Reply With QuoteI was offered £7, 500 for my 1978 Exp II last year - needless to say I didn’t let it go.
Watchfinder email me a fair quote for my Rolex watch.
I trudge to their Mayfair office for an appointment where they suddenly have to revise their quote because they thought the watch had diamond hour markers......I asked how they could have been mistaken -apparently I’d ticked this option ?! Even though I’ve never seen such an option when getting a quote!
The young Watchfinder spiv then kindly offers me £7000 less than the initial quote.......it all seemed very slick, but not in a good way....what a complete waste of time Watchfinder can be- do they have a certain percentage of prospective sellers who just can’t be bothered to leave with their watch and accept such nonsense lowball offers?
I certainly won’t be bothering with WF again.
I was offered £7, 500 for my 1978 Exp II last year - needless to say I didn’t let it go.
Diamond Dial wouldn’t be anything like that to fit if required.
If I had a pound for everyone who tells me they have had higher offers then ends up at my door! There are a lot of Grey who quote high to get you in the door then chip down on arrival thing gm you will submit on the day. Easy way to lose your reputation without realising it.
RIAC
I used them recently so sell a SubC. An OK offer but wasn't fussed at it.
They came back said what was I after so I said and they accepted. Was about 13% more than initial offer and a lot more than I paid for it in Nov 2017. Read reviews etc and went back and said don't waste mine and your time, I'll accept nothing less than we agreed and they said no problem. Not as abrupt as that but the gist.
Dropped off in Leeds, and confirmed all OK within 2 mins. So a good experience for me.
I could have sold for more privately but didn't want the hassle and was happy enough with what I got.
Posh Pawn?
Never even got past an email. They offered £4/4.5 k for my meters first 5513, I did not bother with a refusal. I have no interest in approaching them again for anything. Chancers in my book.
Let’s just say based on past history they are not for me.
I once sold a watch to them and added funds to buy another from them they offered me £2700 for the watch and that what they gave me and I chipped £150 off the purchase price to get a deal on the one I wanted , So experience was ok but I do hear the other side of the coin from a fair few
Same experience here on a trade. Buy offer FAR under the market price, and sell price FAR over the market price. They're a business - I'm fine with them making a margin on either side of the trade, but wanting a huge margin on EACH side of the trade ruled them out for me.
Clearly their model works - there's enough people out there they can make such margins on (and they told me as much when I queried their offers) - but not for me.
I sold them a limited edition Panerai a few years back and bought an omega GSOTM and was given a good amount of cash back. I was surprised by their valuation of my watch, but pleasantly so. I think they overpaid as it seemed to be in their stock for a very long time afterwards.
Other offers have generally been below what I was prepared to accept and so have sold to other dealers or privately
I do love their videos. Always pristine and some great macro photography.
Did I read that right £7000 less the instial quote ?Originally Posted by farmkid
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I recently was in watchfinder looking at two watches at 30k plus and what a sad experience it was!!!
ID sent in advance, felt like a thief at the door and the shop, well just an empty shell with no customer experience what so ever!
To top it off the 30k watch had load of links removed so wouldn't even fit!! And then they made out they would do you a favour getting Extra links to fit and then do a second visit to try on!
Sorry but watchfinder is not for me!
Did you not think the initial quote was a tad high? £7k is a big differential but it sounds like you were expecting exactly that?
What watch is it?
I believe Watchfinder have a shop on EBay selling Rolex bracelet links etc - slightly odd they have surplus links to be sold off 🤔-
Recently they sold a couple of Rolex platinum links for £500 a pop
Initial quote was not high- it’s a decent precious metal watch.
Quality post. Please keep the standard up.
They certainly have and I am guilty of buying links off them in the past as I've had no real option.I believe Watchfinder have a shop on EBay selling Rolex bracelet links etc - slightly odd they have surplus links to be sold off-
Recently they sold a couple of Rolex platinum links for £500 a pop
In fact today I looked on eBay today at Breitling links and they seem to have at least 13 of each
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Last edited by Gee252; 29th June 2019 at 19:32.
Similar experience - although not quite the same drop in offer - when I thought about moving my Speedy Pro on. Never babied, worn frequently with pride, but also not abused (and original bracelet flawless as never worn). Get to the boutique in Royal Exchange and much shaking of heads and mutterings of needing a polish and bracelet having “micro scratches”.
Straight back out and still have the Speedy, which is also back in the regular rotation so obviously shouldn’t have thought about moving it on in the first place!
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Though some time back, I have sold to them and haggled up on taking it to Burlington.
Paid up pretty quick and no probs at all.
There seemed to be a time when they would pitch a trade-in price at £1k below current market value and pitch any watch they had for £1k over market value, so a £2k swing.
I rather think those days are long gone.
They offered me £600 for my IWC Ocean 2000. I sold it to a different reseller for £2750 that same week
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They usually tend to try and knock a little bit off the price when you actually show up with the watch, similar to webuyanycar.
In the OPs case, that must have been a really frustrating experience but I believe there has been a genuine mistake, I find it hard to believe their policy would be to make such large differences in offers. I’d also he intrigued as to what watch was being offered and if the offer was too good to be true.
