The question of where to buy wristwatches is one that we get asked frequently.
Most wristwatches, especially the expensive ones, now have a lot of knockoffs littering the market. There is also the question of where to get the best value for money (after-sales service, warranty cover, etc.) after purchasing such a watch.
Combining both personal experiences and research, we have come up with some of the best places to purchase your wristwatches from.
Official Stores
Watchmakers often have their official stores where they sell their watches.
This is a great way to go when you are buying wristwatches that cost well into the high thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. That way, you know that you are getting the real deal and not some cheap knockoff being passed on to you as the authentic unit.
Thanks to the internet age, you can almost always order your wristwatches and get them delivered to you in any part of the world.
Likewise, buying wristwatches from the official stores expose you to:
The only limitation with purchasing via official stores is that they do not carry a wide variety of wristwatches. Thus, you will only be limited to the manufacturer's choices for its target audience.
Online Stores
If you are not going for costly watches, you can get your preferred picks from online stores that serve your locale.
Here at UberWrists, Amazon is always our first point of call when it comes to wristwatches. We have had some poor experiences with our delivery not being the same as what we ordered. That has only been a very few cases, and we could return such poor units for a refund.
eBay is yet another promising platform that serves almost all areas of the world, if not all areas.
The downside to these online stores is the delivery fees they might charge. Since some units are closer to some markets than others, you might end up paying more than the watch's price in shipping and handling fees. We have not talked about import taxes that could be levied on your items when they arrive in your country.
A suitable alternative in such cases is seeking out local online stores that work within your region. With them, you end up paying little to no shipping fees at all.
When choosing an online store to buy your wristwatches from, ensure:
Physical Stores
This is one of the best ways that we have bought watches, besides the online model.
Seeing wristwatches in physical stores help you to make a better decision based on visual cues. You can see the size of the watch and rate the weight on your wrists in person. You see all of the colors without any photo editing or manipulation. If you are in a good shop, you even have an attendant that will tell you about the watch you are about to put your money on.
Although not common, some wristwatch sellers will help you adjust the bands right there before you leave. This beat having to get the watch first and then look for how to fashion the bands to suit your wrists.
When buying from physical stores, though, there are a series of downsides:
If you can get past all of those shortcomings, though, you are good to go with physical stores also.
Personal Sales
This is not a conventional way to buy watches, but they do work also.
Homeowners might be having yard sales where they put some of their wristwatches on display. Your friends and colleagues at work might also be looking to offload some of their wristwatches. Sometimes, you could even be the one to make the first move, asking someone what they would be willing to get for their watch.
As we mentioned earlier, don't make this your go-to tactic for buying wristwatches. Should the chance present itself, though, you can take it.
Where Are You Buying From?
If you are particular about getting the best value for your money, as you should be, where you buy your wristwatches is critical. If you have a wristwatch of your own, and it's not a gift, you must have gone through one or more of the choices on this list.
The next time you are seeking out wristwatches, try exploring the other options. If you have found one that works for you, there is no problem sticking with that.
