CONDITION
Where it sits on the ladder
Per the five rungs above, said out loud rather than implied.
Standards & glossary
We do not have testimonials on this page and we are not going to invent any. What we can show you before you pay anything is the standard the desk works to — the vocabulary, the checks, and the one rule that never bends. If you trade at any volume you will recognise all of it, and you will know within a minute whether we are serious.
01 · Intent codes
Getting this wrong does not produce a slightly worse answer. It produces a confident wrong price, because quote-chasing looks exactly like supply until you separate them.
| Code | Means | Counts as a real signal? |
|---|---|---|
| FS | For sale | Yes — real supply |
| WTB | Want to buy | Yes — real demand |
| LTB | Looking to buy | Yes — real demand |
| ISO | In search of | Yes — relatively serious |
| NTQ | Need to quote | No — price chatter |
| LTQ | Looking to quote | No — price chatter |
NTQ and LTQ are excluded from every price we calculate and every comparison we show you. A dealer asking to be quoted is not a dealer selling. Count those two as listings and you inflate apparent supply, invent spreads that were never there, and end up quoting a market that does not exist.
02 · Condition ladder
03 · What actually decides the number
Price alone is not comparable. Every one of these moves it, and every one gets stated when we put a piece in front of you.
CONDITION
Per the five rungs above, said out loud rather than implied.
ACCESSORIES
Green and white hang tags included. A full set is a different asset from a watch-only, not the same watch with a bonus.
CARD DATE
A fresh date is a premium. An old one is not. It is a fact about the paperwork, not about the condition.
SHIPPING RISK
We pay the shipping and we use the seller's label — their label means the transit liability is theirs. That is a risk position, not a courtesy.
AFTERMARKET
Bezel, dial, diamonds. Aftermarket parts change the asset entirely, so their absence is confirmed rather than assumed.
AUTHENTICITY
Verified before anything is vouched for. We do not vouch for a watch on the strength of who forwarded it to us.
04 · The hard rule
"Before offering a watch that isn't ours, it must be confirmed that it is available."
Listings in these rooms go stale in hours. Offering a watch that has already sold burns credibility in a market small enough that everyone talks — and you only get to do it once. So a match the desk finds is a lead, not an offer, until a human has confirmed with the holder that it is still there.
We under-promise on purpose. The words are "I may be able to source a [reference] — let me confirm availability and come back to you." Never "I have it," when we do not control the watch.
Payment goes through a protected rail where the deal warrants it, and we will tell you when we think it warrants it even though it slows the deal down.
No travel without a deposit, on either side. Fronting your time and your inventory position is still fronting something you cannot recover.
Fees are agreed before the work starts, in writing, per deal. You will never find out what this cost you at the end.
Nothing about your trade leaves the desk. No names, no screenshots, no shopping your ask around the market with your identity attached to it.
05 · What we are not claiming
We are an independent desk, not an authorized dealer, and not affiliated with any manufacturer. We do not hold the whole market — we hold relationships inside part of it, and there will be references we cannot find for you. When that happens you will be told quickly rather than strung along, because your next best move is worth more to you than our next commission.
There are no member counts, deal totals or testimonials anywhere on this site. When there are numbers worth publishing, they will be real ones, and they will be dated.
Next step
Two minutes, and a straight answer either way.