At the end of the day, their USP is time. You can sell a watch to them immediately, and also but waiting list watchs immediately. Their offers will be based on a number of things (current stock, time it will take to sell, condition etc) and their list price tends to be on the high end, however the “market rate” is whatever someone is willing to pay.
They just offered a friend £11k for an unworn Hulk which seems like a pretty decent offer.
I've never dealt with Watchfinder myself, but I am sure that I have read previous posts on here saying that they will strip anything from a watch (not just links, but special edition boxes, extras like anchors, etc) which they can sell separately.
Not always true. I picked up watch with a lovely package from them last year.
In asking for offers to buy in the past, I have always provided a photo as it asks for on their web form.
Assume that didn’t happen in this case, but worth doing if they take this approach
£7000 less offered , OP must have twigged something was wrong at the start must of thought he had rang the bell !
My thinking too what watch was it ? Why the secrecy
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Last edited by bokbok; 30th June 2019 at 11:10.
I forgot all about this- yes I did provide a photo of the watch- so for Watchfinder to subsequently change the quote when I arrived at their office on the pretext I gave them the wrong model is obviously complete bull
Ouch, big hit for a diamond dial intrigued as to what watch this is
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Certainly enjoyed using Watchfinder for my sales over the past 3/4 years, they have paid over the odds for my watches every time and allowed me to bank a tidy sum at their expense.
I was just lucky that the watches I was selling had been bought preowned by myself at great prices but if they had been bought new from an AD, the offers from not just WF but most dealers would have made you cry. I find it remarkable that the pre owned market even exists with the kind of offers that are given to sellers either to sell or trade in, losing thousands in the process.
Last edited by Flasher; 1st July 2019 at 13:06. Reason: Error
I would guess a platinum Daytona. The diamond dial on that is a big premium.Ouch, big hit for a diamond dial intrigued as to what watch this is
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WF offered me a decent price on my blnr , hope they keep to the higher end.
This may or may not be true (but probably is).
I really don’t have any problem with that though as the whole package belongs to them. They’re certainly under no obligation to sell it as the package they bought and it certainly makes business sense to maximise their returns on any investment made ie buying the watch initially.
Rolex would charge £5500 to upgrade a platty Daytona to a diamond dial that includes a service I know as I looked at it for mine (and Rolex keep your original dial😞)
I paid £400 a couple of years ago for my wife’s white gold date just link , don’t think £500 is too far away to be honest.
“ wanting a huge margin both sides of the trade “ ?
Sorry but I’m a little bit lost with that , surely they only can make one margin ?
A single link on the DayDate is £535.
Can’t see them doing that to be honest. I met the ceo last year & asked about that, denied all knowledge. I snapped a pic of his watch being a WIS...
They're right at it. They told me when I asked them how come they're selling straps sans buckles etc on eBay. The story I was told was that when they buy in stuff that may be a bit less than pristine, they restore it to cosmetic excellence (tart it up basically). Any parts that are left over go on their eBay site. As far as I know, this only extends to cosmetics, not internals. Like a previous poster said, they're not doing anything wrong per se, but funny how we all feel it's a bit shabby...Can’t see them doing that to be honest. I met the ceo last year & asked about that, denied all knowledge. I snapped a pic of his watch being a WIS...
Last edited by Speedy2254; 1st July 2019 at 16:41. Reason: Clarification
Its like car dealers, the price offered for your example will always be less than what you think. But the running costs of their business will always be more than what you think.
@farmkid put us out of our misery, what was the watch?
Obviously a precious metal Rolex. The actual model matters little, except curiosity value.
It's just a matter of time...
Have heard that too, seriously if you want to get a decent watch stay well attached to the forum
What you going to be selling?
The only experience I have had with them was an offer of roughly £4000 less than what said watch sold for privatley, which I imagine would still be substantially less then they would have marketed it for.
Mixed bag here, bought a zenith from them about 4-5 years back before the Richmont takeover, and they were good to deal with, the watch was spot on etc.
I asked them for a price on another zenith I was selling last year (b&p&service warranty) and they offered me 1200 iirc, meanwhile they were selling the exact same watch without papers or any service history for 3300.
There's profit and then there's piss take.
To be fair, my only WF purchase was my 2254 Seamaster, back in 2008. It was a year old, box, papers & still a year of the Omega warranty, all for £895! However, in those days they only had the one shop & were trying to find their feet. The Watchfinder of today is a very different organisation...
Strange how things pan out.
So, Watchfinder lowball me by £7,000 when I take my platinum Rolex in to their store.
I leave promptly and in a foul mood having had my time completely wasted.
Anyway, a couple of weeks later they subsequently email me back and their price has now gone back up £6,000
from the lowball offer..and they seem very keen to get a deal done....I look on Watchfinder website and sure enough they have sold all 3 watches they had in stock of this same model.
I was by now adamant I wanted nothing to do with Watchfinder so declined.
Fancy messing clients about so blatantly and still expecting folk to deal when it suits them.
+1, In the early days they were OK. I never bought from them but had a couple of interesting chats with one of the owners.
They virtually set the market thesedays, that’ll work provided the supply of eager buyers doesn’t dry up. Watch market has gone crazy....but that’s a separate debate.
Used WF on my last trade. Offer on mine initially lowish but as noted in previous when there stock was low on my watch email received and offer upped. Watch I wanted was in stock, deal done. The MO is slick and I'd use again.
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