Selling a luxury watch almost always goes well, and when it does not it is usually at a private meeting rather than with a dealer. You can run these nine checks on any party, on us included, with the details to verify them yourself.
Handing a watch worth thousands of euros to somebody you do not know: that is the heart of what this is about. Usually it goes well. When it goes wrong, it almost always goes wrong the same way: at a meeting with a private buyer, at home or in a car park, with nothing set down in writing.
Below are nine checks. They are written so you can run them on any party, and therefore on us as well. Where we have an answer it is given, with the number or the place you can verify it.
1. Does the company exist, and in whose name
Ask for the company name and the Chamber of Commerce number and check it in the trade register. You then see whether the company exists, since when, and whether the activity matches what is being claimed.
With us: Reuven Watches trades under RNW and is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 74208780. The company has existed since 2019.
2. Is there an address you can go to
A physical shop is no guarantee, but it does change something: somebody with a lease and a shop window has more to lose than somebody with only a telephone number. Look the address up on a map service and see whether there really is a business there.
With us: Amsterdamsestraatweg 251 in Utrecht, and that is our only premises. On Wednesday and Thursday between 12:00 and 17:00 you can walk in without an appointment.
3. What do the reviews say, and how many are there
Do not look at the average but at the number and the spread. Twenty five-star reviews from the same week say less than fifty reviews over several years with a few critical ones among them. Read those critical ones especially: they show you how a business responds when something goes wrong.
With us: 4.8 out of 5 based on 50 Google reviews, collected since 2019. The full profile is on Google, where you can read them yourself.
4. Is there a check that does not come from the company itself
A badge a company puts on its own site says nothing, because nobody verifies it. What is interesting is a status tested by a third party and capable of being withdrawn.
With us: Trusted Seller on Chrono24 since 2019. Exactly what that requires is set out on the Chrono24 page, and you can look the profile up yourself.
5. Do they ask for your ID
This feels counter-intuitive, but it is a good sign. A dealer in second-hand timepieces is legally obliged to record everything he buys in a register, with the details of the person he buys it from. Timepieces are named in so many words in the statutory list of goods this applies to.
That register is moreover linked to the national system in which stolen goods are recorded. If nobody asks for your ID, that is not a courtesy but a sign that something is not being done by the book.
6. Do you get the offer in writing, with reasoning
A figure without an explanation cannot be judged and cannot be compared. Ask why the offer is what it is: which reference they think they are seeing, how the state of the case is assessed, what the absence of papers does. Then you can set it beside a second offer.
And do actually set it beside a second offer. Two requests cost you half an hour, and at these sums that half hour is well spent.
7. How does shipping work, and who carries the risk
If you post the watch, it has to be clear in advance who carries the risk if the parcel goes missing or arrives damaged, and up to what amount it is insured. Put that in a message so it is on record, even though with a decent party it simply goes well.
With us: we ship insured and at our expense, internationally too. If you are selling to us from abroad, we arrange and pay for it.
8. What happens if you turn the offer down once the watch is already on its way
This is the question most people forget and the most important one. Ask beforehand: if I do not accept the offer, within how many days is my watch back, how is it sent, and who pays for it. If you do not get a clear answer, do not post anything.
9. Are you committed to anything
A valuation or an offer should carry no obligation. If pressure is applied, if you are told the offer is only good today, or if you are discouraged from looking elsewhere, that is the moment to end the conversation. A watch does not lose value in a week and a serious party knows it.
The private sale, and why that is where the risk sits
Advertising it yourself usually brings in more than a dealer offers, and that is a fair trade-off you are free to make. But know what you are buying with it:
- Strangers in your home. Your address is then known to somebody who knows you have an expensive watch in the house, even if he buys nothing. Meet somewhere neutral, and preferably at a bank or in a business.
- Payment you cannot reverse. Cash can be counterfeit, and a transfer that is "already on its way" is not yet a payment. Do not hand the watch over before the money is actually in your account.
- Liability afterwards. If you sell to a private buyer and something turns out to be wrong with the watch later, he can come back to you. On a sale to a dealer that is settled once the transaction is done.
- Your name in the market. A listing with photos is findable by anyone and stays findable, even after the watch has gone.
If you still want to do it yourself, this is the minimum: meet in a public place, take somebody with you, do not let the watch out of your hands before the money is there, and put the arrangements in a message so something is on record.
What you can check on the watch yourself
As a seller it is also useful to have the serial number to hand and check it yourself. At stopheling.nl you enter at least five characters of the serial number and see whether it is recorded as stolen. On an inherited or second-hand watch whose provenance you do not know, that is a one-minute check that can save you a great deal.
In short
Check the company in the trade register, see whether there is an address, read the critical reviews too, and look for a check that does not come from the company itself. Expect them to want to see your ID. Ask for the offer in writing with reasoning, set it beside a second offer, and make clear in advance who carries the risk on shipping and what happens if you turn it down.
If you run those nine points past us and something is not clear, do simply ask. Come by in Utrecht or send a few photos; you hear what we offer within 24 hours and you are committed to nothing.
