Someone was asking about buying women’s watches. These are mainly fashion items now that you get for $25 at the Target. So someone asked me what you are doing and whether it makes sense to go buy something on the Internet or from a local retailer. So here are some findings.
First of all, there is nothing quite like seeing and trying the watches themselves. These are really luxury items, so you need to get dressed up and go. Here are places in Seattle that folks have recommended from yelp.com and others:
* Fox Watches. 5th Ave. Downtown Seattle. Their lowest end watch is the Omega at $2500, so you can imagine how expensive they get. You do need to dress nicely to go there as they look you over. The Omega Constellation is the classic. They have both the mini and the classic there.
* Ben Bridges. 1432 4th Ave. Downtown and also in Belsquare. This shop is a little lower end, so they have really nice “Ebel”:http://www.ebel.com (I had not heard of this brand, but on the web, they date from 1911, so what do I know). Their Classic is really nice. There is also a mini that dispenses with the second hand and the date. Their dual color band uses real 18 karat gold, 27.3mm, $2500 at retail model 1215646. On the web they warn that you shouldn’t buy anything on the Internet from them. A similar mini style is the Baume & Mercier Riviera. The steel and steel is very nice and $1600, while the solid 18 karat gold band sets you back $2700.
There are two other locations that carry Ebel which is World Lux at the Fairmont Hotel at 1208 4th Ave.
It is not clear to me, but it seems like you should be able to negotiate a price. Most of the high-end watches by the way have an authorized dealer system. They don’t honor warranties if you buy things over the Internet. So instead most folks supply their own warranties, so the best thing to do is to figure out what it costs on the web and then see if you can’t get some sort of price break at retail. On the other hand, assuming that the watch is genuine, it is hard to believe that a hugely expensive watch will break in three years.
On the web, if you are dare, are many folks selling watches. Goodness knows if they are real or not.
So for instance
“Ebel Classic Wave Watch”:http://www.amazon.com/Ebel-Classic-Wave-Watch-1157F11/dp/B0002V9PHG/ref=sr_1_11/104-7952842-3811961?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry&qid=1180999394&sr=1-11 is a good example. It lists for $1900 and goes for $1235 which is a 35% discount from WatchMaxx
Similarly “Barcario.com”:http://www.bacario.com/results.asp?SeriesID=57&DepartmentID=1&CategoryID=1&BrandIDname=&cat=Watches&BrandID=7 carries the “Ebel Classic Model 1215269”:http://www.bacario.com/Details.asp?ProductID=6574&CategoryID=1&BrandIDname=&BrandID=7&PriceID=&cat=Watches&DepartmentID=1. This is Steel & 18K Goild, 27.cmm, White mother-of-poearl, Sapphire crystal. List is $2700 and there is again a 35% mark down to $1755. “Jacobtime.com”:http://www.jacobtime.com/osc/product_info.php?products_id=2337 has a similar watch at $3350 selling at $1172.50 which is also 35% off
