Watchfinder Brent Cross

[don logan]

i popped in yesterday and I'm still thinking about it the "experience"

I asked to see their SD43

The sales assistant asked for my details so he could "open an account" in my name and "assign me the watch"

I refused (partly because I was so shocked by the unexpected question) and it got a bit awkward, he explained that a jeweller upstairs was robbed a couple of weeks ago, as had their Bluewater branch recently so he needed to see some photo ID

The shop had all the charm and feel of a micro branch of Argos

[tgclowes]

Perfectly understandable for me, the Leeds branch was ram raided or similar not too long ago. For a while they had very special measures in place before returning to anything close to normal service.

[coldsnap]

Yeah unfortunate but I can understand this; with WF history of raids I think the balance of customer experience and keeping their Insurers happy will be at odds.

[Snubs]

I wonder at times if it isn't the London effect. I lived in London for 6 years and had a couple of poor experiences in various watch places, including the Royal Exchange branch of Watchfinder. More recently I've moved to the south west and have been to places like George Pragnell in Stratford-upon-Avon and Mallory in Bath, both of which were far better than anything i went to in London. They were much more welcoming, the people i spoke to had a much better understanding of the watch industry and, most importantly, seemed more than happy to just sit and chat about watches in general. The fact that i got to try on some seriously expensive bits of kit along the way was an unexpected bonus

[don logan]

Sorry, I just remembered, when I asked which details he wanted he told me he just wanted my name and E-mail address, I did ask how an unverified E-mail address and name might help if I ran off with the watch!

My feelings today are that it's not my problem that they have no security at the door, I've been to plenty of watch shops in France that have time delay double door, airlock type arrangements that must work well but I appreciate that they aren't very practical for casual browsers!

It was the terminology that completely threw me, he wanted to "open an account"? "Assign me the watch"? I've done an awful lot of watch shopping but this was a first!

I could have given him a made uo name and E-mail but I was too surprised and confused by what he was saying!

I think the reality was that I could then be bombarded with E-mails about watches of that type.

[tgclowes]

don logan said:

Sorry, I just remembered, when I asked which details he wanted he told me he just wanted my name and E-mail address, I did ask how an unverified E-mail address and name might help if I ran off with the watch!

My feelings today are that it's not my problem that they have no security at the door, I've been to plenty of watch shops in France that have time delay double door, airlock type arrangements that must work well but I appreciate that they aren't very practical for casual browsers!

It was the terminology that completely threw me, he wanted to "open an account"? "Assign me the watch"? I've done an awful lot of watch shopping but this was a first!

I could have given him a made uo name and E-mail but I was too surprised and confused by what he was saying!

I think the reality was that I could then be bombarded with E-mails about watches of that type.

Perhaps assigning the watch is their procedure for allocating the watch for you to view? And by that I mean I have asked to see a watch they have online and they've got some info and had it sent to my nearest dealer.

I get maybe 2-3 emails a week usually regarding a specific piece with a bit of background and a few watches they have for sale, quite like getting them.

[don logan]

tgclowes said:

Perhaps assigning the watch is their procedure for allocating the watch for you to view? And by that I mean I have asked to see a watch they have online and they've got some info and had it sent to my nearest dealer.

I get maybe 2-3 emails a week usually regarding a specific piece with a bit of background and a few watches they have for sale, quite like getting them.

I kind of understand that BUT I was there in person at that moment and when it comes to detailed info on their stock on their website, WHERE is that EVER??? I look at their stock and have to guess what the watch might really be like and I'm never tempted to call and ask about anything because I never have faith that the person I'll speak to will have a clueabout the particular watch, my feeling now is - Argos / We Buy Any Car

I think they just aren't for me!

I'll put it differently

I'm used to being treated like a customer not a potential thief!

Edited by don logan on Thursday 25th January 11:46

[Ninjin]

I was in brent cross and saw the shop. Went in after seeing a sea dweller 43mm in the window. I said, hi, how much for the seadweller 43mm and he couldn't answer me right away, seemed like I had caught him off guard. I said the one in the window display. A few seconds later... oh you mean the red sea dweller. £11,250.

I said wow, that's £3k over. He said it's in high demand and we can sell it. I said, not £3k over of demand and left. If it was so in demand, surely it wouldn't be on display!

I just found them stuck up and not on the ball. Maybe it was because I was dressed like a tramp in my work clothes. No excuse really.

