Reply With QuoteI was round there just before Xmas and it was open. I don't know if anything happened since then. Welcome to the forum.
Hello all,
I’ve been a long time lurker here and after many years I thought it was about time I joined in. I’ve enjoyed much of what goes on around the forum and taken a lot of inspiration over the years.
My enjoyment of watches is pretty simplistic really. I enjoy dive watches and have a modest collection mostly Seiko with a couple of Sea Dwellers thrown in. A couple of hand wound Rone’s that my Dad owned (he was a farmer and hard on watches). He always bought Rone purely because it was brand our local watchmaker sold (the now defunct Johnson’s in Ormskirk Lancashire) and then proceeded to kill them with oil, diesel and sweat.
My interest in watches can be traced directly to seeing Ed Harris’s 7049 in the Abyss when I first saw it in the late 80s. It took me years to find the model of watch he wore but eventually I grabbed my own unworn 7049 from a dealer in the USA about 10 years ago (one of my few ebay lucky breaks).
When I moved to London for work, egged on by my colleagues at the time, I bought my first Rolex from Second Time Around for a whopping £600 - that was 1995. It was a Submariner and I remember being really cross they didn’t have one with a date. It was sold to help pay for my wedding a couple of years later and the photographs of me wearing it are too blurry to exactly identify the model. However, looking really closely, the dial looks busy and I have a rather sick feeling it was a 5512. Old story, but I sold it back to Second Time Around for what I paid for it. I thought I did well with the deal...
Since then I’ve had a new Polar Explorer ll (bought at cost from Rolex as a favour in exchange for helping at a Jackie Stewart charity shoot). It cost £1100 against the retail of £2,300 ish - I have the invoice somewhere and will dig it out. I then had a mint 16600 set from Mike Wood, a badly polished sub from another dealer and a Deepsea. All sold to fund ill thought out adventures. Also had a lovely 60s Omega Seamaster from Mike. Gone too.
So my current Rolex set comprises a 2004 16600 and a 2017 126600 from Heywood (I turned 50 and went mad).
So that’s that really. However, I have a quick question to close. I had 10 minutes between meetings around the Strand yesterday and decided to have a stretch by walking to gawp in Austin Kaye. I could be wrong but it looks closed down and the website has no stock listed. As I said I’m probably wrong, but I hadn’t seen it mentioned anywhere.
Have a good day everyone.
I was round there just before Xmas and it was open. I don't know if anything happened since then. Welcome to the forum.
Welcome to the forum
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Welcome to the Forum, and apologies for my part in your fall down the slippery slope!
On my recent visits to London, the windows of Austin Kaye have looked increasingly sparse...last time nearly a third of their main window was stocked with MWC and Mondaine timepieces. I will await updates.
MW
Last edited by Mike Wood; 8th January 2020 at 12:31.
Thanks all - and Mike, it’s been a pleasant slide down the slope so thank you. If anyone is around the Strand today I’d love to be proved wrong. I think there was a note in the window with a mobile number on it. Never a good sign. Anyway, once again, thanks for the welcome.
Weird, I tried a few different Google searches but too no avail. Nothing that I could see on the Companies House website.
Welcome to the forum.
As for Austin Kaye, it would be a real shame if they’ve closed. I visit London infrequently but I always enjoyed having a look in their window, they had some of the best examples of vintage Omegas I’ve ever seen, albeit at sky-high prices. My type of watches, sharp and well-presented following top- quality restoration in most cases. Hopefully they haven’t closed down for good, but the overheads of running a shop in the heart of London must be v. high.
I'd noticed that myself.Originally Posted by JIG67
I'd been stalking a watch of theirs still showing as recently as Monday on the website - which had also been on Chrono24 too, before removal - but since sometime around Monday evening or Tuesday the website has shown zero stock. Doesn't look good.
Great introduction, and welcome to the Forum.
Why not just ring them up?
I noticed the same, pretty much no Rolex and a few vintage omega but compared to previous stock a noticeable change. I bet their overheads are eye watering!
I foresee yet another expensive, artisan coffee shop.
I've known the area for 40+ years through university and workplaces. My earliest recollection of the area was of stamp and coin collector shops, army surplus, cheap restaurants and a boarded up Covent Garden.
I always enjoyed pressing my nose against AK's window. Bought two nice watches from AK, around 10 years ago: Mid-70s Speedmaster for £750 and a RN FAA Lemania chronograph also for £750. PX'd the Speedmaster for £1,250 towards a Heuer Carrera and sold the Lemania for £950, a sale I very much regret.
Great to window browse but, a bit like shops in Burlington Arcade, I always felt it would be throwing money down the drain buying a watch from them.
Anyone any solid update on whether they are closing up?
Maybe a tourist tat shop...amazingly these stores seem to be able to afford prime location rent when even big name stores can’t. It’s hard to believe they can afford those huge stores next to Oxford Circus. Just goes to show how much profit there is to be made buying in cheap tat for pennies and selling for pounds.
Money laundering?
Welcome!
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welcome from another long time lurker before I joined and still in my infancy on here , sorry cant help with the shop thing I am a northerner :-) .
Very sad if they have closed. Some of my earliest horological experiences were based around visiting AK with my Dad.
I remember one time I was lucky enough to come away with one of these, my first proper watch
Thought that but seems like you could launder with a lot less risk/lower key than an Oxford Circus store.
