Five checks to make before buying a pre-owned watch online
Buying a watch you have not handled is a calculation about the seller as much as the watch. These five questions are the ones that matter, and the ones a competent dealer will answer before you ask.
1. Whose watch is it, and how did they get it?
A watch with a traceable history — bought new by the seller, or acquired from a known source — is a different proposition from one that appeared last week. You are looking for a coherent story, not a perfect one. Watches travel between owners; accounts of them should still make sense.
2. Has it been polished, and how heavily?
Light polishing to remove a scratch is normal and fine. Heavy polishing rounds case edges, thins lugs and softens the crown guards — which costs money and can never be undone. A seller who says "unpolished" should be able to show you sharp edges in a close-up; one who says "lightly polished" is being straight with you.
3. What is original, and what has been changed?
Dials, hands, bezels, crystals, crowns and bracelets are all routinely replaced during servicing. None of that makes a watch bad, but it changes what it is worth, so the honest version of the answer is a list rather than a shrug.
4. When was it last serviced, and by whom?
A recent service by a recognised watchmaker or the manufacturer is worth real money; an unknown service is worth a question mark. If there is no history, budget for a service and factor it into your offer rather than discovering it later.
5. What happens if there is a problem?
This is the question people forget. Ask what the return window is, who pays the return shipping, and what the seller does if the watch turns out to be not as described. A seller with a written policy answers in a sentence; a seller without one answers in paragraphs.
How we answer them
Every watch we sell goes through the checks in our authentication process before it is listed, and we describe condition, originality and what is included as plainly as we can — including when the answer is "no papers". Returns are handled under our published policy, and if you believe a watch is not authentic we will investigate and refund in full where that is the case.
