How Much Is My Watch Worth?
Dating Your Watch With An Archive Extract
“What is my watch worth?”
It is the first question asked by watch collectors with at least one timepiece to sell and the desire to liquidate it. But the pathway from a watch to cash-in-hand passes through knowledge of one’s timepiece, evaluation of its condition, researching prices, and patience. Each of these areas will be discussed in this multi-part review of what you need to know when selling your watch.
In this article we cover:
> Your Watch’s Brand and Reference Number
> Using Online Resources to Estimate Value
Key Takeaways
>When determining your watch’s value, you must verify the piece’s approximate age, brand, and model.
>To find a production date, you may need to contact the watch manufacturer to retrieve an “archive extract” with basic information about the model, date, and reference number—this is especially helpful for vintage pieces.
>Having a watch serviced and restored can either increase or decrease the value of your watch, which is why it’s important to have your piece regularly serviced by a professional.
>Our top three online tool recommendations for establishing watch value are the The 1916 Company app, auction sites, and dealer websites.
Determining Watch Worth & Value
Nothing complicates pricing research more than a cursory knowledge of one’s watch. Consider an automotive analogy; if you were to sell a car, you could research its value on platforms such as Kelly Blue Book or; Edmunds, but even with that wealth of information, your search would be a non-starter if you could not identify the make, model, and year of your car.
Luxury watch owners have fewer pricing references than car owners, so determining the value of a watch requires even more care. When it’s time to determine how much your watch is worth, you need to clarify the approximate age, brand, and model of your watch. This process should start as specific as possible and become more general only if confusion persists.
Use the Box and Papers
The simplest way to identify your luxury wirstwatch is by looking at the packaging it came in. A watch that retains its original boxes, manuals, and bill of sale can be identified quickly. Suppose your watch’s certificate-of-origin or warranty papers (note: not always the same) are filled correctly by their respective issuers. In that case, you can proceed to determine value when selling your watch.
But if the watch is without papers or sales receipt, other tools must be harnessed.
Find the Brand and Reference Number
To do this, locate the brand and reference number to perform a search online. Be sure to include any numbers or alpha-numeric that may be engraved on the case. Typically, this is the reference number and will help narrow down search results.
Certain brands, including Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Panerai, have used sequential serial numbering systems that can aid in the dating of these watches; dating keys are available online for all three when selling your watch.
Most brands do not use sequential serial numbers or abandoned the practice long ago. For the most part, only watch manufacturers themselves have the data to match a serial number to the production date of a watch. Many brands will recover an “archive extract” with basic information about the model, production date, and reference number of an older or vintage watch. Not only can this inexpensive document assist in establishing how much your watch is worth, it can add a measure of value by providing manufacturer pedigree to an otherwise undocumented (i.e., no box, no papers) luxury watch.
Finally, be aware that certain brands build the reference numbers of their watches into areas that can be difficult to see. Rolex watches, for example, had printed its reference numbers between the lugs at 12 o’clock since the mid-1940s. Other brands stamp the inside of the caseback with the reference number of their models. Depending on the brand of your watch, this fact may make an exploratory visit to your local jeweler for inspection a worthwhile endeavor.
By leveraging your watch’s accessory set, sales receipt, or just the marking on the dial and case, you can learn vital information about the make, model, and age of your watch. Once a watch has been identified, its owner can better understand how much the watch is worth.
Evaluating Your Watch’s Condition
While brand, age, and rarity are all factors that can impact how much your watch is worth, none are more important than the condition. Timepieces are delicate and when neglected, it can cause damage to the numerous mechanics within. This damage can diminish the value of your luxury watch beyond the wear and tear that may be expected from potential buyers.
Having your watch serviced and restored can increase its value, but it can also do further damage to how much the watch is worth. Simple repairs like replacing a strap or dial can prove detrimental if the part being replaced was unique or rare. Ideally, it’s best to have your watch regularly serviced so that when it does come time to find out how much your watch is worth, it won’t be a disappointment to find that the value is significantly lower due to its condition.
Watches are commonly categorized by their history. A watch’s history aside, the second tool used to determine how much a watch is worth—based on condition, at least—is a grading scale. While some grading scales use numerous terms and degrees to assess the condition, a simple grading scale, like the one below, can help you get a reasonably good idea of your watch’s value.
Explore our article, How to Determine Watch Condition, to learn more about how to evaluate your watch’s condition.
Using Online Resources To Determine Value
The identity of a watch offers its owner the first key to establishing its value while the condition further refines that. The last step involves learning and using the online resources that enable sellers and buyers alike to value watches.
But, remember that the car-watch marketplace analogy ends where pricing is concerned. Luxury watches are non-standard in name and numbering practice and spread over thousands of brands, over a century of wristwatch production, and hundreds of thousands of models.
Without the benefit of Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds, evaluating a watch’s value relies on:
- Watch brand websites
- Model-launch press releases
- Collector forums & boards
- Auction sites (such as eBay)
- The chrono24 marketplace
Finding out a watch’s value is often an easier task for wristwatches released after the widespread adoption of the internet. But for vintage timepieces, sellers and collectors will have to do their research and at times rely on luxury watch experts that have more experience. To gain insight into the value of your luxury watch, explore our Watch Reviews and see if we have done an in-depth exploration of your timepiece.
Here are our top three recommendations for establishing how much your watch value is:
1. Auction Sites
Auction sites can offer more accurate pricing history based on past transactions. However, it is important to know the “buyer’s premium” paid in the case of any given winning bid. The common 15-30 percent buyer’s premium often is listed atop the winning bid and expressed as a “transaction” value in the auction sites’ pricing histories. Be certain to read – or email the auction house – to determine what level of “premium” was added in order to reveal the actual value of the winner’s bid.
eBay often becomes the seller’s best resource when attempting to answer the sphinx’s riddle of a watch’s value. Like chrono24, eBay ranks among the largest permanent online marketplaces for luxury watches. But unlike chrono24, eBay offers real inventory—watches in hand and ready for sale—and the “completed listings” feature, which provides the unique opportunity to view recent sales at transaction prices. This is a key insight that owners need to know when selling a watch.
2. Dealers
Real inventory is surprisingly uncommon on chrono24 and even many dealer websites. The hallmark of a “vaporware” watch is a listing with a “stock” photo—usually a press image provided by the manufacturer for online magazine use.
Dealers use these images as placeholders for watches they don’t actually have in stock, and this is one reason why asking prices for watches with “stock” photos cannot be trusted. eBay, on the other hand, has shipping and turnaround policies that require eBay Top Sellers like our company (tip: always check seller ratings) to load a tracking number within 24 hours of receiving payment. With rules of this nature, Top Sellers on eBay cannot afford to sell a watch not in stock.
Once a seller has found evidence of real-world price “asks” and “transaction values” for his watch’s make and model, he must gauge where his particular watch falls in that range. Honestly evaluating a watch’s condition, as well as the condition of any accessory sets or the original packaging, is essential in determining how much a watch is worth.
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