The basic philosophy that lies behind this website, and the one that always drove the decade of distinctive online auction listings from which it was developed, is one of offering a very high standard of vintage watches for sale, primarily for buyers looking to purchase as serious investments, and then providing extreme detail about each piece. The idea has always been to take a watch and methodically go through it step by step, clearly explaining every aspect of its design, construction and condition, enabling even somebody with no previous knowledge of vintage wristwatches whatsoever to have exactly the same information available to him as a seasoned connoisseur who has been avidly collecting for twenty five years. In real terms, this creates a level playing field between the hardened professional and the total novice, and puts on a plate all the research that could ever be needed to ascertain that a watch is correct and as it should be in every way.

This approach is unique and will almost certainly remain so, simply because it’s so time consuming. The research and writing time involved in adding a watch to this site currently stands at somewhere between four and six hours per unit, which contrasts greatly with the two minutes needed to simply state the model name, movement number, if we’re lucky, and price that we find on almost all other vintage watch sites online. Even the major auction houses don’t even begin to offer this level of detail and analysis, with the buyer largely being left to do his or her own investigative work to confirm whether an item is original or not. Neither Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams or Antiquorum include movement photographs in their catalogues and none state movement or case signatures.

Over the last decade, we have always believed passionately in the importance of decoding case makers’ marks, yet without exception, no major auction house even attempts to do this. We have never seen any comment as to case origin made on any dealer’s website or in their promotional material. Why ? Again, the answer is that additional research of this kind requires an awful lot of time commitment.

From a buyer’s perspective, the advantage of this format is that it completely removes the risk element in buying an antique wristwatch. It is quite amazing to see that people visit some of the London dealers’ sites on which a two line description is given, without any mention of winding crown types, movement calibres or serial numbers, and then buy an item costing several thousand pounds, without really knowing anything about what they’re acquiring. Under no circumstances would we ever in our wildest dreams buy a vintage watch for our stock without being informed of all the markings on it, both internally and externally, and, most importantly of all, seeing a close up photograph of its movement. The movement is one of the most fundamental aspects of any watch and to buy without seeing it in detail is akin to blindly purchasing a classic motor car without ever lifting the bonnet and inspecting the engine, or even checking to make sure that the engine is the right one for the rest of the car ! Cases can easily be polished to give an as-new appearance and dials reprinted to look like new, but it is effectively impossible to cosmetically enhance a neglected, shabby movement on which the finish is rubbed and dulled.

When buying a vintage watch, it is imperative that its movement can be seen and if the vendor is unwilling to provide clear, close up photographs in the instance of an online sale, or to open the case back to enable inspection with an eyeglass in the physical marketplace, then immediately walk away, safe in the knowledge that there was a very good reason why. Every watch for sale here is accompanied with close up movement photos, with all movement serial numbers and calibre numbers stated in full. We actively encourage buyers to collect their watches in person from us in Yorkshire and are always delighted to open cases in order that the movements within can be thoroughly inspected before a transaction takes place.