Men's Watches
Buy and sell men’s watches in Panama.
A diver strapped on for the reefs at Portobelo and a slim dress watch that disappears under a shirt cuff have little in common beyond telling the time, and they age in different ways. Both turn up new and pre-owned, alongside the Casio G-Shock that shrugs off a building site and the Seiko or Tissot automatic that wants a watchmaker every few years. What a used one is worth comes down to three things a seller can show: the reference engraved on the case, the box and card it came with, and whether the movement still keeps good time.
Dress watches, divers and the G-Shock in between:
the case tells you what a watch is for, and the movement inside tells you what it will cost to keep. A dress watch is thin, sits on a leather strap and slides under the double cuff that cufflinks were made for. A diver is thicker, with a bezel that turns and a crown that screws down. A G-Shock trades elegance for a resin case built to take knocks. Inside, quartz runs on a battery and asks for little else; an automatic winds itself from the movement of your wrist, stops after a day or two in a drawer and needs a full service every several years; solar quartz such as Citizen Eco-Drive or Casio Tough Solar charges from any light. On a used watch, a stopped quartz may need only a battery and a stopped automatic may need the whole service.
Dive watches and the depth on the caseback:
that figure is a pressure the watch passed in a factory test, not a depth you can take it to. A watch marked 30 m copes with rain and hand-washing but not the sea, and 100 m is the sensible floor for swimming and snorkelling off Playa Huertas. For tank dives such as the wreck at Drake Island, look for the word “Diver’s” on the dial or back: it means the watch was built to ISO 6425, with a bezel that turns one way only to time the dive and markings you can read in the dark. Screw the crown home before it touches water, pick rubber or steel over leather for salt water, and rinse it in fresh water afterwards. Out on the boat, the glare is a job for men’s sunglasses.
The G-Shock, the Tissot and their resale:
across most of the range a G-Shock runs from about $75 for the plain square digital to around $200 for the solar and Bluetooth models, and a Tissot starts around $500. They lose value for opposite reasons. A G-Shock is priced on its resin: strap and bezel crack and turn chalky with sun and sweat, and a buyer knocks the cost of replacements off the asking price. A Tissot or a Seiko with its box, card and service receipts holds up far better, since that paperwork is what separates it from a copy. Fashion-label quartz drops furthest of all, because the same design is still in the shop window at full price.
Copies, free-zone stock and dried seals on a used watch:
the Colón Free Zone moves watches by the carton, from own-label quartz to famous names, and counterfeits travel the same route, so a Rolex or an Omega at a fraction of its price is a copy. Good copies no longer give themselves away with a ticking seconds hand, because many carry cheap automatic movements. Match the serial and reference on the case to the card and box, and when the money is serious, have a watchmaker open the back before you pay. Water resistance lasts only as long as the gaskets, which dry out with age: an older diver without a recent pressure test is splash-proof, whatever the dial says. Turn the bezel too; on a diver it should click one way only and line up with the markers.
Listing a watch by its reference, box and papers:
the reference number is what a serious buyer types into a search box, so put it in the title. Photograph the dial straight on, the back, the clasp and the crown, and film the seconds hand running. Say what comes with it, spare links and service receipts included, and when it was last serviced or pressure-tested. Someone coming in from David for a diver will want it on his wrist before paying, and meeting at a watch repairer who can test the seals while you both wait settles the one thing no photo can show: whether the case still keeps water out.