What happens when you consign a watch with Watch Concierge Services?

Consigning your watch with Watch Concierge Services removes all the hassle of trying to sell it yourself, and often achieves a higher return than selling directly to a pre-owned watch retailer. We take care of everything, from testing the movement and photographing your watch, to listing it online, handling enquiries, negotiating offers, managing secure payment, and arranging safe shipping. Throughout the process, you can be confident that your watch is fully insured and safe in our care.

We thought we’d run through what’s involved as part of the process, and we’d love to hear from you if you have a watch that you’re looking to sell, or if you have any questions or feedback.

Initial enquiry

Enquiries come to us via a number of channels, but if you’re here on the website, you can simply use the Contact Us form. Once we’ve received details of your watch, such as the make and model, age, and whether it has its original box and papers, we’ll research the market and come back to you with some price suggestions, including our rates, which are usually around 9%.

Once a client decides to consign a watch with us, we send out a Consignment Agreement containing all of the important details, including confirmation that your watch is fully insured while in our care. We can then arrange to meet you in person to collect your watch, or receive it via post if that works best for you. We’re also happy to meet and discuss consigning your watch, without any obligation to go ahead.

Preparing your watch for sale

The fun starts as soon as we have your watch. Firstly, it’s booked into our system before going through quality control to assess its condition, along with testing to check the movement and functions. As the average power reserve for a mechanical watch is 48+ hours, this process can take a few days.

The watch is then cleaned and prepared for its photoshoot. We typically take between 20 and 25 photographs, including a mix of product shots, lifestyle images, macro photography, and the less glamorous close-ups that reveal any scratches or marks. We’ll also carry out further research on your watch in order to write a detailed description to accompany the photographs.

If, for any reason, your watch fails testing, we work with a number of trusted watchmakers who can help bring it up to a saleable standard in the most cost-effective way possible.

Listing your watch

Once testing has been completed (usually within seven days), we list your watch on our website, Chrono24 (where we are registered as a Professional Dealer) and eBay. Details of your watch are also shared across our two Instagram accounts, Facebook page, relevant Facebook groups and on LinkedIn. It would also be featured in our fortnightly newsletter which is sent out to our subscribers, and we’ll share the details to any other contacts within our network who we think may be interested.

The average time for a watch to sell is around 90 days. During this period, we’ll deal with all enquiries (including the inevitable eBay time-wasters), provide additional photographs and videos where required, show the watch to potential buyers, and, with your permission, take it along to watch events.

Managing the sale

We then take care of the tricky bit, the sale itself. We’ll handle any negotiations, ensure secure payment, and then arrange careful packaging and insured shipping of your watch, both within the UK and internationally. We’re also on hand to deal with any after-sales enquiries too.

If at any point you decide that you’d like to sell your watch a little quicker, we can suggest alternative options such as selling directly to a pre-owned retailer (usually within our network), or working with a number of auction houses that we recommend. Lastly, we can offer to help you if you decide to sell your watch yourself.

Reviews

We like to work hard to sell your watch, so that you don’t have to. But don’t just take our word for it, a number of happy clients have left reviews on Trustpilot and Google too….

"Watch Concierge Services are fantastic at what they do. Selling a high value watch can be an anxious experience but their quick, detailed approach made it safe and easy with a very fast, pleasing outcome. Communication through the entire process was excellent."

"I’ve had the pleasure to work with Sam to help sell multiple pieces now and my experience working with her has been fantastic! She’s great to work with, communicates often and well, and has good knowledge across multiple brands. I highly recommend working with her!"

"If you are looking for a trustworthy business to handle and sell your watch, look no further. Great service, transparency and outstanding communication. It's all wrapped up in a professional and personal package."

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have a watch that you’re looking to sell, or if you have any questions or feedback.

You can use the Contact Us form here, or email admin@watchconciergeservices.com