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A guide to buying and selling watches
Buying Watches Online.
So you're looking for a watch. I'm guessing you want it to be something special. There are many places to buy and sell watches. You should try the Jewellery and Watches section at www.yoobos.com.
Selling Watches online
If you're looking to sell watches online. All you need to know is www.yoobos.com. yoobos is an excellent way to sell watches online from your own watch store. All you pay for is the rental of your store. At yoobos we will not charge you commission on your watch sales.
Now you know where to buy or sell watches, let's take a look at what to buy and sell. To many people, a watch is not just a way of telling the time. Watches can be expensive items of jewellery, it's important know what your buying into. Some of the more well known makes are listed below, to help you make your buying decision.
Audemars Piguet Watches - Luxury and Tradition
Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet, their aim, to produce watches with complex mechanisms. Audemars Piguet has been creating and selling watches under its own name a range of Haute Horlogerie watches. In 1972 they launched the worlds first high end sports watch in stainless steel – The Royal Oak. The unique octagonal bezel was a revolutionary shape in watchmaking and represented a radical departure from the current watch trends.
One of the finest luxury watch manufacturers in the world, Audemars Piguet has a history steeped in tradition and is one of the few watch companies that produces and assembles its own movements and complete timepieces.
Breitling Watches - Inovation for Aerospace
1884 - In St. Imier, in the Jura mountains of Switzerland, Leon Breitling opened his workshop 1884 specialising in making chronographs and precision counters for scientific and industrial purposes. After his death in 1914 the company passes on to Leon's Son Gaston. A year later the first wristwatch chronograph is created providing pilots with the first wrist instruments. By 1923 Breitling had developed the first ever independent chronograph pushpiece. In 1936 Breitling became the official supplier to the Royal Air Force. In 1942 The American Armed Forces is added to their professional clientele, also the first to be fitted with a circular slide rule was created.
In 1954 the Navitimer was launched, a wrist instrument equipped with the famous navigation computer, making it a firm favourite among the world's pilots. By this stage, Breitling is already supplying the major international airlines with cockpit clocks. In 1962, the Cosmonaught chronograph is worn by Astronaut Scott Carpenter during his orbital flight aboard the Aurora 7 space capsule. 1969 saw Breitling introduce the first ever self winding chronograph.
Cartier Watches - Style and Design
Master Jeweller to Europe's crowned heads of State, Louis-Francois Cartier founded the Cartier Jewellery company. It wasn't until 1904 that Cartier it's first wristwatch, The Santos.
In 1910 Cartier created the Deployment Folding Clasp in 1910, which is still used by watchmakers across the World. The Cartier Tank Francaise was introduced in 1917, which is today considered a classic example of style and design. In fact, most of the contemporary Cartier watches (and jewellery) still are based upon the distinctive designs of the company's founder Louis-Francois Cartier.
IWC Watches - American Engineers and Russian Tsars
In 1868, the American engineer and watchmaker, Florentine Ariosto Jones travelled across the Atlantic to Switzerland from Boston (MA). He planned to set up the International Watch Company (IWC). The aim of IWC was to manufacture movements and watch parts for the American market. Unfortunately Florentine had not taken into account the fact that the workers in the Geneva region and the remote valleys of the Jura mountains feared for their jobs and were against the American's venture.
On the point of failure, fortunately for us, Jones met watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser who manufactured pocket watches for the Russian tsars. Moser showed a great interest in Jones' plans and so the foundations were set for the first and only watch manufacturers in north-eastern Switzerland: the IWC INTERNATIONAL WATCH CO. in Schaffhausen.
Omega Watches - James Bond and Beyond
The company was founded in 1848 by 23-year-old Louis Brandt. Brandt assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. Even though Omega is one of the worlds best known watch brands, the company has had it's share of turbulent ecomonic times mainly brought on by the First World War. Real achievements of Omega
1948 saw the advent of the Seamaster, Seamaster 300 in 1957, In 1981, the newly launched Seamaster 120 set a new world free dive record at a depth of 101 metres. The Seamaster is also famous for being the choice watch for James Bond.
On March 1st 1965 - OMEGA's Speedmaster chronograph was "flight-qualified by NASA for all manned space missions" as the only wristwatch to have withstood all of NASA's severe tests.
On July 21st 1969 - 02:56 GMT, the Speedmaster records man's first steps on the Moon's surface. The Speedmaster became the first watch, and the only watch, to be worn on the Moon. Which earned it the unique nickname: the Moon Watch.
April 1970 - the OMEGA Speedmaster rescued the Apollo 13 mission from a potential disaster, earning OMEGA the "Snoopy Award". The Snoopy Award is the Astronauts own award for outstanding performance.
Rolex Watches - A history of "firsts"
The company Wilsdorf and Davies, was founded London in 1905. However, The Rolex name was not used until 1908. Rolex watches were the first wristwatches to be awarded the Official Chronometer Certification by the "Bureau Officiel" in Switzerland in 1910. In 1914 they were given the Class A Precision award by the Kew Observatory.
We've all heard of the the Rolex Oyster watch. The Oyster watch was first released in 1926 and was the first wristwatch to be considered waterproof, and to prove this, it was worn a year later by swimmer Mercedes Gleitze in his successful attempt to swim across the English Channel. In 1931 Rolex created the first perpetual Rotor. in 1954, the first Oyster perpaetual ladydate and in the 1956, the first day-date. In 1967 the Sea-dweller was certified as reaching depths of up to 1,220 metres making it the choice for Professional Divers. Rolex remains to this day, one of the worlds most prestigious watch brands.
Tag Heuer Watches - Reputation Built on Precision
The Heuer workshop was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer. The company's mission was to make time measurement more precise, they soon became known as the "SWiss avant-garde of watchmaking", in terms of technology, the choice of materials and design. Heuer's watches have been patented for a chronograph mechanism from the first chronograph measuring 100ths of a second (1916) to the first analog display quartz chronograph (1983), not forgetting the first automatic chronograph with a microrotor (1969).
For more than 140 years, the company has confirmed its initial vocational statement: producing watches that constantly push back the frontiers of precision, reliability and aesthetics.
