the watch. Here’s the ask.”

You might be right that this ends up being most useful for the wholesale/dealer space - and we are thinking about a future tier for professional sellers, maybe on subscription. But I'm also thinking about newcomers to the watch world - people who are just getting into the hobby. Right now, many of them walk straight into a Rolex AD, put their name on a waitlist, and leave thinking that’s the entire watch market. And that’s a shame - they miss out on so many fascinating pieces, independent brands, and vintage gems they might actually love more if only they knew they existed.

That’s where I think wish-based discovery can help : it flips the dynamic from browsing hype to expressing what you want, and letting the community surface things you may not have found on your own.

I really appreciate your take and if the idea ends up being better suited to a slightly different crowd than I first imagined, that’s a useful learning too. Thanks again for helping me think it through.

Watchprompt · Jul 15, 2025

Peemacgee
This will be the hardest thing to achieve/resolve.

OF has a WTB section and members get DMs from scammers along the lines of "I have a friend with exactly what you are looking for...."

First question is - who is the platform meant for?
A one-off purchaser or collectors?

If it is essentially a wish-based transactional market place will you really be building a community?

OF has for sale sections but they are a side-line to the actual community and so are policed by curious members browsing.
Will you achieve the desired policing of watches for sale if the platform is simply transactional? (and indeed will the transactional conversation be public?)

Seller verification is a good idea in principle but how will the collector who doesn't normally sell (but wishes to) be verified and so does that mean that sellers are only likely to be regular sellers/dealers?
Aggregating dealers in one place may be useful but it will likely reduce the presence of reasonably priced (and good quality) watches available.

The responses you are getting may sound negative but I feel that they just go to prove the enormity of the task that you are taking on.

Thanks Peemacgee, you’re actually helping me arrive at one of the most critical distinctions behind the whole concept.

WatchPrompt isn’t trying to become another marketplace. In fact, it’s almost the opposite:
👉 It’s not transactional at all.
There are no listings, no payments, no checkouts, just a quiet mechanism for surfacing relevant watches based on real collector intent.

The way I’ve started thinking about it is this: WatchPrompt is more like a search engine, not a shop. A place where you don’t scroll through thousands of listings, you just clearly state what you’re looking for, and let the system (and the community) surface options when they exist.

The core question you’re asking WatchPrompt isn’t “what’s available right now?”
It’s:

“Given that I’m looking for [dream watch], who out there might actually have one and can let me know when it’s available?”

It’s built for both serious collectors who know exactly what they’re hunting for, and for newcomers who might otherwise go straight to a Rolex AD, get stuck on a waitlist, and never even discover the incredible variety and value that lives outside the mainstream.

You’re also right to raise the issue of trust and verification. Since there’s no transactional layer, WatchPrompt’s role is to ensure that any connection it facilitates feels clean, verifiable, and safe. That’s why we’re exploring things like:

Required seller info and structured replies (including price).

Optional links to known platforms (forums, IG, past reviews).

A simple, trackable match history to build visible credibility over time.

But again, this isn’t a replacement for a community like OF. Forums have culture, conversation, knowledge-sharing. I’m not trying to recreate that magic, just offer a focused, wish-based layer of discovery that lets someone quietly say, “I’m looking for X,” and get meaningful alerts only when that X is actually within reach.

Thanks again for helping clarify this. It’s these conversations that refine the mission more than anything.

Dan S · Jul 15, 2025

The word "wish" is getting old already. 😝

sathomasga · Jul 15, 2025

Dan S
The word "wish" is getting old already. 😝

Yep. And when the OP used the phrase "My watch journey" I shifted into rapid skim mode right away.

Wish-based platform for vintage watch lovers - would love your thoughts

Watchprompt

Tony C.

Watchprompt

Dan S

DaveK

Watchprompt

Watchprompt

Fallout Boy

Peemacgee

Porteroso

Watchprompt

Watchprompt

pdxleaf

Watchprompt

Watchprompt

Dan S

sathomasga

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