Where pieces come from
How a watch is found.
Instead of searching listings, we ask people we have bought from before, on trips to Dubai, Hong Kong and Europe, and one of us sees the watch before it is offered to you.
- Buying in
- Dubai, Hong Kong and Europe
- Mostly
- Modern, and more Rolex than anything else
- Vintage
- Found to brief
- Trading since
- 2020
The watch you want is rarely standing anywhere.
A dealer with a room buys what is available and then sells what they bought. We work the other way round: you name the piece, and we go and ask whether it exists in the configuration you actually want.
So the work is not a search box. It is people: suppliers we have bought from before, in Dubai, Hong Kong and Europe, who will take a call about a reference that is not currently for sale and who know that a piece described loosely comes straight back.
It also has limits. If a piece cannot be found honestly, or on terms we would accept ourselves, we tell you so rather than offer you something close and hope.
- Dubai
- Hong Kong
- Europe
In person, on trips. The watch is in front of one of us before anything is agreed.
- People we have dealt with before
- Almost everything comes from suppliers we have traded with repeatedly. A first deal with anyone new is small, slow and carefully watched.
- Buying trips
- We buy in person on trips to Dubai, Hong Kong and Europe. Being in the room is the whole point: the piece is in front of one of us before any money is discussed.
- Never from a stranger on the internet
- We do not buy from forum sellers nobody can vouch for, from marketplace accounts with a week of history, or anything that must be paid for before it can be seen. That is where most of the trouble in this trade starts, and it is easy to avoid.
- Modern first, vintage to brief
- Mostly modern, and more Rolex than anything else, because that is what we know best and what we are asked for most. Vintage is found to brief rather than kept waiting for a buyer.
How a reference is actually found.
Four steps, and the slow ones are slow on purpose. A brief answered within the hour has usually been answered from whatever was lying about, which is exactly what you came to us to avoid.
Step 1 of 4: The brief
Written down in your words and read back to you, so that what we go looking for is the watch you meant.
- What the watch is
- A reference number if you have one. If you do not, describe it — the model, the dial, the metal, the bracelet or strap. We will come back with the reference and confirm we are looking for the same thing.
- What you will accept
- Whether a polished case is acceptable, whether a service dial is acceptable, and what you will not take on any terms. Said at the start, it decides which half of the market is worth asking.
- What comes with it
- Full set, box and papers, papers only, or watch alone. This one line removes most of what is out there in either direction, so it is settled before a single call is made.
- When you need it
- A brief with a date on it is worked differently from one that can wait for the right example. Both are fine; we just need to know which one you mean.
- Where it is going
- Which city the piece has to reach. How it travels, and who carries the risk while it does, are far easier to agree before a piece is found than afterwards.
Step 2 of 4: We ask
Named suppliers, one at a time, in the markets where that reference tends to survive.
- Asked, not advertised
- The request goes to named suppliers with the brief attached. It is not posted publicly: a brief circulating openly hardens the terms on every surviving example, including the one you end up with.
- The markets that hold it
- A reference tends to survive where it sold. The first calls go where that piece is likely to be, rather than to everyone at once, which keeps suppliers taking our calls seriously.
- What comes back
- Photographs of the actual piece, taken where we ask for them, and the supplier’s own written account of what it is: service history, what has been replaced, how long they have held it. That account is kept, and it is what our own eyes are measured against.
- Terms before it moves
- What happens if the piece is not as described, and who carries it back, are agreed with the supplier in writing before anything is packed. Terms agreed after a watch has moved are always agreed from a weaker position.
Step 3 of 4: Seen in hand
One of us has the piece, or is in the room with it at the supplier, before you are told it exists.
- One of us is with it
- Either the piece comes to one of us, or one of us goes to the supplier and it is on the table in front of them. We never offer a piece on the strength of photographs alone.
- A specialist where it is called for
- We are not watchmakers. Where a piece needs someone who is, we bring in a watchmaker or specialist we work with, and we say that we did.
- The paperwork is read against the watch
- The card, the service records and whatever else came with it are checked against the piece rather than taken on trust. Where they disagree, the watch is what we describe and the disagreement is written down.
What that involves, what we do not have the equipment to do, and why your own watchmaker is welcome to check the piece before you settle, are set out on the authentication page.
Step 4 of 4: The offer, or the answer no
One piece, described completely, with everything we know about it attached.
- One piece, described in full
- What it is, what condition it is in, what comes with it, what we found that you would not want to discover later, and how it would reach you. Not a list to choose between.
- Seen before anything is settled
- On a video call, in person at a place agreed for that meeting, or in your hands where we deliver by hand. Your own watchmaker is welcome to look at it first.
- When the answer is no
- Some briefs cannot be met honestly. We would rather tell you that and keep the brief open than sell you the nearest thing to hand.
Where we draw the line.
Anyone can describe how carefully they work. What we turn down says more, so here it is.
- Buy from a stranger
- If nobody we deal with can vouch for the seller, and the piece cannot be seen before it is paid for, we walk away, however rare the reference.
- Offer a piece none of us has seen
- A watch is never listed, described or offered to a client from photographs a supplier sent us. One of the two of us has been with it first.
- Publish what we have sold
- We keep a record of every piece we have placed. It is not on this site, because it is not ours to publish — a collector who buys privately is entitled to have bought privately.
- Quote figures you cannot check
- You will not find supplier tallies or sales figures here. You could not check them, and a number you cannot check is a claim, not a fact.
Name the piece. We go and look.
A brief takes a couple of minutes. A reference is enough; a description is enough too.