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I thought I would add to this thread hopefully for the benefit of those that have never been to Bangkok and therefore maybe unaware of how things are here.
Most of the used watch shops will be as the op posted in the mbk centre. Many have been there a long time, some have a nice shop set up whereas a few are simply a glass counter on the side of the concourse,quite a suprise for first time viewers. These dealers have been there long before the high end malls were built.
If you buy a watch from them they will give you an invoice and generally agree to buy back it from you at say 15% discount or 10% for trade(this is for a rolex) other brands will vary. They only take cash.
If you sell a watch to them for cash they'll take a copy of your ID(if your a national) or passport and ithere'll be no invoice.
As far as I know there are no vintage dealers here, occasionally some of these shops may have a few older items. There are two shops I know of that have had a few 1680, 16660 and 1675's at times when I visited them.
Regarding my own dealings with these shops, I've only dealt once with the shop the op posted about, as recently as 2 wks ago I picked up a speedy pro iwith box and paers in a nice condition and [price. I've examined a number of rolex's and all appear genuine, some will have papers and others without. Who the sellers were is a mixed bag, could be locals or visitors hard up for wanting cash or a trade in. The man(husaband) always says hi and asks what I'm looking for as he has seen me buy several items from a nicely decked out shop about 10 yards away. My reason simply being that the other shop had what I was looking for and very helpful owner. Since that first time I've bought and sold with him several times. I asked him once if they ever open up a watch to check it's authenticty, he said no after about 20 yrs in this business I can just tell.
If Virat watches had a rolex I was interested in, I'd have no issues with buying from them.
About prices here, well I often check prices and they are never often better than here on trf.
If buying from an AD here, you'll only get about 7% sales tax rebate and infact the AD'S are only to be found in the high end malls, like Gaysorn, Paragon and central world.
I would say that buying anything expensive is about peace of mind, the last thing you want is to be on that plane going home thinking could this be a frankenwatch or a good copy etc. Only you know how you feel. I visit these shops often and feel comfortable with them. If you stayed here long enough you'd know what I mean. From my experience and dealings with 3 different shops I would say they in terms of integrity they all rank the same.(although I always go see my main man 1st).
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