SoCal Tourneau

[bruce79]

So a new Tourneau opened up today in San Diego and I just happed to be at the mall today so I stopped buy. It's probably not as large as some of the other locations (boutique size really) but it was stocked to the brim with watches...and sales associates. They must of had about 25 sales associates stuffed in that little space which couldn't have been larger than 400sf. I'm sure it was just for the openning day as that would be mental on a daily basis.

I know what you all are thinking but no, I did not wear a rep into the store. I was wearing my PT UPO but I stuffed it into my pocket before entering.

For those of you who have never been (like myself until today), it is quite an experience. They literally have every model you can imagine and then some.

But what caught my attention and where I spent most of my time was the pre-owned section. It was by far the largest pre-owned section I have seen in any watch store. They probably had about 100-150 watches in case. And they were reasonably priced to boot. Though this particular location does not carry pams, they had a pre-owned Ferrari, 183, and 212. They had tons of Breitlings including a Seawolf for $2100 which I checked out. And of course, several Rollies including a LV, couple of no dates, GMT, etc. Lots of good eye candy.

But to the heart of why I'm writing this thread, I handled several watches in there and it hit me as I was doing so, the reps we've got these days are getting so close it's scary. As if you needed me to tell you that. I mean, I had an EL 183 a while back and while I was handling that 183 today, I was comparing it to my 183 and it struck me as being very similar. Of course the finish of the movement is far superior on the gen but comparing it to some of the 183s out there now, it's insanely close. If I were holding them side by side, it would be hard for even me to differentiate. Of course I talking about a modded 183, not stock. With the Seawolf, the same deal for those of you lucky enough to have the closed factory model. I had a visual of the PO on my way out and with exception to the pearl, virtually identical in every way. I had a look at the ar at different angles and I want to say that although I know it's stronger than the stock UPO, it's not much more noticeably so. I know there are those who will disagree with me and that I must handle the gen to make such a statement but looking at it there in the case, I wasn't blown away. Guess my point is, I don't know how I could ever justify spending the $$$ on gens with the quality of reps we have.

So there it is, just a quick note about my visit. Thanks for reading.

[deltatahoe]

thanks for the interesting story bruce

i'm curious -- do you remember what the used 212 was selling for?

your observations are the primary reason why it is unlikely that i will buy a genuine watch that can be (relatively) easily repped. hence the reason why i picked up the sinn u2 this year (my first nice genuine watch). next year, it will likely be a jlc -- i've got my eye on the squadra hometime reverso

deltatahoe

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

I have been to the one in Costa Mesa and even bought a watch from them about 8 years ago. I will be sure to make my way down there wearing my 188. I have always been impressed with their pre-owned collections, but if you say the prices were reasonable... then something has drastically changed. I have seen pre-owned watches in there for considerably more than they were worth. Especially vintage American wristwatches. I have a few solid gold Gruen Curvex watches, and even a curvex doctors watch... I have seen similar watches in the Tourneau catalog for nearly $2k. I think I paid $500 for mine...

[bruce79]

Well I'm not quite sure what the 212 was going for. I know it was over $10k I wanna say around $12k but just not sure. I know the 183 was around $4500. I suppose their prices aren't as reasonable as say the sales corner at TZ or Paneristi, but for a watch shop of their caliber and the fact that they offer a 1 year warranty on every pre-owned watch, I thought their prices were decent. That is only on the few models I checked so perhaps I spoke too soon. Carlsbadrolex, you should definitely head down there though...just a short jaunt from your neck of the woods. Are you really going to wear your 188 though? Let me know how that goes.

[rek001]

The Chicago Tourneau is also in a very small space - located on the 3rd floor of Water Tower Place, a vertical shopping mall on N. Michigan Avenue. I go in there occasionally to see what they have and try on a few watches, the salespeople have always been very accommodating.

I find their pre-owned pricing to be way out of line compared to the sales section of Timezone.com

[eunomians]

The little one in Century City really does not have too much. The Las Vegas store is quite extraordinary.

But, I think the best here in SoCal is Westime. Now they really have an impressive store.

[docblackrock]

Well I'm not quite sure what the 212 was going for. I know it was over $10k I wanna say around $12k but just not sure.

That's a preowned price? The 212 is less than