Where do you sell your watches?

First: be totally transparent about the sale. I usually tell the reason I'm selling and also highlight any issue with the watch. Transparency and honesty go a long way. I usually tell the story of why I got the watch in the first place as I usually sell watches I no longer wear although I very much still love or like.

Second: In Chrono24 people tend to put prices a bit too high to later negotiate. I usually do not do that but even with my fair prices I usually get people to always want to negotiate the price. Put the price you consider but stick to your guns if somebody offers you a price too low. Other offers will pop up in the future. It might take time but also be realistic with your pricing.

Third: Always send totally insured. I usually send from Spain and have had mixed experiences with all carriers but not watch lost so far. Make sure you pack the watch correctly. For insurance I will try this in my future sales as I might sell the Explorer: https://www.secursus.com/en-gb/.

Four: Be prompt to respond to your potential buyers in case the contact you for more information. Be kind and transparent but take no bullshit in case of too low offers.

Five: Yes photos. Good quality photos go a long way. That cannot be stressed enough. Your main photo must be great to differentiate from the rest of equal images. I'd suggest using a true camera, not a phone camera. No matter what people say or believe, no matter what iPhones can do, nothing compares with a digital dedicated camera. Most of my pictures are taken with quite old Fujifilm X series cameras and no phone does even touch them. Depending on the watch, consider dark backgrounds instead of light ones. Take highly detailed pictures of the main angles of the watch. Face up / down. Crown side, the other side, bracelet and if possible night lume shot (if the watch has lume). Take pictures of the bracelet or strap and macro shots of any scratch or other damages. That is paramount. The three "t's' ': Transparency, Transparence and the Transparency.

Wow fantastic response, thank you! Great advice.

Who do you use for shipping?

First: be totally transparent about the sale. I usually tell the reason I'm selling and also highlight any issue with the watch. Transparency and honesty go a long way. I usually tell the story of why I got the watch in the first place as I usually sell watches I no longer wear although I very much still love or like.

Second: In Chrono24 people tend to put prices a bit too high to later negotiate. I usually do not do that but even with my fair prices I usually get people to always want to negotiate the price. Put the price you consider but stick to your guns if somebody offers you a price too low. Other offers will pop up in the future. It might take time but also be realistic with your pricing.

Third: Always send totally insured. I usually send from Spain and have had mixed experiences with all carriers but not watch lost so far. Make sure you pack the watch correctly. For insurance I will try this in my future sales as I might sell the Explorer: https://www.secursus.com/en-gb/.

Four: Be prompt to respond to your potential buyers in case the contact you for more information. Be kind and transparent but take no bullshit in case of too low offers.

Five: Yes photos. Good quality photos go a long way. That cannot be stressed enough. Your main photo must be great to differentiate from the rest of equal images. I'd suggest using a true camera, not a phone camera. No matter what people say or believe, no matter what iPhones can do, nothing compares with a digital dedicated camera. Most of my pictures are taken with quite old Fujifilm X series cameras and no phone does even touch them. Depending on the watch, consider dark backgrounds instead of light ones. Take highly detailed pictures of the main angles of the watch. Face up / down. Crown side, the other side, bracelet and if possible night lume shot (if the watch has lume). Take pictures of the bracelet or strap and macro shots of any scratch or other damages. That is paramount. The three "t's' ': Transparency, Transparence and the Transparency.

Excellent advice Mario, thanks!

No problem. For shipping I have had mixed experiences with almost all carriers here in Spain. This largely depends but best advice is to use a known carrier that has both tracking and signature is mandatory for the one getting the parcel. In Spain SEUR has worked very fine the last two times but usually I have been using FedEx, UPS and DHL.

Great. A full checklist of best practice advice and now an excuse to buy a camera. This is how it started with watches, I needed one. This time next year I will have started CameraCrunch.

Well... I myself have a "photographer" background so...

Had to jump over to your profile. Great photos of some cool adventures. The Traska looks brilliant on that olive green nato. I would definitely read a post on why you are considering moving on from the explorer… 😉

I have written a couple of things at Watchcrunch and I am currently preparing a video for my YouTube channel, youtube.com/c/thewatchframe but it has been delayed as I have been asked to make a review of a new watch to be released so that might take some time.

But in short I had kind of a strange situation at the AD with an issue that had to be solved by the watch that made me realize how expensive and somehow how this watch is. And now that I'm back going to the mountains I do basically use the Traska all the time. I've come to realize how much closer the Traska is to the Explorer 1016 than the actual current Rolex Explorers. And how much more affordable, durable and reliably perform.

I’ll give that a follow and keep an eye out for a vid on the Traska vs Explorer. Explorer is a grail watch for me (and for many I guess). I bet some original (slightly more critical) Explorer content would be lapped up.