Spares/repairs item - unexpectedly high price

walwyn1978

Hi - I’ve got a watch on EBay (1970’s/80’s Russian military watch). It’s automatic (hand wound) and I’ve owned it for a few years. It’s recently developed an issue where it winds up and works, but stops unexpectedly for no reason. I don’t have the skill to fix it and was quoted three figure sums to repair it so thought I’d EBay it and hoped to get maybe a tenner. 

I’ve listed it as ‘spares/repairs’ in the title, then also in the description and explained the nature of the recurring fault, plus the usual scratches and glass marks on a 40 year old watch. 

It’s sold, and sold for a lot more then I expected, and more than I actually paid for it a few years ago.

I am worried the person hasn’t realised that it’s spares/repairs, despite it being in the title and the description. I’ve now sent them a message thanking them for bidding and explaining that as stated in the description and title there is a fault and thus despite working it is sold as spares/repairs, and that if they did not realise that I can cancel the sale.

note: they haven’t paid yet.

Am I over worrying, or have I done everything I could to ensure they’re aware of what they’re buying? Any suggestions/advice welcome. 

Thank you 

bris

It may well be seen as a military enthusiasts item which wont come up much so will be pretty well sought after.

You have the SNAD to worry about but  we always do when selling on Ebay. You have the sale just roll the dice, it will most likely be ok.

walwyn1978

. He’s paid now anyway and not responded to the message so hopefully he’s happy. Thank you for the reassurance. 

GabbaGabbaHey

walwyn1978 said:

It’s automatic (hand wound)

An Automatic watch and a Hand Wound watch are two different things!
It's difficult to know exactly what you were selling, nor what the value is, but there are many things which will determine the value of a wristwatch. If it was actually issued (rather than just being "military style") then that may have much more value to a collector. Most Russian watches of that era have relatively simple movements, and the Buyer may well already have a donor movement which they will just swap in to the watch.

vacheron

It sounds like there is a good chance the buyer may know a lot more about the value of the watch than you assumed as the seller.

If the buyer paid a high price and it was an auction item, then there would have been a second (and possibly third or fourth) bidder just behind him, making it highly unlikely they were all mistaken. 

Your description of the problem suggests a potentially easy fix. A simple service, and possibly a new mainspring may be all that is needed. I have brought many watches with the symptoms you describe back into service, and in many cases what causes high repair estimates is the labour. If you can do it yourself it is far less costly, especially if you have another donor movement for parts.

Below is one of my "Russian donor movement" trays.