Below, proposing an "In Search of..." Section:

[KarlvonKoln]

Good morning all.  After having read about a new (Beginners) section being proposed and discussed, I began to consider other such things which a new section might accomplish.  I arrived at the idea of addressing an obstacle which all who work on vintage watch must inevitably face: that of locating hard-to-find parts.  For this reason, I would like to discuss with all of you the pros, cons, & improvements of putting forth an "In Search Of" section.
The way I initially conceived it, the section would be for expressing that the person making a post is searching for a very hard-to-find part.  The section would have a pinned header which stipulated that anyone posting in it should at least have tried such other sources first  - Ebay, Ofrei, Cousins, Esslinger, Dave's, and any others that are open to all (not just licensed or registered watchmakers).  The header should also reiterate the No-Sales policy and specify that if one of us has the part being sought, but it is valuable enough to require compensation, that matter should be handled by private message from that point onward.  Anyone posting should make every effort to post all the details of the watch to which the necessary part belongs: make, model or calibre, year, any known variation thereof, and define the sought-after part in as much detail as possible, if the name for such a part is not widely known.
In this way, a frustrated member having exhausted all his best leads and reaching many dead ends, might post in this section that he is "In Search Of" a dial for an Omega Seamaster cal. 470, or perhaps a two-piece split stem for a Longines 345, or maybe a helical mainspring for a Grasset pocket watch, who knows.  And those on the forum who read that section from time-to-time would see it, and one among them might recall that "I have such a dial in my parts bin!"  You get the idea.  And then the person with the part could send a message to the person who is seeking it, and in private messages they could reach an arrangement.  I know such matters are already being handled this way in this forum, but we have not yet had a *dedicated* section for it.  What I am proposing is a sort of focal point for rare-parts searches.  A place in the forum for exactly this.
As you might imagine, my search for the Seamaster dial was part of what brought this idea to the forefront.  I've located the stem, however.  The Grasset mainspring is an attempt at a humorous analogy.  But I do believe that having an "In Search Of" section will benefit a great many of us, from seasoned veteran watchmakers who have sought a part high and low, to the beginners who don't even know what a particular or unusual part is called, let alone how to search for it.  And it would be aimed at connecting them with any other member who might know where to locate the part in question, might possess the part in question, or even be able to repair or re-create the part in question with the tools they have.  
So, tell me your thoughts.  I am eager to hear.  I would like to see such a section exist, but I would like it to be easy for all to use, so suggestions for improvements are extremely important.  How can we make this work as well as possible?  How many of the rest of you desire this?

Edited June 24, 2022 by KarlvonKoln
edited for clarity

[grsnovi]

3 hours ago, KarlvonKoln said:

How many of the rest of you desire this?

It doesn't matter - WRT isn't a democracy.

Your idea would have best been addressed directly (in private) to Mark.

[Paul80]

The clock is running on how long this lasts before deletion 

[Mark]

11 hours ago, Paul80 said:

The clock is running on how long this lasts before deletion 

Would you like to run the forum @Paul80 ?

 

@KarlvonKoln - it's the first topic pinned in this section of the forum: