Where do you find your best vintage pieces?

[subjust]

I know I'm asking you to give up trade secrets here, and I'd no sooner expect you to give up specifics than I'd give up my favorite fishing spot, but outside of auctions and the online secondary market, where do you find those special pieces before anyone else does?

I have a few destinations online that I peruse each morning; sellers who consistently have unique vintage watches for sale, but where else can I find them? Do you troll Craigslist or eBay for listings from people who don't know what they have? Do you go to estate sales looking for safe queens? Do you know a guy who knows a guy?

I'm genuinely curious about hunting for vintage watches, but I realize I'm asking for hard earned knowledge here. Even general advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jfullm42]

I am by no means any expert, nor have I been at this for long enough to have connections like many that will chime in do, but I look on Craigslist regularly, and have a few friends who are watchmakers who keep me informed with watches that they come across. Just like anything else networking and searching pays off

[Loevhagen]

Originally Posted by subjust

Even general advice would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=180461

[andromeda160]

Ive bought 2 Rolexes, a speedmaster and a tag heuer off CL the rest from Ebay

[Jiggo]

BUY the SELLER!!! thats most important
and guess what? instagram

[springer]

Jewelry/watch stores are a great source for vintage watches, especially if they do not specialize in vintage. If I have heard it once, I have heard it a hundred times from these shops - "99% of our retail customers have no desire or inclination for a vintage watch."

Of course these stores do take trade-ins and when they do, the vintage trade-ins are normally sold to one of their vintage dealers or clients.

[greekbum]

Ill give you my big secret in finding nice vintage watches. Its really not a secret as all the real dealers do this. If you want to be the guy that gets the call when a nice vintage watch is available you must be known to pay very strong in most cases the most and more than others normally pay. This little known trick will assure you always get the 1st call when something pops up. 1 thing that can almost guarantee you will never get another call. Much lower than market offers.

[springer]

Originally Posted by greekbum

ill give you my big secret in finding nice vintage watches. Its really not a secret as all the real dealers do this. If you want to be the guy that gets the call when a nice vintage watch is available you must be known to pay very strong in most cases the most and more than others normally pay. This little known trick will assure you always get the 1st call when something pops up. 1 thing that can almost guarantee you will never get another call. Much lower than market offers.

x2....100%

[Dr.Smellody]

I know a guy.

[AS1]

I buy from Andrew Shear... peace of mind and I'll pay for that. There are also a number of other great dealers like HQ Milton, Michael Morgan etc... check out the sticky.

[Beef]

I got several of mine from Ken's crew at wannabuyawatch in 2005-2006. Lately, I've bought some from Jacek at HQ Milton. Couldn't be any more pleased with my purchases from him.

[brandrea]

There's a sticky thread in the vintage section right here on TRF

[watchcrank]

No secrets, haunt all the pawn & local jewelry stores who take trade ins (usually smaller & older shops). Be prepared to view a lot of junk and fake watches and know the difference. Ask all your friends if anyone in family had any nice watches. Pay market and don't whine if you screw up. Work on long term relationships. And you may understand this is not an easy business to be in. If you are a retail customer, buy the seller or hope you get lucky.

[jfmiii]

interesting thread and im always curious about this myself. i know dealers have a huge network of contacts but when guys like Jacek post 10 watches in an instagram picture, I wonder where they all come from. that being said, i just bought a 1970 black matte dial DJ 1600 from him that ive been looking for for years. i saw it on his instagram before he had it listed and asked him about it; i was negotiating to buy the watch before it hit his site and it was up there all of 5 minutes before the deal was done. im guessing instagram is being used as a selling vehicle more and more and many watches arent even making onto dealers' sites these days.

[waspy1]

Originally Posted by greekbum

Ill give you my big secret in finding nice vintage watches. Its really not a secret as all the real dealers do this. If you want to be the guy that gets the call when a nice vintage watch is available you must be known to pay very strong in most cases the most and more than others normally pay. This little known trick will assure you always get the 1st call when something pops up. 1 thing that can almost guarantee you will never get another call. Much lower than market offers.

Very honest and correct answer from Nikos.


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[subjust]

I appreciate the advice. I did see the sticky on finding vintage dealers. I've bought from multiple TRF sellers, and always vet anyone I consider doing business with, using the information found in the archives here.. It's an invaluable resource on how NOT to make a mistake buying a watch. Too many posts here are from after the fact ebay buyers looking for information about something they already made a mistake on.

I was more interested in how to find pieces before they go on sale to the general public. I'm not talking about working with a trusted seller to source specific pieces, but how to become a guy that certain people call when an interesting watch walks in the door. The advice about building relationships with watchmakers and jewelry stores is great. Seems as though it's just as important to become known as someone interested in buying incoming vintage pieces as it is to try to be in the right place at the right time. A healthy combination of both is the goal, I suppose.

Again, thanks for the insight. Much appreciated.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by Beef

I got several of mine from Ken's crew at wannabuyawatch in 2005-2006. Lately, I've bought some from Jacek at HQ Milton. Couldn't be any more pleased with my purchases from him.

HQ Milton is the only non-Hong Kong dealer I ever bought from. They seem to get quite a bit of stuff from Japan, looking at the watches with papers that they sell.

[oysterowl83]

Jacek & HQMilton all the way.


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[Frogman4me]

Originally Posted by greekbum

Ill give you my big secret in finding nice vintage watches. Its really not a secret as all the real dealers do this. If you want to be the guy that gets the call when a nice vintage watch is available you must be known to pay very strong in most cases the most and more than others normally pay. This little known trick will assure you always get the 1st call when something pops up. 1 thing that can almost guarantee you will never get another call. Much lower than market offers.

+1

And don't be known as a headache and untrustworthy buyer. Your reputation will circulate, trust me.