The problem is nobody keeps hold of watches for very long these days and every time a dealer gets a watch they polish it. They're all gonna be bars of soap soon enough
The most honest, informative and interesting watch dealer I continually follow. I just ran across this scenario with an advertised as unpolished watch. Same items were pointed out to me. Thanks.
Whether a dealer regards a watch as unpolished or post first light polish is largely determined by whether they're buying or selling. Good info nevertheless.
David, Very informative. Reminds me of an experience I had with a very well known Watch Dealer whom you know very well and I will not mention. I was lucky to be offered a Rolex Explorer 124270 brand new from my local AD. I purchased same but after a few months could not just come to terms with wearing a 36mm watch. In fact I only wore the watch twice. I contacted the aforementioned well known second hand watch dealer who offered me a very fair price for the watch which I dispatched to them. I subsequently received a telephone call from one of their female representatives who said that they would have to lower the offer price by approximately £200 as the watch required a light polish. I queried this and explained that the watch was brand new and worn only twice and was immaculate. She was adamant that it required a polish but after some discussion upped the offer by £100. All a bit !!!!!!!!!!! If you ask me.
People don’t want to pay money to a retail dealer for a scratched watch,most buyers don’t understand it’s best left alone, so the dealers polish them, shame really.
Yes I had the same thing on a Rolex I had bought new from the AD and never sized or worn, as far as I was concerned it was unmarked. Another dealer returned an omega saying it needed polishing, which indeed it did after they had handled it. I complained but all they offered was a free polish which did not really help me, again a very very well known dealer.
Excellent stream that I found most informative. Thanks David for passing on this sort of info because we all get over enthusiastic when finding a watch that we’d like to own at what looks like the right price. 👍👏
When dealers advertise a watch as being "in unworn condition" then its been polished. Thats how I interpret it anyway. Otherwise it would simply be advertised as "unworn".
That mop dial is gorgeous David, thanks for sharing. You have so many beautiful rare Rolex watches you really should publish a book to showcase the collection
Thanks David, good to see you making videos again. I have been offered a new Rolex by an AD, which I think had been polished, like the Seadweller you showed, there was damage to the screw heads and one of the links which it seems they tried to conceal. Again a large AD group, they did not seem bothered by this as the watch would sell to someone else. I walked away and eventually got the watch from another AD in perfect condition.
It depends on how it’s being polished, like yea with a mop on a dremel or even a good high quality wheel, sharp edges are going to start to round off. Now if you’re using a professional level lapping setup no one will know if it’s been polished. The oyster bracelet gives away a lot of information, the raised center of the end link and the raised center of the clasp are supposed to have a sharp edge. Even a single run on a buffing wheel will round it off, to me it would stand out. You cannot polish a flat surface with a round surface.
That's interesting, one of Roman's employees said that it's ok to sell a polished watch as brand new - it's on the record (i.e. on video, here on youtube).
Good video! Is it not just more possible your costumer i lying and had someone polish it? More realsonable then the AD polishing and selling a pre-o watch as new stock.
Thanks for bringing up an issue often arising in the grey market. The ‘unworn’ label is BS too, I bought an unworn watch from a certain company in Belfast and it had loads of hairline scratches on inspection - I’m fine with that as it was a good price, but it’s not unworn. The sales guy essentially said it wasn’t worn outside of the house so it counts as unworn…. Total BS as we all know. Decent company and great effort outside of this poor terminology/classification, so I won’t name them, but it’s something dealers need to start being transparent about as it’s dishonest, totally pointless as I would have still bought it and it’s definitely put me off spending my money with them again
I can’t sleep until someone tells me if it is preferable to wear a watch above or below the wrist bone. For clarification, “below the wrist bone” means closer to the hand.
The funny thing is that you say that you would happily polish a modern watch but you don't want a vintage watch to be polished. One day this modern watch will be vintage and you having polished it will have reduced the value. I think your statement should rather be: don't polish high end watches, ever... one day they will be vintage and the value will decrease if you polish them.
Great clip. Too much hysteria about polishing, just take the watch as you find it and make an assessment vs. The price. It does however highlight the untrustworthiness of a proportion of the pre owned watch market. All about buying the seller
Interesting point of view about polishing. After how many years does it take before you consider a watch to be now vintage? Does it just depend just on age or is there more such as when they stopped making it. For example, is an Explore 1 (114270) from 2000 vintage or a 14270 from 1999 or must you go back to a 1016 from 1993.
