!44: What to Look For When Buying a Second-Hand Gold Watch

Saturday, December 10, 2011

What to Look For When Buying a Second-Hand Gold Watch

!±8± What to Look For When Buying a Second-Hand Gold Watch

Do you have a general interest in watches? Do you sometimes see second hand watches for sale that you would like to buy but are not really sure what faults you should be looking for?

Maybe you enjoy visiting antique markets, trade fairs or auctions, possibly looking for bargain watches to buy for yourself or to even restore and sell on. Or are you a collector of old watches who wants to buy a watch but does not want to get caught out by an unscrupulous dealer who is trying to sell you a complete lump of rubbish! Then maybe I can help?

My name is David Adison C.M.B.H.I (Craft Member of the British Horological Institute) which basically means I am a fully qualified professional watchmaker. Just for the record, the technical term for watch making is horology, making me a horologist.

I repair watches for a living and, as you can see write articles too. So I thought I could use my knowledge to help you buy yourself a good quality second hand watch that you may want to keep or possibly sell for a profit.
As per usual, Finding faults with a watch by just looking at it in a crowded trade fair or auction with people moving around you and bumping in to you can be very difficult, so I am going to give you professional advice on what to look out for.

As you probably can appreciate there are tens of thousands of watches with the same amount of problems, so I am going to start by giving you advice on what to look out for when buying a second hand gent's gold watch.

I am going to aim this information at the hobbyist or the enthusiast, so the information will be easy to understand and follow, it's not going to be too technical but it will certainly make you look like you know exactly what you are doing, making any dealer will think twice about trying to rip you off. In fact most of the time if a dealer thinks you know what you're talking about he will drop the price before you've even mentioned it.