Selling used watches, need movement guidance

[Nicholas]

I am new to watches and have been buying some lots off Ebay to learn from. Some of the fashion watches I want to put on individually once cleaned up and running. They typically have cheap Chinese movements in them. However I also have some Sekonda's which seem to to have similar Chinese movements, or Miyota movements.

If I sell a watch that does not have the correct movement, and I am unaware of it, can that cause problems down the line?

Most of the watches I will be dealing with are simply fashion brands which I assume will use the cheap movements. But there are some Seiko, Rotary, Sekonda and other better than average brands(I am assuming this here as I am still learning).

I am considering whether it is worth putting better movements into watches such as the Ronda 713 which seems a better quality movement than the cheap Chinese movements.

 

Any thoughts on this just to keep myself right?

[PaulRepairShop]

In selling serviced watches I would think the best way of doing this is just mention the truth, meaning mention all the watch info like movement type, caliber, etc. which come with the watch. In this way the potential buyer is able to judge the offer on the basis of the supplied info.

[mikepilk]

From the brands you listed, if you put new movements in, I would be surprised if you could make a profit, or break even.

26 minutes ago, Nicholas said:

If I sell a watch that does not have the correct movement, and I am unaware of it, can that cause problems down the line?

Not if you make a statement in the advert that the watch may not have the correct movement.

[AndyGSi]

1 hour ago, Nicholas said:

Most of the watches I will be dealing with are simply fashion brands which I assume will use the cheap movements. But there are some Seiko, Rotary, Sekonda and other better than average brands(I am assuming this here as I am still learning).

I'd only expect the Seiko & Rotary to have decent movements and with the Seiko it tells you on the back what movement should be fitted.

[Nicholas]

3 hours ago, mikepilk said:

From the brands you listed, if you put new movements in, I would be surprised if you could make a profit, or break even.

Not if you make a statement in the advert that the watch may not have the correct movement.

That is good advice, I will make a disclaimer on the listings I am unsure about. As for profit, break even would be fine. The watches cost an average of £2 each, so i was just considering my options. I am looking at customising older watches or unbranded watches to make them better, but I don't know exactly which direction I am going yet. I do enjoy working under the microscope disassembling and cleaning mechanical watches. It is therapeutic. I have identified at least one fault which I need a staking set to fix.

 

3 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

I'd only expect the Seiko & Rotary to have decent movements and with the Seiko it tells you on the back what movement should be fitted.

Thank you for that, I take it Sekonda does not use decent movements? It does seem to be the Miyota ones in some I have seen.

 

4 hours ago, PaulRepairShop said:

In selling serviced watches I would think the best way of doing this is just mention the truth, meaning mention all the watch info like movement type, caliber, etc. which come with the watch. In this way the potential buyer is able to judge the offer on the basis of the supplied info.

That is good advice, for the better watches I will definitely be looking to provide all the info I can, it is just for the lower grade watches that are mainly fashion accessories I need to understand what is expected. I have some watches that are obscure names that I cannot find much on. These i would consider that the movements would probably be cheap Chinese brands, but my concern if if someone has changed the movement simply to get the watch running. I did see one example of this in a "mechanical" watch. It had a vintage dial printed as having 21 jewels, but it was a cheap Chinese  quartz movement inside. I don't know how frequently this could be an issue.

[AndyGSi]

33 minutes ago, Nicholas said:

Thank you for that, I take it Sekonda does not use decent movements? It does seem to be the Miyota ones in some I have seen.

You'll probably find most Sekondas have 2035s in them unless it's something special.