Phoband's watch buying tip of the day

[fotoman]

When you have insomnia and are up all night DO NOT buy watches, especially pre-owned- even if you think you have learned most of the mistakes to buying over years of practice.

You will most likely miss something. And that key piece of info could cost $$ that you don't have to casually waste.

just a recommendation

Peace

[MapsMoney]

Im still waiting before I buy. I'm a newbie but looking to pick up maybe 3 watches to start the collection.. 2 PAMS and A BK Rolex... I'm soaking up so much info now and still haven't pulled the trigger on ANY watch here yet.... I'm still waiting to fig out whats the BEST possible PAM

[valerian]

When you have insomnia and are up all night DO NOT buy watches, especially pre-owned- even if you think you have learned most of the mistakes to buying over years of practice.

Ouch. Sounds like a mishap of some sort.

Your tip needs to be expanded to being under the influence of all kinds of substances, red wine being a key ingredient to most of my impulse watch acquisitions.

Val.

[Bardamu]

Hum... A kind of warning which let us think that you had a bad experience, Phoband. Fun enough to share ?

Val, if the red wine taht "impulsed acquisitions" is the one on the picture below your signature, I cannot believe that you made wrongs buyings. I want to believe that great burgundy wines can only give very positive inspirations !

Paul

[krpster]

Your tip needs to be expanded to being under the influence of all kinds of substances, red wine being a key ingredient to most of my impulse watch acquisitions.

Val.

I'm with you on the red wine Valerian. Not been on my side on a few occasions

[cornerstone]

Hey, at least we're only buying reps drunk. Waking up with an 'oh...shit" on TimeZone is waaaaaaay more expensive.

[fotoman]

Hey, at least we're only buying reps drunk. Waking up with an 'oh...[censored]" on TimeZone is waaaaaaay more expensive.

Way more expensive is a relative concept to your net worth.

Re: my bad experience. I'm not going to post specifics because it's totally my bad and the transaction is still going on. I have offered some compensation for his trouble if we can undo it. But basically, there was a watch I had been on the lookout for and when I did research on RWG and RWI (not much info out there) I read there was only 1 version of this model although v1 had issues and v2 was good. Well, I came across one that had the issues talked about for v1 and was a good price considering the cost needed to fix up.

We worked out a deal including a trade. Which I gave up the trade piece for less than what I could sell it for, but no additional transaction costs and certainty put into the equation.

I was looking for other info and I happened over to RWG 1 and I randomly happened upon a post about a cheap version of this watch that had the wrong movement and no AR and I said oh crap. Listing was accurate. Seller didn't know actually what he had (honest mistake). he didn't realize he had a inferior watch to what is generally on the market. I should have known to double check details, which would have revealed the issue. But my head was focusing on what my trade piece should be valued at.

Also, I've had stupid insomnia this week and have not gotten to sleep until 5 am. This is really taking a toll on my critical thinking and focus.

So there ya go. Because I made assumptions, I blew $150 - $200 in value. I made the deal and will stand by it. This is totally not my week.

13 yrs in reps and 7 yrs on the boards. 70-80 watches (me and family) and you can still make stupid mistakes if your not paying attention.

Let that be a lesson to ya

Re: new dude, research is hard. "the best" is often not determinable. You have to take multiple factors into account and some people might think AR is more valuable than strong Lume or a "Swiss" movt vs Asian (they are really all Asian)

Figuring this stuff out is a learning process. If your serious about collecting then you will only learn these lessons by trial, error and time. We all had to go through it. If you stay for the long haul, you will end up fine. If you pick up some pieces and move on in life like most, you will almost certainly not bat 1000 your first time up and you may or may not ever realize if you made the right choice for you.

My first year here, I wanted 2 rollies, best I can get. I was duped by a former "modder" who is banned here and I think rwi. Not only did he charge me for stupid services I didn't need but he also had the watches delivered to him and there were serious unacceptable flaws. Like a day-date where only 2 days of the week were not obstructed by the day window. He knew this and "serviced" the watches anyway took my money and shipped me sh!t. I demanded to get a watch that was not defective. He said he would try but he still wanted his servicing fees. He never got the dealer involved which was king to exchange the piece. I tools him I would take a credit and get a different watch, he couldn't make that happen either.

So I got a crap watch, that I had to sell at a loss because I was honest about the flaws and I never got my$$ back for the sh8t servicing And I didn't know enough about it at the time to make a stink and that turd "modder" was on the board for at least another year.

There is a much cleaner, more transparent and tighter ship being run these days. My situation would not happen for someone today if they are active on the board. But, everyone from the old days has some story. That wasn't the last time I was screwed for not asking enough questions either. And it wasn't even the last time I got screwed by someone making things up about me. It's a tuff world out there. As much as the senior members try to watch over the system, there will be folks that take advantage of ignorance. It happens in legal businesses everyday, no reason to think it wouldn't happen here. Cornerstone is right, at least it's not a gen or a car or a house with "Chinese drywall" (google it)

Best advice is to research, hope for the best, take mistakes as learning experiences and put out more than you take in. Over time, you can do very very well with what our community has to offer. I have had and still have some Amazing watches that I would never have been able to get with gen's. I have gotten more out of this hobby than I would have ever thought possible. And I also know it could be shut down at any time. So enjoy it while you got it. Research and take it in stride, after all, to quote Eddie Lee - it's only a watch.

Having said all that I have 2 rolexes I'm going to list to help make up my mistake.