New job

[markr]

Okay I really need one of you to start a company where I can just call you up and tell you all the watch parts I need and you run around like an idiot and try to find them. Let me know when your new company is up and running please.  I have a long list.

[watchweasol]

What you are looking for is an Amazon for watch parts ?  The problem is with the great diversity of models and makers couple that with the SWATCH policy of restricted practice it would be a brave man who under took that.

[JohnR725]

43 minutes ago, markr said:

Okay I really need one of you to start a company where I can just call you up and tell you all the watch parts I need and you run around like an idiot and try to find them. Let me know when your new company is up and running please.  I have a long list.

isn't that what we call a watch material house?

 

[ro63rto]

54 minutes ago, markr said:

Okay I really need one of you to start a company where I can just call you up and tell you all the watch parts I need and you run around like an idiot and try to find them. Let me know when your new company is up and running please.  I have a long list.

ERM, Like CousinsUK ?

[markr]

Supply houses might have a couple of parts you need then you go to another and get one or two things then a search of eBay and a call or two to friends and you still need a couple of things you can't find.  You are spending hours looking up parts numbers.  What I need is a professional parts shopper.  

[Tudor]

A buyer. 

Wealthy people have used them for generations. 

[MechanicMike]

nope Bob at ofrei has got that job locked down. he's no idiot by any stretch of the imagination and is a good guy but he does the running all over the place looking for stuff for us customers. but yeah I absolutely get your point. well if you had the scratch and could afford a pro parts person, you'd still have to put in the time waiting for the actual part to get to your hands and into the watch. so ya might as well forgo the parts person and occupy your time looking for parts lol

my worn circular path of travel is between Esslinger, Ofrei, Ebay, a few odd stops at Cousins and AE, then back to the start.

[markr]

That's what I need is Bob.  I never tried Ofrei.  I'll have to give them a try. Thanks for the tip.

[Tudor]

I use ofrei quite a bit. Other than my latest experience, they have been good, and competitive on price. 
 

I also use StarTime, who seem less popular here but their service is good and website easier to navigate. Slightly more expensive that ofrei, and only “new” stuff. Ofrei is where you find old stock. He has a bunch of JB Champion bracelets in stock at the moment...

[AshF]

I've been thinking about something like this for a while.  My other hobby is building Lego, anyone seen Bricklink?

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/main.page

Basically, any seller can list all the parts they want to sell, and any buyer can search those parts.  Now think of this for watch parts, especially with a database of compatible parts.

For my real job I write computer games, currently working with backend servers, databases and occasionally web pages so this would be very easy for me to do.  The problem with sites like this is that it's a legal nightmare, there are so many things you have to get in place to protect the sellers/buyers.

 

 

[Marc]

1 hour ago, AshF said:

Basically, any seller can list all the parts they want to sell, and any buyer can search those parts.  Now think of this for watch parts, especially with a database of compatible parts.

Have a look at this site run by Christian Dannemann "The Watch Guy". I believe that it is available for anyone to use.

[Tudor]

Cool... I wasted a bit of my life on that Lego site... I remember the old "expert builder" sets from when I was a kid...

[MechanicMike]

23 hours ago, markr said:

That's what I need is Bob.  I never tried Ofrei.  I'll have to give them a try. Thanks for the tip.

 

On 11/18/2020 at 10:46 PM, markr said:

That's what I need is Bob.  I never tried Ofrei.  I'll have to give them a try. Thanks for the tip.

long long family lineage in horology history. Ever see their um...warehouse? it reminds me of the end credits of the old Indiana Jones movie of the cavernous government warehouse of secret artifacts... if I ever wanted to get lost someplace, that would be it. it's huge. and over the years they've acquired the inventories of other companies and long established material houses that have long ago vanished. I could spend hours just rummaging thru their stuff just to look at the lost treasures in their inventory. as with everybody, they too, struggle during these weird times but still mange to find hard-to-find stuff. word to the wise-if you do call or email them regarding parts, it's wise to know exactly what you're looking for. otherwise they'll remind ya lol good luck. 

[MechanicMike]

17 hours ago, Tudor said:

I use ofrei quite a bit. Other than my latest experience, they have been good, and competitive on price. 
 

I also use StarTime, who seem less popular here but their service is good and website easier to navigate. Slightly more expensive that ofrei, and only “new” stuff. Ofrei is where you find old stock. He has a bunch of JB Champion bracelets in stock at the moment...

hmmm. have to check them out. thanks for the tip. yep you're right-I should have mentioned Ofrei kinda specializes in old stock. have a less than pleasant one with Ofrei? I did have one incident, I'll call it-I ordered a bunch of stuff, charged for it only to receive an email 4 days later listing all the stuff they didn't have. turned into a small mess but they fixed it with little suffering on my part. I can think of 100 bigger world problems than that...but yeah, they don't list if it's out-of-stock or not. I suppose with such a huge inventory such as theirs, that is a bit difficult to do. True, their prices are very competitive.  

[MechanicMike]

17 hours ago, AshF said:

I've been thinking about something like this for a while.  My other hobby is building Lego, anyone seen Bricklink?

I love Legos! well, I used to anyway as a kid..

[JohnR725]

2 hours ago, MechanicMike said:

Ever see their um...warehouse? it reminds me of the end credits of the old Indiana Jones movie of the cavernous government warehouse of secret artifacts... if I ever wanted to get lost someplace, that would be it. it's huge. and over the years they've acquired the inventories of other companies and long established material houses that have long ago vanished.

the material house business is an interesting business. My understanding is that when companies like this require other material houses that there placed in a separate location in their warehouse. They do not necessarily attempt to integrate it all into their system for several reasons. The individual cost of components isn't worth taking the time to inventory them. Then did you know there is more than one system? in other words different material houses had different systems makes it impossible to integrate the systems together without spending a heck of a lot of time and effort.
 

2 hours ago, MechanicMike said:

word to the wise-if you do call or email them regarding parts, it's wise to know exactly what you're looking for. otherwise they'll remind ya lol good luck. 

if you could physically walk into a material house in the old days it was a little bit different. A amusing observation was made and pointed out to me. Sure enough once I was paying attention when I would go into the material house to purchase things others did something a little bit different. Rather than having a list with those numbers that would help them out they would bring the physical job. All the various places that were buying parts would send somebody to the material house usually not the watchmaker. Physical watches in the job envelopes placed across the counter sometimes covering the entire calendar. usually notes on each of the jobs of what was needed sometimes they had to call home to see what it was that was needed other times that say things like I'm sure you know what it is when you look at it.

my personal observation was that ideally if you'd like to get what you desire you need to give them as much information as possible. Otherwise they just not going to waste their time looking for your part.