Feature: 10 ways to get a good deal on your next watch
We all think of ourselves as the next great businessmen, but often when it comes to buying something expensive like a watch, we can do ourselves out of a good deal by not taking into consideration some simple tips. Here’s ten. Stay until the end for the most important.
Don’t let your heart do the buying
I could start with a whole raft of nonsense psychoanalytical alpha male tips about asserting dominance, but really, the power to getting a good watch for a great price isn’t in what you can force a salesperson to do, and rather in your own discipline. With that being said, I’m going to start with the number one thing people get wrong when it comes to buying anything, and that’s letting their emotions take over.
You just simply got to, at all costs, have the watch, right? At all costs. Hard to get a good deal when every fibre of your body is telling you to give everything to get it. Even your kidneys are throwing themselves up on a platter to be sold for the cause.
Take a breath, take a moment. Sometimes the savings aren’t worth the risk of losing something you really want, but if you’re here to get great value, then you’re going to have to rein in that booming voice in the back of your head a little bit. Ultimately, the first piece of advice is: be prepared to lose. It’s not always going to work in your favour.
Do consider watches that are less popular
Often times, good value is really about opportunity. If you want something real bad, chances are a whole bunch of other people do, too. And that makes it harder to negotiate on. If you want to spend less than everyone else, then you’re going to go to the back of the queue.
So, look for some of the great opportunity pieces out there that have the potential to make an enjoyable purchase that other people might not have considered. Take, for example, the Tudor Black Bay Pro. That’s a hard watch to get and sells very quickly. The previous Black Bay 58, however, that’s also a fantastic watch that was also once tricky to get hold of, but now the Pro’s out, attention has been diverted somewhat, and so you’ve got more chance of getting better value for your money.
I’m not saying let go of your dreams, but it can pay to modify them a little. When the Royal Oak was going crazy, as another example, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato was not. That’s now a pretty hard to get watch, too. Those people who were thinking laterally about their purchase did well out of it and enjoyed a fantastic watch to boot.
Don’t pay more than you want to
My next tip extends from the first. If that was about keeping control of how you feel, this focusses on perhaps the biggest mistake people make when control is wavering. Whatever watch it is you’re buying, however many you’re buying, if you’ve got a budget, stick to it. Okay, so maybe have a little flexibility, but if you’ve done your research and you know the price that’s sensible to pay, you should be assured in getting what you want.
And if you don’t—and there are many factors involved in why that might not be possible—then that’s fine. Live to fight another day. Unless that watch is the only one on planet Earth and you need it to live, then you’ll do well to stick to your budget and not end up regretting the purchase every time you look at it.
Do buy used
Full openness on this one: Watchfinder sells pre-owned watches, so of course I’m going to say that you should be considering used to save yourself some money. I’m not saying that because I’m obliged to, however, I’m saying it because it’s just true. In fact, I was a customer of Watchfinder before I was an employee, purely because I’m a cheapskate looking to save money on my purchases.
Not only can you—although not on every occasion—save money buying a used model, you can also save money by buying discontinued. There’s the idea of getting a good price for the model you want specifically, but in watchmaking where models evolve slowly over time, you can change the game a little by buying a version of the watch that’s been replaced by a slightly upgraded model and save some money that way, too.
Don’t think value is all in the price
Here’s one I wish I understood sooner: not all the value in something you buy is in the price you pay. It’s hard to place a figure on the benefit of peace-of-mind until it’s too late. True story: I had a car stolen from me, right off my driveway. It was for sale, and the recession meant the sale price was way low compared to purchase. One of the lovely people who came to view it decided to clone the key and later that night relieve me of the vehicle. Because I’d spent a few hundred on gap insurance, I was safe.
Warranty, a reliable network of recourse, manufacturer certifications, guaranteed authenticity, 0% finance—there’s so much extra benefit there that’s just not realised in the sticker price. Some people who really are looking for the ultimate best price have the stomach to go without those things, and they take a risk when they do. It’s a luxury watch after all, and the whole experience should feel like it, too.
Do buy towards the end of the month
This one’s one of those sneaky insider tips for you. If you’re thinking of buying a watch, when you choose to buy it can make a real difference. It seems arbitrary, but businesses are based around markers at the end of the month and the end of the fiscal year when certain targets are required to be hit. You probably see where I’m going with this.
Try and get a good price on day one of a new month and a new year and you might struggle. Hang around until later in the month and you’re looking at the opportunity to help a salesperson hit their targets. Then things become a bit more favourable. Now, it all depends again on the state of things. You might find everything’s going very well and the extra sale doesn’t really make or break the month. But it might. Watches aren’t peas and carrots, and they aren’t sold by the bagful. Play your cards right and you could walk away well compensated for your patience.
Don’t play the short game
Chances are if you’re going to buy one watch, you’re going to buy another. That’s just how it is with these things. They’re like sweets, but harder to digest. So, when you go into that first negotiation, think a little about the next one, and the next one. I’m not saying you need to buy your friendly sales representative presents and offer them an evening with your partner, I’m suggesting that the full-on, guns blazing, bridge burning approach to hard negotiation might not work to your favour in the long term.
Play it firm but play it fair. You can only imagine how many nonsense tyre kickers take up time in the day, so if a salesperson knows you’re serious and does some fair business with you where you meet in the middle, chances are that will work in your favour next time, and the next time. Maybe they’ll let you know first when something hard-to-get comes in, or be more willing to take a tighter margin knowing that your frequent custom is well-valued.
Do be realistic with your offers
To that point, the single worst thing you can do when you’re playing hard ball is make a silly low offer. This can be done mistakenly, especially with businesses when compared to private sale pricing. There may be room to manoeuvre, but it may be less than you think. Especially in the world of pre-owned, where customers need to come away satisfied from selling and buying, margins can be pretty skinny.
Throw in a casual offer 50% below asking and you’ve basically chucked a glowing neon sign above your head that says, “time waster”. You probably aren’t, and you’d probably be more than willing to pay that vastly lower price, but if that price is going to leave the seller in a hole, you may as have offered a bag of string and a handful of peanut M&Ms. Time spent telling you why that watch can’t be sold for 50% off is time that could be spent selling it to someone else at 5% off.
Don’t play games
The big mistake people make when it comes to negotiations is that they read an online article and think that it’s all about weird psychological games. Cross their price out and circle yours; never break eye contact; urinate in the corner to mark your territory. It’s all a nonsense. If you heed what I’ve said prior, you’ll be well set to getting a watch at a good price. If you try playing those games, honestly, you’re just making a rod for your own back. This isn’t the 80s anymore.
Do say what you think
I’m going to let you into a little secret for our last tip today. It’s going to sound ridiculous, but it’s perhaps the most important: the person selling you a watch is human. You are human. This isn’t a game of one-upmanship or dominance. They want to sell a watch and make it worthwhile; you want to buy a watch and make it worthwhile. Either the deal works for both of you, or it doesn’t. If it does, lovely, but if it doesn’t, don’t take it personally. Just be straight and honest about what you want and reflect and understand on what it is they want. In any other exchange between people it’s important to recognise that you both have bills to pay and sleep to catch up on. The sooner that sinks in, the easier we’re all going to get along.
Well, there you go, ten great ways to get a good deal on the next watch you buy.
Shop pre-owned Grand Seiko watches
Shop pre-owned A.Lange & Söhne watches
Shop pre-owned Breitling watches
Shop pre-owned Audemars Piguet watches
