Watchlords

I just moved a lot of Seikos priced from $425-$1400. All I can say is people who buy these watches at this price point are the most anal secondary market buyers out there. Now I'm rightfully accused of taking shitty pix but these people go over pics with a red pencil and mark up photos like a school marm on Adderall on a watch that's close to half msrp.

They see major glitches in reflections, something Seiko prizes in their lines, lots of light like diamonds, and dust bunnys. I can't tell you how many magnifier shots I took to serve my purpose to make a big hole in one of my watch boxes. The worst was the last, today, I had a newbie looking at a beautiful PVD piece that had baby scratches on the back. He had no feedback and so we talked on FB messenger to check him out. So I get an email from another bloke who had been fence sitting that he had just PPed me. The poor kid was gobsmacked, so upset that I gave him a bunch of pointers to improve his standing in the eyes of future buyers. I felt like I was his dad after he lost the peewee football game.

Personally I don't think Seiko's black finish is on par with their Ti and stainless and the gold is richer than even Rolex, not that I'll be buying one soon unless L'Oreal buys out my new perfume line. Anyway, I got through with relative success and relief, no offense to anyone here, but I don't like absurd anal retentives at this price point, the watches are built to take hard knocks and never have a hand fall off or the movement suddenly veer from time spec.

Selling Seikos is, indeed, a pain in the ass. They depreciate worse than a BMW 7 Series, and unless they are A) very, very rare, or B) a first generation Monster, or C) priced very low, they tend not to move. I've also had some dust-ups with collectors over Seikos I've sold, unless it's a private sale and I know the guy. Luckily, the only mid-range Seikos I've sold have been private deals. At the low end, like I said, unless you're selling a Monster (which have gone up in price, something unheard of with Seiko), you'd better get comfy in your easy chair, because you could read The Charterhouse of Parma, as well as the rest of whatever Stendhal wrote, before you sell it.

The only watch I own that has gone up in price is the JLC Geophysic and I have a guy begging to trade for it with a 1k premium over msrp. Of course I did buy the $400 deployant clasp, I'm sure that's a loss leader.

I don't think that picture is that terrible but I do think that watch is filthy. Run a cloth over the crystal and case and don't give them a reason to bitch unless there is one.