Where do you buy your watches?

Facebook Watch Groups!

Online, since some of the ADs and resellers started selling there during the pandemic. One of them outright closed their brick and mortar shop and now is fully online.

I'm okay buying gray market for some purchases, but it really depends on the watch. I probably wouldn't buy a luxury watch gray market.  For example, jomashop has the Tudor Ranger for slightly cheaper than ad, but you lose the warranty and it has an in-house movement. I would buy it from an AD.

My choices will be online resellers, AD ( depending on brand) and gray market (mostly Casios and G-Shocks). 

I have bought from all 3 at one time or another.

It depends on what it is, I got a Tag link 200m automatic for a great price on eBay which I still love… but you run the risk of scammers and shysters there.

Grey market has actually been really good - I’ve bought two there in the last 2 years and both transactions (and the products) have been ‘class’…

AD - I wouldn’t hesitate buying from one if Rolex could just get their **** together and get some stock in that they can sell to customers. ‘I want to be buy a Rolex’….‘I’m sorry sir, it’s doesn’t work like that….’ - still bonkers imho!

It all depends!

• If it's relatively common pieces that are widely available, I have a trusted dealer, I found through Chrono24, from whom I've bought and to whom I've sold back to something like 20 watches over the past year.  Working with one person, with whom you've developed a long-term relationship, can significantly lower transaction / annoyance costs
• If it's a hard-to-get limited edition piece, I typically go through the official boutique
• Lately, with the incredibly strong USD versus the Yen, I've gone the route of big name professional dealers in Japan on Chrono24.  The discounts off MSRP are on the order of 30%!!!

I buy either new from AD or used via p2p sites or used dealers.  The one avenue I generally avoid is grey market, particularly with affordables, largely because of warranty and quality issues.  

Past experiences suggest to me that when you get an affordable watch from a grey market dealer at a good price, if anything goes wrong, the seller warranties are pretty worthless. If you get something broken, they often force a return process because it's simply uneconomical to fix.  Often they won't even offer to resell another piece to you at the same price because of the variability in stock quality.  None of this is untoward, it's just more aggravation than it's worth.

Strictly online and 99% brand new.  Amazon, Timex and ebay are my go to sites.  For some reason, the more expensive Timex watches cannot be found in stores.  They usually sell their lower end tier watches, but their newer automatic and specialty watches that start at $180 to $500 can only be found on their site.  However, I recently did see them at Costco, but that was a first.

I'm OK with Joma, Amazon or Chrono24

Answered D: need an all of the above answer. I have purchased from ADs, the grey market, and pre-owned online.

All of the above! I have bought from AD (#omega #tudor), grey markets like Swisswatchexpo(#omega), eBay, retail shops like Costco, a mod watch from Etsy, and online directly from the microbrand website. Do not have a preferred source because they can't have all the watches.

All you have to do is do your research well and then get drunk and make the purchase so your conscience doesn't get in your way. 😉

AD and online. Never bought pre owned (yet 😀)

I try to buy big brand watches used, preferably face to face from the person in need of money for their next aspirational purchase.

Micro and independent directly from the brand.

I try to avoid ADs whenever possible as I do not understand what they’re for.

I’ve bought from Chrono24, Jomashop, Amazon and eBay before but I’ve bought most of my watches on Reddit’s watchexchange. No tax and reliable sellers if they have enough history.

Strictly AD for now as I cba with all the research and effort required to go grey. I’m not experienced enough to go pre-owned or vintage. Plus my wish list is relatively short atm so I just let My AD know what I want and when I’m looking to buy. 

I buy most of my watches at big box stores, but I like really budget stuff. I've bought a few watches online, but I really got to see the watch in person. I've also gotten some great finds at thrift stores. 

I buy from all. Speedy from Jomashop. ive used Chrono24 and European Watch company. 

In order of watch count, decreasing: AliExpress, Amazon, AD, ebay, AliBaba, Jomashop. If I were still living in (the same town in) Germany the AD would be at position no 2; the offerings there are much more varied and interesting. 

The only department store in my town that sells watches sells the following brands: Swatch, Daniel Wellington, Michael Kors, Armani, Fossil, Hugo Boss, Vivienne Westwood, Olivia Burton. This is the complete list, it could hardly be more depressing than that. 😭There are some jewellers with better alternatives, but it is very very mainstream around here.

Mostly online, but sometimes from watch groups in Telegram and Whatsapp, and rarely from ADs. My latest purchase was from an AD tho.

I am split.  I have purchased 6 high end watches over the past 5 years and half were purchased from the local AD (two Rolex and one JCL - used) and the other three I have used eBay.  One was a traditional eBay purchase and the other two - both from Japan - were purchased from Japanese dealers.  The two purchased from Japanese dealers were both new watches.

Interesting in that I never figured out the sources of my purchases!

Depends what I'm after. If its a watch I can afford new, I prefer go to an AD. But if I can't afford it new, I'll explore other avenues to find quality used watches - online watch sellers like Chrono24 and local used watch dealers. 

All the above. Only business I won’t support is straight up hype piece based flippers (pick your faux YouTube celebrity flipper). 

85% from AD, brick and mortar but the other 15% from used or grey market. 

Most of mine are from an AD but some are from trusted forum members. 

I know a Guy

Weirdly my last 3 have been new from the manufacturer, but before that I was almost exclusively buying pre owned from forum members.  I never had any problems, but I tried to deal primarily with people that I'd "known" for a while.  

Done the lot over the years,but as I've expanded most on eBay and been lucky 95% have been great,and with a couple found fellow watch enthusiasts and are now 'watch friends ' Facebook one purchase, most expensive peice so far but was only 20 miles up the road so face to face was a must,and it was a good transaction. There's a world of watches out there and there's only so much you can do in person ie physically, so online is fantastic  but you have to have your wits about you. Love bricks n mortar though but depending on your geography it can limit your choice and variety. 

I have 2 Casios I bought from Walmart, 2 microbrand divers I bought from the companies' websites, and 1 watch from Jomashop.

I get mine solely from the limp dead bodies of my defeated enemies.

Reddit.com/r/watchechange