Sourcing Vintage Seikos... Any secret spots?

[dapellegrini]

I've spent an inordinate amount of time scouring the web for vintage world time watches, and in the process found quite a few interesting corners of the internet.  Probably not new to anyone here - but perhaps for posterity sake..  Any thing to add to this?  

• Forums (like this one)
• Spencer Klein's watches: kleinvintagewatch.com/watches-for-sale
• Daniel Blair's watches: blairwatchproject.com/sales/
• Carousell (Philipines): www.carousell.ph/
• Carousell (Singapore): www.carousell.sg/
• Catawiki: www.catawiki.com/en/
• Buyee (Yahoo Auction Japan): buyee.jp/
• Hub City: www.hubcityvintage.com/shop
• DC Vintage: www.dcvintagewatches.com/seiko
• Cool Vintage Watches (have to fish for Seikos): www.coolvintagewatches.com/
• Hodinkee Vintage (sometimes has Seikos): shop.hodinkee.com/collections/vintage-watches
• Vintage Watch Advisors (more of a buying service): www.vintagewatchadvisors.com/tag/seiko/
  

Obviously also the crapshoot that is E-bay...

[HiBeat]

Certainly watchrecon.com to consolidate many sources, including Reddit.   

We got WristSushi onto their search bot but our Benefactors Only area is not searched by them. 

[ouroboros]

Oddly, the majority of the watches I have were sourced from fleaBay. The "tricks" that worked for me was getting in quick while the listing is fresh and widening the net with the search terms as some listings are not well described.

I did try Buyee/Yahoo Japan but just gave up. Never got the hang of it

[pip]

I'd just add that more and more people are selling directly on Instagram these days. #seikoforsale is a pretty decent way to find stuff. I guess they must be a lot on various facebook groups too but I haven't logged on to that for years to be honest.

[dapellegrini]

I should have also noted Etsy.com - not great but more and more vintage Seikos appearing there.  

[l10n3l]

may find some there from time to time jp.mercari.com/search?category_id=414&t1_category_id=2&t2_category_id=39&t3_category_id=414

[DanS]

I think the www.instagram.com/two_vintage_seikos/ auctions are fun to follow.

[cobrajet25]

I used to post an ad on a site called 'Craigslist' here in the US offering to purchase vintage Seikos.  Yes, instead of waiting for people to put it up for sale I put up an ad offering to buy it.  I got a TON of cool stuff.  There was one other guy who did this up until recently, but I am not sure what kind of success they are having.  I posted the same ad every week from 2007-ish until about 3-4 years ago. 

I even had some clown cut-and-paste my ad to use as his own.  The bastard also stole my pictures! 

A buddy of mine recently got a BEAUTIFUL 6138-3002 on Facebook Marketplace for $65.  Even had it's original box.  The lady said it belonged to her deceased husband who only wore it a couple times due to it's size and weight.  If you only look where everyone else looks you will only find what everyone else finds.

[Fergus]

Ensure you have done plenty of homework wherever you look.

Gumtree and a few of the new pop ups have plenty of fakes or units with AM parts listed as all original.

Just last week a Mumbai Presage listed for £300  

If you know your stuff even ebay still....£15 for this 6602 which I think is OK. Hey it might not be a big ££££ breaker when restored but it'll give me a project for a few weeks.

[grumpyjoker]

Information is so transparent on the internet these days, finding a Secret Spot is nearly impossible. I miss the days of finding gems at the flea market or estate sale.

I think you have pretty much all the bases covered on your list plus the other suggestions made by other members.

[leffemonster]

Nov 12, 2021 4:36:38 GMT -8 Fergus said:

Ensure you have done plenty of homework wherever you look.

Gumtree and a few of the new pop ups have plenty of fakes or units with AM parts listed as all original.

Just last week a Mumbai Presage listed for £300  

If you know your stuff even ebay still....£15 for this 6602 which I think is OK. Hey it might not be a big ££££ breaker when restored but it'll give me a project for a few weeks.

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Dunno how I missed that one Don 

Maybe because I haven’t been looking at ebay for weeks 

[Fergus]

Nick, it was titled Mans Watch. I was fortunate in that my normal search 'Seiko Watch' picked out the latter word.

Hey now don't you go using my search technique 

[allkindsofwatches1]

Right....there are no "secret" spots anymore. I will say....just keep checking some of the resources listed. Yes I said some because it depends on how much you want to spend. Of course you have to search long and hard for the "deals". For instance...I just scored a H558-5009 Arnie on Craigslist just a few months ago. I had to do a little work to it but for what I paid it was well worth it. Such as, new crystal and shroud. That's another point...are you looking for wrist ready watches? Or watches you can work on?

[sturmgewehr1944]

Thanks for the list… I just got started looking for Seiko’s on line and wanted to branch out from Fleebay

[HiBeat]

I actually discovered a new "secret spot" on the web.

Sorry can't divulge it too soon or else it wouldn't be secret    

but I will divulge after mining for all the gold and make new gems up for grabs

[dapellegrini]

Here's another one I stumbled on that frequently has Seiko and other watches listed for auction:

shopgoodwill.com/

[nzwatchdoctor]

I've got a few older watchmaker friends who either have a few collectible Seikos tucked in a drawer they'll sell me (a very good 6105 for $800NZ) or good parts - 6139 chrono wheels etc