[don logan]

Ninjin said:

I was in brent cross and saw the shop. Went in after seeing a sea dweller 43mm in the window. I said, hi, how much for the seadweller 43mm and he couldn't answer me right away, seemed like I had caught him off guard. I said the one in the window display. A few seconds later... oh you mean the red sea dweller. £11,250.

I said wow, that's £3k over. He said it's in high demand and we can sell it. I said, not £3k over of demand and left. If it was so in demand, surely it wouldn't be on display!

I just found them stuck up and not on the ball. Maybe it was because I was dressed like a tramp in my work clothes. No excuse really.

Young, ginger hair?

Isn`t that what most dealers are "asking" for SD43s? I think that`s lower than they were at one point.

You probably caught him off guard because he didn`t follow the procedure of "opening an account" in your name "assigning" you the watch!

[tgclowes]

Ninjin said:

I was in brent cross and saw the shop. Went in after seeing a sea dweller 43mm in the window. I said, hi, how much for the seadweller 43mm and he couldn't answer me right away, seemed like I had caught him off guard. I said the one in the window display. A few seconds later... oh you mean the red sea dweller. £11,250.

I said wow, that's £3k over. He said it's in high demand and we can sell it. I said, not £3k over of demand and left. If it was so in demand, surely it wouldn't be on display!

I just found them stuck up and not on the ball. Maybe it was because I was dressed like a tramp in my work clothes. No excuse really.

That's about the going rate, if not a bit less. I'm not sure I see an issue.

[Ninjin]

For me, it wasn't the fact that it was £3k over, more of the way I was dealt with. It was said to me as if I was a time waster and couldn't afford it.

[don logan]

Ninjin said:

For me, it wasn't the fact that it was £3k over, more of the way I was dealt with. It was said to me as if I was a time waster and couldn't afford it.

It crossed my mind that the questions I was being asked might have been to see how serious I was, because of the WAY I was being asked them!

I think the salesman was just young, inexperienced and slightly over excited about the value of the watch and got flumoxed when he had to go off script!

To be perfectly honest I wouldn't buy an SD43 from them at a premium, I wanted to see how big it was and whether I even liked i before talking to ADs, he wasn't to know that though!

[Wills2]

They (WF) have two SD43 both at £11,950 not £11,250 (they probably have more in in stock than they show as they tend to push them out as they sell) but neither is showing at Brent Cross.

Spread on Chrono24 for UK watches is 10k-13k with the majority between 11-12k people might not like the price but it is what it is.

[don logan]

Wills2 said:

Spread on Chrono24 for UK watches is 10k-13k with the majority between 11-12k people might not like the price but it is what it is.

I think £17k Ceramic steel Daytonas are a lot more ridiculous!

[Wills2]

don logan said:

Wills2 said:

Spread on Chrono24 for UK watches is 10k-13k with the majority between 11-12k people might not like the price but it is what it is.

I think £17k Ceramic steel Daytonas are a lot more ridiculous!

Oh it's mental, I dream of a blue dialled skydweller but at 16k I will continue to dream!

[996Type]

I called by the Leeds store last week where they were once very helpful in valuing a possible part ex-change watch and all the watches have gone and visits are now by appointment only. It’s 25 yards inside an arcade so the raid mentioned above must have been horrific in such a setting. It’s sad as they did bring a lot of variety with them and I can’t see them staying if it’s just a store front with an iPad to view the watches they hold in other locations.

[R6VED]

I bought two watches in quick succession via Watchfinder a few years ago.

I returned the Omega within 2 weeks due to the movement stopping randomly, some research showed this was a not uncommon fault.

I then bought a Coke GMT with Jubilee strap, this was returned immediately due to various bits of quite bad and visible damage which were not disclosed pre-sale.

I ended up buying new from an AD with an 8% discount on an Explorer and don't regret it 4 years later.

In short I would never use them again.

[Wills2]

996Type said:

I called by the Leeds store last week where they were once very helpful in valuing a possible part ex-change watch and all the watches have gone and visits are now by appointment only. It’s 25 yards inside an arcade so the raid mentioned above must have been horrific in such a setting. It’s sad as they did bring a lot of variety with them and I can’t see them staying if it’s just a store front with an iPad to view the watches they hold in other locations.

I used to use the Leeds store to pick up and return watches, before the raid they were quite friendly and welcoming (as you'd expect) I went in a few days after the raid to drop a watch off I was part exchanging and found them to be a bit rude and off hand, with clipped one word answers.