Buy a New Quality Watch - Below Retail

I have hesitated to post this information for a long, long time. Since I now build watches by hand in the US, it seems unnecessary to hold on to the secrets. I'll continue to share my secrets in the days to come.

How to buy quality watches cheaply involves a couple of strategies. The first uses an auction model and the second uses New Without Tags. This entails buying watches given as gifts and never worn. To do this effectively, you'll need a sniping program.

I chose Justsnipe.com almost a decade ago and have never felt let down. I subscribe to their monthly plan, which gives me an unlimited number of snipes. That costs $5 a month.

Justsnipe also has a a free program. You get 5 free snipes a week. Click on the link to find the information.

Here's information from the "About Us" section of the their website:

JustSnipe.com is an auction sniper software that has been in service since April 2002 (The first prototype of the sniping module was developed in Spring 2001). When JustSnipe was first created, it was developed to be used among friends and family members to snipe eBay auctions. The application was intended to be used as a buyer's tool and auction management program with a core feature that performs an automated bidding system to some eBay auctions that close during odd hours or busy times. Later, with the addition of more features and functionalities to the snipe module, the team of developers decided to open this program for public usage by maintaining the ultimate objective: that is 'to bid on eBay auctions during some odd closing hours.

 The Auction Model

Most (90%) dealers on eBay sell at fixed prices, but on many occasions you find their auctions. For example, Parnis dealers offer a number of auctions that start at $.99 or a little more.

To get an idea of the auctions,  I set up a links for you: Parnis Auctions and Marina Militare Auctions

If you prefer to configure the searches yourself - chose wristwatches from the category list, type Parnis or Marina Militare in the search box (either but not both at the same time), under sort choose lowest price, the under format choose auction.

After your search, enter the auctions in which you have an interest in Justsnipe. Put the price you want to pay in the Max Bid box and wait for the auction to end. If you max bid is below the current price, Justsnipe will email you and tell you.

Invicta is another popular watch with dealers starting in the $. 99 range, here's a link Invicta Auction.

If you're looking for economical brands, use this example: Kronen & Sohne (KS)

Finding Never Worn Gift Watches

New Without Tages

This method allows one to buy a watch given as a gift and never worn. It's especially effective with Invicta, because so many of these exist. I've bought several Invicta watches this way.

I configure my search by using the brand selection "Invicta", then New without Tags, and I place the word, Gift, in he search box. You'll also need to check the "include description" tab on the far right and the lowest price first sort box.

I configured a search for you on Invicta New Without Tags Gifts. You'll see a few odds and ends at the top of the search page. I just scroll down past them.

I also search on Hamilton, but instead of using New Without Tags - I use all items and use the heading "never worn" in the search box. Here's an example: Hamilton Never Worn Search

Hamilton sellers are a bit snobbish, but eventually their prices come down.

You know the price you want to pay, so take your time and look for that. Product offerings change daily on eBay. You might want to click on "follow this search" and let eBay email you. If you do follow searches with email, make sure to click on "more offerings". eBay will normally just show you one or two in the email.






Finishing Touches

You can use these techniques on any brand you wish. I suggest you look for brands with high volumes. You can see them by looking at the brand tab on a search page. For example, I noticed that Michael Kors, Bulova, Citizen, Fossil, Swatch, Seiko, Casio and Movado have large numbers of watches for sale.

Remember the Snipe program for auctions and play around with search words when looking for gifts that haven't been worn.

I'll share some more secrets in the future.

- Tom