buying used watches

[spikerS]

Alright, so I want to see what is out there, and I keep hearing a common theme: "Used watches are so much cheaper!"

so my question, where do you go to find them?

[roopi]

WUS, Timezone, WatchRecon

[ga16i]

If you absolutely know what you're looking for, eBay is a good bet if the seller is reputable and provides lots of pics of case and movement of actual watch.

I've only had limited luck on WUS. The thing there is most of what's interesting gets snapped up really quick or only wants to ship CONUS (continental US).

What watches are you looking at? Really old stuff (1980's and older) or cheap stuff is probably best on eBay. More recent stuff and higher end you might have more luck on WUS, especially if it's something popular with the WIS crowd.

[rage2]

There's so much fake shit on ebay, you'll need to really know WTF you're doing to not get screwed.

[roopi]

Originally posted by rage2
There's so much fake shit on ebay, you'll need to really know WTF you're doing to not get screwed.

Agreed

[spikerS]

Originally posted by rage2
There's so much fake shit on ebay, you'll need to really know WTF you're doing to not get screwed.

And honestly, that is what I am worried about.

I want a certain style, so I am looking around, but if I find something, I want it to be genuine and not a rip off, hence I only buy new from a store at the moment, unless I know upfront it is a knock off.

[spikerS]

I am really wanting to pick up an auto aviator style watch, but the properly functioning ones I have found are all pretty pricey.

I absolutely fell in love with this one:http://www.freshnessmag.com/2013/04/24/richard-mille-rm-39-01-automatic-aviation-watch/

[ga16i]

Agreed about eBay. I should clarify by "If you absolutely know what you're looking for" I mean you REALLY know what to look for.
e.g., spacing / font of markings, subdials, etc. Which generation of watch model exists, and which movements is appropriate for what dial, hands, case and crown and how to tell them apart.
Franken watches are probably way harder to detect than outright fakes.

I've only sourced fairly specific vintage stuff that's tough to come by normally like Vostok 3AKA3, early DongFeng 18,000 bph ST5, and Seiko SKX007J (w/ Japan A marking) from eBay.
Each time I spent literally months of reading and looking at pictures before trying to look for listings that I could potentially pull the trigger on.

Ah, I see, yeah I think that Richard Mille will be fairly pricey...
Don't know where you might look... when someone mentions aviator style I automatically think of a fairly simple face with the triangle and two dots at the 12 o'clock position.
With maybe a chrono at most. Citizen and Casio are the closest with that look that comes to mind, but they won't be automatic.

Breitlings are known of automatic aviator watches with somewhat loud styling, but don't think even they'll look quite like that.

Maybe an Invicta of some sort with a 7750, probably around $1000 retail. Can't think of too many others who'll have that kind of styling, especially with an automatic movement.