WATCH FINDER at the Royal Exchange
The first thing I noticed when arriving at Watch Finder in the Royal Exchange, was the three Richard Milles in the cabinet right next to the door. So I finally got to see a Richard Mille in the flesh and... I dunno, it wasn't as mindblowing as I expected it to be somehow. The dearest of the three was £92,000 but I'm not entirely sure whether it was new or pre-owned. I struggle to see how it is worth that much, but then I guess you could say that about a lot of other watches too.
A slightly disappointing start then, but overall Watch Finder was great fun. There wasn't nearly as many TAGs as I hoped (especially since they have about 15 pages of them on their website) but I did find a rather nice limited edition Monaco to try on (see separate review HERE) and I was pleased to note that the condition of all the watches seemed very good.
There were a ton of Rolexes in there (as you might expect) but I didn't look at them to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the Rolex, and besides everywhere you looked there were Audemars Piguets and Hublots! Pretty impressive stuff, although some of them were hideous.
WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND at the Royal Exchange
Next stop was Watches of Switzerland just around the corner, but this was quite a small shop and carried no TAG Heuers. They had IWC's, Panerais and a lot of Rolexes (of course) but nothing of much interest to me I'm afraid to say, so I moved on.
OMEGA at the Royal Exchange
Next stop was the Omega boutique back inside the Royal Exchange, not for me though... my wife had her eye on a Constellation, but I think she's since gone off the idea, not least because we've seen several examples in stores where the strap is already scratched. I think it's because the links are so flat, and scratch is going to stick out like a sore thumb. They had the James Bond Seamaster in there which comes in a hilariously OTT box, but nothing much else really grabbed me, I just don't really get the Omega thing.
WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND on Regent Street
Watches of Switzerland in Regent Street is a very cool place to visit, with good stocks of TAG Heuer, Hublot, Tudor, Panerai, Ulysee Nardin, Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Baume and Mercier, A Lange and Sohne and more. My wife tried on a Tudor 'Clair de Rose' and the Omega idea went out the window.
TUDOR Clair de Rose (the rose is the second hand)
We were served by a very nice chap who explained all the options to my wife and allowed me to snaffle a Tudor catalogue (unfortunately for him the wife wasn't quite ready to buy that day), it was only his second day but he seemed to be coping well.
ULYSSE NARDIN
Upstairs in the centre of the room there was a display with various random watches, including the most expensive watch we saw all day, a Ulysse Nardin. No idea what it was, but it was over £100,000, which is waaaaaaaaaaay out of my price bracket!
As we moved up Regent Street we came across another Omega boutique but didn't venture inside. Omega really seems to be trying its best to follow Rolex up into a higher price bracket, but to me a lot of their watches seem a little overpriced. It wasn't that long ago they were using ETA movements, just like a lot of their 'followers' deride other brands for.
Actually London is odd, because it seems like everywhere you go you see Rolex signs and it's hard to contemplate just how many places there are to buy them in such a small area. But Omega is trying hard to catch up with several of their own boutiques as well as many other stores selling their products too.
OMEGA on Regent Street
The plan had been to get a train to Harrods, but the Picadilly line was in chaos so instead we walked down to Selfridges. We followed the signs for watches and came to a rather paltry looking selection of what (on closer inspection) proved to be a load of fashion watch crap... and for some reason Nomos Glashutte!
After a while we figured out that the watches we wanted were in the 'Wonder Room', and we headed over to that corner of the building and were once again confronted by a plethora of Swiss watches. More Hublots, Tudors, TAGs, Breitlings, Audemar Piguets, Rolexes, Patek Philippes, etc than you could shake a stick at. It was here that I tried on the 1974 McLaren Carrera (see separate review HERE) which was nice, but seemed a trifle pricey given it's cost relative to the Heuer 01.
THE WONDER ROOM at Selfridges (Oxford Street)
Our final stop was at yet another Watches of Switzerland, just opposite Selfridges on Oxford Street. This was the only W.O.S. branch in London which stocked 'pre-owned' watches, and while this was true the selection was limited to about fifteen pieces (which was a little disappointing), also there was no TAG Heuers in this store either, which was obviously another black mark against it. Actually, there was one TAG in the store, a pre-owned Carrera Calibre 1887 (see review HERE), which was in good nick for its age (aside from maybe the clasp not being a perfect fit).
WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND on Oxford Street
We enjoyed our day, but I must admit it was a bit overwhelming by the end. Imagine always wanting to see a Lamborghini and then being confronted by hundreds if not thousands of them, that's a bit how it was... I'd never seen a Hublot or a Richard Mille before, or a Ulysse Nardin, or a Panerai for that matter. I'd never seen a tourbillon either (Hublot - £70,000 in the Wonder Room), so it was a bit too much to take in and by the end of the trip we'd rather reached saturation point.
It was a great day though, and if nothing else it's given me a certain amount of confidence when it comes to potentially using Watch Finder to purchase pre-owned items. In all honesty, TAG's presence in the capital seemed a bit underwhelming. The selection of watches available was a bit run of the mill, although to be fair, perhaps it just seemed that way given the glamorous watches it was competing for the attention with?
There is a TAG Heuer store in London somewhere, but as far as I know it's not in the main central part, perhaps next time we will make the effort to hunt it out and pay it a visit. I think that would be good.
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