Selling a watch without papers: can you?

What we do when the papers are missing

Without a warranty card the burden of proof shifts from the paper to the watch itself. That costs no money, but it does cost more time, and it is precisely what our watchmaker in Eindhoven is there for.

We open the case and establish the calibre and the reference from the movement. We also note the case number and the movement number; serious brands engrave both, and on a Panerai the PAM number sits on the case back. Then there is the finishing: with brands that finish their movements by hand, that finishing is itself the authenticity check. A hand-engraved balance cock is identical on no two examples, and that cannot be imitated at scale.

The younger the brand, the more that work matters. Richard Mille has only existed since 2001, and it is that short history which makes forgeries a real risk: there is no decades-deep reference knowledge to fall back on. With such pieces we look more thoroughly, and we say so.

What you can look up at home

Half an hour of preparation makes your valuation faster and your position stronger:

• The number on the case back – copy it out literally, letters included
• Old invoices – a jeweller's repair receipt counts as a service record too
• A purchase receipt from abroad – it still establishes model and year of manufacture
• Loose parts – spare links, a second strap, the little tool

A foreign receipt is no obstacle. A large share of the Dutch examples of some brands is imported, and a Japanese or American warranty card pins down model and year just as well. The factory warranty on such models often does not apply in Europe, and that depresses the trade value slightly. We assess the watch, not the country of purchase.

Roughly what the difference is

In the top segment we see the gap between a complete set with box and papers and a bare watch run to ten or twenty per cent of the offer. With simpler models it is smaller, and with vintage, papers are so rare that the trade barely expects them — there, condition and originality set the picture.

If the case is gold, the material value always remains the floor. On 27 August gold stood at 127.14 euros per gram; with the 750 hallmark (18 carat) that is 95.36 euros per gram of case weight. No offer drops below that, papers or no papers.

About the watch market itself there are no figures here, and that will stay the case. We measure gold, silver, platinum and palladium daily; of watch references we measure nothing, and so we write down no movement about them. What we do instead is work the offer out aloud, with the reference and the condition alongside it, so that you can see what it rests on.