Aartsy19

IM in Canada... and have been looking for a set of watches for my brother and his wife as a wedding gift. I looked into all TAGS... and found some i like, but the retail prices are just too high. IM looking to spend 4-5K total for both mens/womens... Any one point me in the direction to get a deal!?!? I want to get him his first "big boy" watch.. he has numerous fossils and guess watches.. but i want something that he'll have forever

Big_Scot

Some nice watches.

I purchased a Movado SE last year in Jamaica




and this year for my wedding i got a TW Steel Goliath

DD_545i

I personally wouldn't do it. You could show me a collection of 100 watches and I might like 2 of them. What are the chances of anyone else randomly knowing which two from those 100 I'd like. Wouldn't it be the same for your brother and his wife?

JOHN

This was my collection as of a few months ago. The daytona is gone and replaced with this


I'm constantly moving things around. If you're new to watches my best advice is to do lots and lots of research on sights like timezone.com. Buying a first watch I would look for a good used one and the internet is a great place to buy if you educate yourself. I have bought sold and traded well over a 100 watches and have only been burned once and it was my own fault because I accepted a cashiers check from a stranger that was bogus. An AD is always best for piece of mind but not for price. I've actually never bought a watch from an AD. Always private sellers or grey market dealers.

It's also always better to buy a good watch than a disposable watch. What I mean by this is say you buy a Rolex Yachtmaster in SS. You can buy a mint used one for around 5k. You can wear this watch for as long as you want and never loose a substantial amount of money on it as long as you maintain it.
Example bought for $5,000. You wear it for 3.5 years. In this period you had it polished once at a cost of $150 and serviced once for $550. You then decide after 3.5 years that you would like to sell it. Historically it should go up in value but lets say it stayed the same because the economy is weak and watch biz is slow. Your cost of ownership was $200 a year. You wore an incredible and timeless watch for $200 a year.

I look at a Movado as a disposable watch (no disrespect). Say you pay $800 for a Movado and wear it for 3.5 years. Maybe you'll get $200 for it if you're lucky, in this time you had to polish it ($100) and change the battery ($50). So in the end the cost of ownership was the same if not more as buying the rolex and in the end you wore a Movado for 3.5 yrs instead of a steel rolex with a platinum bezel.

When buying watches you'll never get hurt buying a Rolex steel sports watch, Panerai steel/titanium, some breitlings, IWC pilot series, AP royal oak offshore or Royal Oak chrono. These watches all hold their value and are very desirable. I usually buy these also because I know if I'm in a pinch they're always liquid.

If anyone needs help buying a watch or has something specific in mind pm me I know alot of people in the business.

v_therussian

Hey, do you have anything you might be looking to unload now? I've been looking for a quality used watch for a while now. The only thing is that my budget is a bit on the low side, but still - doesn't hurt to ask. If you're more comfortable PM'ing me about this - by all means!

BTW I really like every single one of those watches you shared the pics of. Especially the Panerai. I wanted to get a Panerai originally, but then started looking at things like Aqunautic, Ball and so on (basically, got sidetracked ). Either way, great collection

One last thing about Movados - since I personally don't really like Movado, I am really being impartial here, but I always thought that high-end Movados are not "disposable" - am I incorrect in this assumption? Not trying to start an argument or anything - you just sound like you know your watches, so I want to set my facts straight. Thanks

wolf

Believe it or not if you attempt to bring multiple rolexes into the country they will be seized. Also, you can't buy from overseas unless it is an authorized dealer:

"The Rolex trademark recordation with Customs indicates "Import of Goods Bearing Genuine Trademarks or Trade Names Restricted." This means that genuine Rolex products can only be imported with the permission of the trademark owner, Rolex Watch U.S.A. Inc. A private individual can hand carry one Rolex watch from a trip overseas without obtaining permission. Bring in more than one, and they will all be seized as a trademark violation. Purchasing a Rolex from overseas by mail is also a trademark violation."

I had a friend purchase a watch from a private individual overseas and it got held up in customs!

JOHN

At the moment I'm pretty content but you never know if something I want comes up for sale I might be looking to move. If you're looking for something particular pm me. I know alot of people and I'm fairly local so I can always point you in the right direction. Best is to find out what you like. PM me a budget and I can show you a slew of pieces in that range. BTW the Panerai is a great choice because first off its beautiful and second you can always sell it at a very very minimal loss if you get bored of it.

For me the high end movado's aren't really very interesting and the resale is abominable.(good luck selling a used "high end" movado) I'm assuming you mean some of the newer automatics above $2k. I don't consider a watch an investment because it will usually lose some value. Although I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment out of them so I'm willing to lose a bit. The problem with the movado's in my experience is that the movement is pedestrian and the finishing is mediocre, not bad but not great. While the movements on a rolex, panerai and breitling are also pedestrian the finishing is excellent. These Movado's can be had at discounts as high as 70%. To make it worse they also have outlets stores across the country which further cannibalize the pricing on these pieces. While $2k is a substantial amount to spend on a watch you'd have to be crazy to spend it on a Movado because you are correct you've now left the disposable level and moving into the breitling entry level with pieces like the steelfish that can be had in the sub $2000 range. To me these watches don't really have a place in the market because you can buy a far superior brand and imo value for the same investment. I think these are more showcase pieces for movado to offer to some of their die-hard fans to show that they are a capable manufacturer (which they are). I think if you have only one watch and you're dropping over $1k on it a Movado is not even in the range of choices. I actually wouldn't even consider it under $1000 because there are so many great watchs out there in that range as well that a battery operated movado can't touch. (Ball, Oris, some Omega, Sinn) to name a few. Don't take this as me hating Movado either. I had a movado as my first watch but that was 15 years ago and the style looks dated now, where a Rolex Sub, Breitling Navitimer, or Panerai 1950 case shape will never age badly. Those watches have maintained similar designs for 50+ years and still look good. The Navitimer in that picture is from the early 70's and still looks contemporary, I have my dad's GMT from 1963 that also looks like it could be found in an AD. The Movado stopped being current in the 90's. Again this is all how I feel about it. If anyone owns a Movado and loves it more power to you. In the end a watch is a very personal thing and you have to love it not me.

Also some more watch porn



one I should've never sold



old offshore gone

JOHN

I've heard this too. its a very grey area. You have to send it in separate packages and carry the watch but ship the papers. Its a big hassle and to be honest the best pricing in the world is to be had in the US.(as a rule) I've had people fly in on more than one occasion from Scandanavian countries to buy watches from me or have shipped them over because US pricing was much better than Europe.

John@Motorcepts

u have a good taste in watches john

JOHN

As do you. I don't know how you pull off that Easy Diver. I'm twice the size of you and it looks huge on my wrist (46mm) is yours the 43mm?