The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello,

I would like to know if Antiquorum Auctioneers are a liable seller. I'd like to buy this watch from them

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6026723

I asked for some pictures of the movement and they instantly sent me some. It looks fine. [/img]

Antiquorum is without doubt the auction house for time pieces. They regularly sell multi million dollar pieces and are 100% trustworthy.

Just make sure that you familiarise yourself with the terms of the sale and with the buyer's premium that you will have to pay in addition to the hammer price.

Yeah could you clarify some of these selling terms for me? Since im french i don't completely understand all the technical vocabulary...
Thanks

OK, let me know if I miss anything.

The hammer price is the price that the auctioneer sells the watch for - so if the highest bid is yours at $1,000 and the auctioneer sells the watch then $1,000 is the hammer price. At taht time you have a legal contract to buy the watch for that price.

Buyer's premium is a fee charged by the auctioneer that you have to pay over and above the hammer price. For this auction the buyer's premium on hammer prices of $200,000 or less is 22.5% - you therefore have to pay an additional $225.00 on top of the $1,000.

The auction will be conducted 'as is' which means that you are accepting that there is no warranty on any piece - you buy it in whatever condition it is in. The auctioneer makes every effort to accurately describe it, but you cannot claim afterwards that you didn't know about a fault. Because ownership changes at the point of the sale any damage in shipping is also your responsibility.

Some pieces have reserve prices - that simply means that if the reserve price is not met then the piece will not be sold and it will be withdrawn - even if you are the high bidder you won't get the piece if the bid is below the reserve.

Ok thanks. And what's this whole thing about " Live Auction" Does it mean that the auciton goes on from like 8am till 10am and then its over?
Cause there's the time difference that could be a problem ^^
Also i asked the seller if the watch was keeping time and he said that he tried it on a period of 20 minutes and it kept time.
Since i am planning on wearing this watch from time to time i'd like to receive a functionning watch ^^
Do you think i should pass on that one if there is no guarantee that it will work??

Live auction means that the auction is actually taking place in New York with a real auctioneer and people sitting in hte room bidding. Unlike something like eBay, you can only bid on the watch you want while that piece is being offered for auction. The auction starts at the front of the catalogue (lowest lot number) and then moves through it. Each piece will only be offered for auction for a few minutes - and in the case of the lower priced watches, quite possibly less than 30 seconds. That of course makes it impossible to predict when the watch that you are interested in will come up for auction - you can just get a general idea based on where they are in the catalogue relative to your item.

The auction house will never guarantee that the watch works perfectly - they take it from a consignor (the real seller of the watch) and only give each piece a rudimentary once over - they just have too many pieces to deal with. I wouldn't worry about buying a broken watch from Antiquorum - their reputation is too good - if it was broken then they would tell you, but with a non new piece it is never a bad idea to factor the cost of a service into what you have to pay - say $400 - $500.

Hi all,

I don't know anything about the auction house, and am still learning but does that look right for a 1970's watch, I thought they went to the big sub dials in the late 60's and then onto watches with a date in the early 70's?

The assessment is wrong - the serial number dates it to 1966.