According to Private Eye it’s a VAT scam. Apologies to the op for taking this off topic. Welcome to the forum
This was just listed on Watchclub
https://www.watchclub.com/omega/memo...6071-year-1970
Notice the service was instigated by Austin Kaye and returned to them in December.
So within the last 6 months or so they were actively taking in watches and getting them serviced for resale.
Obviously some of their stock has gone to watch club.
Cheers,
Ben
..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers
" an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "
That’s actually pretty sad...established in the Strand over 70 years ago just after WW2.
I guess either Pret could take on the lease and have one shop either side of the street now or the VAT-scam Afghan guys could open up another tourist shop. Maybe another EE shop...its rare to go within a block in Central London and not see another EE shop.
Last edited by Christian; 9th January 2020 at 13:23.
Why isn't this VAT scam (whatever it is) closed down?
From the 2019 Private Eye investigation, they don’t file accounts and they just close the business and open up in another name with different ‘stooges’ running the shop for the main man. They’ve basically got a never ending pool of individuals to act as front-men so it appears too difficult for authorities to pursue legally.
https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comm...ouvenir_shops/
Sorry...I realise it was me that dragged this off topic, but I’ve always wanted to know the answer to this...thanks 5avvy. Kind of relevant though, because it proves trading isn’t a level playing field for genuine shops like Austin Kaye.
Last edited by Christian; 9th January 2020 at 14:44.
Very sad if this is the end of Austin Kaye. I've never actually bought anything from them but have recommended people I know of good deals several times throughout the years and the folks that ended up buying them were well pleased with their service.
Alot of overpriced but also some very fair pricing on occasion with full Swisstec service included(especially with their sales), best deals for me were always when I was without the spare cash (which to be fair is almost always these days). I remember a year or so ago they had a brand new old stock fully guaranteed Speedmaster 311.30.42.30.01.003 which for me is one of the nicest ever released at £2,995!!! Still kills me to think of that opportunity I couldn't take advantage of. Was shocked when it appeared.
Isn’t that a standard big box Speedy Lee?
Cheers,
Ben
..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers
" an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "
Welcom to the forum!
This one Ben....
Last edited by Tetlee; 9th January 2020 at 18:50.
I can categorically confirm that Austin Kaye ceased trading as of yesterday 8th January. Very sad to see it go..
Last edited by ipsofacto; 9th January 2020 at 19:26.
I feel for sometime they were finding it difficult to pick up a level of good quality stock at prices they were happy to buy in at and make a good margin. With the Rolex bubble and sellers expecting a sizeable cash return, do not think Austin Kaye were prepared or possibly unable for the level of cash outlay needed to compete for the best stock and subsequently their stock was at the lower end but with still the high end rent to find every month.
Do not think they are the only secondary dealer who is a little stretched cash flow wise and certainly seeing more dealers not offering to buy in stock but instead pushing for sales on a commission basis. Probably makes sense on rather than paying out hard cash for stock that could sit unsold for months/years, offer to take a commission from a sale via their site. Keeps your stock levels up but without having to drain the cash flow in the quiet months.
Not sure at present just how liquid the Secondary market really is once you get behind the glossy websites but maybe we will set the secondary watch market go the way of the Secondary car market, which is off the cliff at the moment.
Very sad. Bought many watches from them over the decades, starting in 1984. We're always good to deal with and very reasonable priced back in the day.
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Some of the vintage Omegas they had for sale were exceptional, I looked in the window last August and saw a couple of watches I would've loved to own..........but not at the asking prices. I don’t mind paying q very strong price for a watch that I really want, but they were clearly aiming for a different type of buyer to me. Sorry to see them go.
It is a shame to see them go
I bought a couple of watches from them in the past.
I am wearing one of them today.
Very sad to see them go, a great treat to browse their windows on my occasional trip up to the smoke.
Embarrassingly, I’ve never bought a watch from them, but have actually sold them a couple over the past 3 decades!
They were pretty canny in their buy in offers but not ridiculously so, and paid in cash. I even left one with them to put in the window, on a sale or return basis!
Welcome to the forum, and a great intro from you!
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Very sad. I bought from and sold watches to them. Always helpful, always fair, even if the money offered was quite low.
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Does anyone remember when the shop was further down the Strand by the Adelphi theater?
I'm wearing one myself but I see Austin Kaye are in liquidation as of Jan 2020. Sad times, was very easy to lean up against that window and drool as I came into Charing Cross.
F
I Was looking in the window before Christmas and they were showing what could only be described as junk..Not sure what had gone on but as many have said it always was a decent shop with good stock before the current madness that surrounds certain brands took off.. shame to see it go for whatever reason.
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I never bought a watch from them, but always enjoyed a look in their window.
Last time I did, though, last summer, the stock seemed rather dull and limited in selection compared to what I recalled in the past when I worked in London more frequently.
Prices, too, seemed rather shockingly high in more recent times (rather than a bit above the market rate as they seemed to be when I first looked in there, after an 1960s Omega) and I wouldn't be too surprised if the cost of running the shop (even just the business rates) played a factor (although I guess they could have relocated if that was the only issue).
A shame, but they always seemed a bit stuck in the past to me, in the way they displayed their watches (quite nice to look at in a nostalgic way, but not enough to tempt me to part with cash), too.
M
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