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As I’ve mentioned before, I really like eBay. The range of items you can find on eBay at any given time is simply amazing. Of course that’s also a source of frustration.
I currently own a Swatch watch. I’ve had it for about 6 years, as I was given it for my birthday by a very lovely Italian girl.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the watch is showing signs of usage, as I have worn it every single day for the last 6 years. The face of the watch is showing signs of wear and tear, while humidity leads to a “lovely” fogginess on the fascia ie. the seals are pretty much gone.
That the watch has lasted this long is pretty amazing – all of its predecessors met with unhappy ends much faster than it has done, so it shows that buying a reasonably good watch does pay off.
Of course now the time has come to get a replacement. I’d prefer to get a replacement now, while my faithful Swatch is behaving, rather than wait until it dies completely and I’m forced to get a cheap replacement to tide me over.
So what kind of watch should I get?
While I was in Paris a few weeks ago a friend was showing off his Rolex. He’d had it for over 10 years and it was practically new, even though he wears it every single day. The problem with a Rolex is, of course, the price tag. You could easily spend several thousand euro on one and that is not something that I am willing to do.
Other brands that have caught my eye are Tag Heuer and Omega.
While the Tag Heuer pieces seem to cost a lot less than Rolex the prices vary a lot.
My main problem and source of frustration is that I have no idea of how much I should be spending on a timepiece. It’s not a question of budget. If I decided to spend 300 or 500 euro on a watch that would last me 10 or 20 years I’d see that as money well spent. If you put it in perspective, of course.
Perusing the listings on eBay I can find fantastic looking Tag Heuer watches going for prices varying from a 2 or 3 hundred euro upwards, but I honestly don’t know if that is the correct price to be paying for them.
I’m really outside my “comfort zone”!
If you’re wearing watches for long periods, a Tag will very likely end up buried with you. I bought my boyfriend one in high school, and he’s still wearing it daily. 20 years ago (shut up) those watches were very well made indeed. I obviously can’t say what they’re like now.
I’m not totally sure what you’re asking. If it’s “how much should I spend on a watch?” this is one of the very vew areas where cheapskate me will say “as much as you want to.” These tend to be lifelong, classic pieces and not fashion statements, so if you’re going to have it for 20+ years, you should get what makes you happy.
If you’re asking “how do I know if I’m getting a good price?” find a Tag you like, look up the exact name on a couple of retail sites, and just compare them. For something expensive like that, though, I’d be more inclined to buy from a local retailer.
Sabrina
Thanks for the comment
I’m not 100% sure what I’m asking either 🙂
It’s a mixture of:
– how much should I spend before I start feeling guilty?
– how much is the right price to pay for the model I like?
I was considering the “off the shelf” option, but based on past experience I know that I can save a lot of money if I get something from an online vendor on eBay. Our aircon units cost about 50% less from Ebay than what the local vendors were quoting!
Michele
Yes. But. When buying aircon, you’re in very little danger of getting fake brand name goods. With watches this is a serious issue, and I think more so than with anything else except maybe designer handbags. So just be cautious. These are high value goods that are exceptionally easy to duplicate and have mass market appeal.
If you just want someone to give you a price range in which you are unlikely to go to hell, personally if you’ve got the cash I think anything up to 2-3K is reasonable for a watch you’ll wear for a least a decade that isn’t a Rolex. If there’s a watch you love anywhere up to that price range and you love it a lot more than the €100 watch you can get at Swatch, go for it.
This assumes you already own a home, have savings, have a pension, etc. and that dropping that kind of dough on a watch isn’t money that would be much better spent elsewhere. All of which is none of my business, but means you should just buy a Swatch!
Sabrina
I’ve already been bitten quite badly by the fakes. Have a look on here for my post about supposed Cisco switches!
I learnt that lesson the hard way, so I’m always very picky about which eBay sellers I’d consider buying higher value goods from.
Even if I had the cash I would feel terribly guilty about spending thousands of euro on a watch 🙂
I guess I’ll just have to decide on a budget and take the plunge 🙂
Michele
I picked up a beautiful Armani watch from Ebay US a few months back – http://cormacmoylan.com/blog/wp-content/2008/04/armani1.jpg – I think I paid $200 approx for it. It’s easily worth twice that from an Irish jewelers.
Kenneth Cole has some pretty watches but if I had the cash to splash I would consider a Raymond Weil watch. ($800 would get you a nice Weil)
You actually bring up a fantastic point Michele. In a world of choice and difference in pricing points, it can be very difficult to “know” just what an item is worth or what the market will bear on the lower end (buyers end).
I have been looking into this quite a bit recently. I am trying to sell my car at the moment. When placing it on carzone, I had no idea how much to put it in for. However, on EBAY motors, there is a fantastic feature that shows what the average price a car of the exact same spec has been recently sold for and what you should be looking at bidding.
This leads me to wonder why EBAY general listings don’t have this feature.
However, you can run an advanced search on EBAY and average up the most recent prices of the watch you have your eye on to see what others have paid.
Something that might pique your interest from a geek perspective. The Casio Wave Ceptor (http://waveceptor.casio.com/) will set the time automatically from the atomic clock at Rugby.
I bought one a few years ago for circa 130 Euro and I’ve been very happy. My watches tend to get rough treatment and mine still looks new.
Keith
I’d be a bit wary of eBay! There was a big thing on the news last week about legal action being taken against eBay Europe and the US for aiding the sale of counterfeit goods, an action taken by the makers of of luxury brands.
@Cormac
The Armani looks good, though it’s not exactly the kind of style that I’d go for 🙂
@Dave – there might be an opening there – maybe we should talk?
@Keith – that’s a nice piece
@Trinity – I’ve been buying stuff on eBay since 1999 – 2000, so I’m fairly confident most of the time.