Watch shopping in the 21st Century

The other my friend and I went out watch hunting. We were not looking for anything in particular, just to see what was available. We decided to go for pre-loved watches. So off we went to visit some of the shops that I went when I was looking for my Rolex. We arrived at the first shop and we had a look at what was on offer. There were many watches to look at and many many temptations.

We, he rather, was interested in a couple of watches. This is where it got interesting, hence the title. We did something we could not have done some years back. We, with the advances in technology were able to surf the Internet and check out about the watches he was interested in on our phones.

We were able to surf and check out competitor websites to see if they had similar watches and see what were the going prices. We were able to surf and check and even read reviews on the watches he was interested in. We were able to check out what were the going prices internationally and even find out when the watches were issued. Best of all, with the number of websites, forums, blogs and on-line sellers, we were even able to find out if there were issues with the watches and even what the watch should come with (in terms of packaging). We could also check out if there were fakes for the said watches and what to look out for to make sure we were not buying fakes. Talk about making an informed decision.

We realised with this power (knowledge) readily available, it is not easy for the seller. We could negotiate for better prices based on what was available (in other shops) and even ask for a reduction if the package was not complete. Indeed shopping in the 21st Century has made it easy (to a certain extent) for the buyer. All you need is the right equipment and a bit of knowledge of where and what to look for.

Anyway, the day ended well for both of us as he ended getting a NOS JLC (Jaeger) Reverso Gran Sports Chronograph at a great bargain and I ended up with a wall clock. All in all not a bad day out.