http://poshtime.com/wordpress Diary of a Watch Dealer, Amateur Rock Musician and Petrolhead Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:45:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I find it fascinating that everyone thinks all watch dealers are based in London. We've received quite a number of similar emails now asking the same question and sadly, we have to let people down on both points.  Just to be clear, Armstrong&Co Ltd has no retail shop, and secondly, we ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=25 I've long been a fan of Accurist vintage mechanical watches.  Largely unknown outside the UK, the company was founded in 1946 in Clerkenwell, London, by Asher and Rebecca Loftus. Today, the company has offices in West Hampstead, London and La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and unfortunately from the 80s onwards, followed many of it's contempories into ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=24 Losing a watch in Royal Mail's Special Delivery Service is a thankfully rare but traumatic event for both the customer and us, and invokes into action the unwieldly and bureaucratic process of making a claim to Royal Mail.  Previously we would do this ourselves and refund the customer once the parcel was accepted by ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=23 We've seen a disturbing trend over the last 6 months. The wanton destruction of hundreds of perfectly serviceable vintage watches by collectors, dealers and joe public alike. What's going on?, you may ask. Well it's gold prices.  With trade in prices of more than £19 per gramme now being offered for 18ct ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=22 Following much deliberation, mostly over what to call ourselves, we've formed a limited company. The whole procedure is rather simple, sadly the forming new bank accounts and changing your card processing provider is less straightforward, sigh. Anyway from the April 1st, 'R&L Armstrong' becomes 'Armstrong & Co Ltd' company no. 07207411.  Within the ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=21 As of the 12th February 2010, Madaboutwatches.co.uk will be incorporated into the R&L Armstrong watch selling empire.  My father Rod has retired from the selling side but will still be sourcing and repairing watches in the background.  Linda and myself will now run Madaboutwatches.co.uk and PoshTime.co.uk which which we hope to formalise under a new limited ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=20 Here are few pointers to prepare the newcomer for vintage mechanical watch ownership: The Bad Stuff:  1) Vintage mechanical watches are less reliable than modern quartz watches.  Don't confuse Quality with Reliability.  Rolex and Jaeger Le Coultre represent quality but please don't expect these watches to work any more reliably than a battery ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=19 Despite trading watches on the internet for the last 9 years, this has been my first week spent fulltime in the role (reasons in my last blog post).  It's been hard work and I've learnt some new things, not least of which is the fact that there are some jolly ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=18    It's with somewhat mixed feelings that I have to report that I have prematurely ended my career in the Water Industry.  Unlike most escapees, I only had to endure a mere 19 years of captivity but nonetheless it represents a bigger chunk of my life's work than is comfortable to ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=16 I think it's  a well documented phenomenon that as you get older you get wiser.  The flip side of your new found understanding of the world however, is cynicism and general grumpiness.  I'm just shy of 40, and now rather fearful of just how bitter and twisted I will be by the ... http://poshtime.com/wordpress/?p=15