Back in buying business (UN, IWC) after long time, how to avoid "newbie" mistakes?

[PekkaM]

I'm really out of the loop when it comes to buying pre owned watches online. I was bitten by a watch bug after closer to 10 years and I'm looking for something like UN Maxi Marine Diver or IWC Aquatimer 2000 from their 5-15 years old models. Chrono24 seems like a popular choice and selection is certainly something different than what was available on these forums times ago. However, I'm not sure if I have everything covered.

Privates and Dealers are selling. Those dealers are not AD's I'm sure. Not all have stores or showrooms either so essentially they are all private sellers, right? Most have stellar reviews for 100's to 1000's of deals, is this generally an indicator of safe deal on that site?

Are papers worth anything these days? When I used to buy watches, they sometimes came with stamped but non dated papers. I never had issues with warranty after simply honestly filling in the purchase date the seller told me. Now many watches seem to have empty papers, without stamp or signature. Worthless, right? I understood that these days a watch is registered with manufacturer in any case when sold so grey market watch will not have warranty anyway? All the "delaers" give some kind of warranty, I assume this is also worhtless as it'd require you sending your watch back to whoever sold it ti you at your own risk.

I used to like watches without any serious high level fakes around. How is the situation with those watches I mentioned?

Is there a general culture of haggling? Price suggestion button is available and some mentioned that please no offers below it but in other cases?

Any other things to look out for?

[julian2002]

From my admittedly limited experience of buying 1 watch from chrono24 (a dealer in Poland to myself in the UK) here's my take on things.

1) Due diligence is all. Find the watch and dealer you want to use and then dig into them - ask here if anyone has used them (i got a positive review on here from another member), look into their web presence (if any). Ask for more photos of the piece focusing on a particular part (i wanted to check the condition of the leather strap and buckle on my purchase).
2) More Due diligence. Find out everything about the watch you want to buy. Know all the details, what paperwork should be available (yes it's still worth having). What box it should come in (again worth having).
3) Even more due diligence. Take a dive into the murky waters of fake watch forums and see if your prospective purchase is known for being faked and especially if there are 1:1 or super clones available. Certain Rolex and Breitling models are scarily close to the originals - and personally I'd only be willing to buy one face to face from a bricks and mortar seller with business insurance so I could get my money back if it was discovered to be a fake.

C24's escrow service is worth using as they only release your money to the dealer once the goods are received and signed off by you.

Haggling - C24 will discourage you from making an offer even when the option is given by the dealer. I knocked £200 off the price and this was flagged as 'a significant drop in price which will in all likelihood be rejected by the vendor who will then track you down and eviscerate you for the affront offered' or words to that effect. I'd already agreed a price over e-mail which is probably the best way to do it. As long as the agreed price is actioned through C24 you are protected.

Finally general consumer advice - use a Credit card if possible as it affords you extra protection - but you probably knew that already.

[mycroft]

A few observations that will hopefully help...

It’s well worth using the search facility for ‘Chrono24’, as this subject has been raised a number of times before.

Your contention that all sellers on C24 ‘are private’ doesn’t make sense. Yes, it’s true that the dealers are not ADs, but they are frequently grey dealers who source new watches from ADs, complete with international warranties.

Using the Escrow service is an absolute must, and is free to buyers. This gives a significant level of security since you pay into the escrow service and the money is not released to the seller until you have received the watch, examined it and agreed that you are happy with it.

I completely agree that you should do as much due diligence as possible, and personally I would be reluctant to buy from a dealer without a bricks and mortar presence. Getting recommendations from satisfied customers on the forum is also a huge help.

My experiences have all been positive. I bought a new Navitimer World from an Italian dealer and saved around 30% on the rrp. I recommended another Italian dealer to a close friend and he’s just bought a new Tag Heuer ‘McQueen’ Monaco at the same kind of discount. I bought an unused Muehle-Glasshutte SeeBataillon from a private (UK-based) seller and saved myself £1,000 off the rrp. I bought a used Breitling Aerospace Evo from a German dealer, also without problems.

So decent deals can be done. Your other respondent above is right that C24 warns you if it thinks you’re offering a lowball price, but don’t let that put you off - the worst that can happen is the seller declines...

Good hunting.

Simon