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Old 18 September 2018, 05:52 AM   #1
etp
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Icon20 A search engine for watches from trusted, grey dealers

Earlier this year I had a bad experience with a dealer who tried to sell me a Frankenstein as an all original watch. Since then, I've been working on ways to make it easier to find authentic watches.

Today I'm sharing my new project - a search engine that lets you search across trusted dealers like HQMilton, Davidsw, Bobs, and others. I wanted a simple way to search for watches in their inventory vs going to multiple sites everyday when I'm looking for a piece.

What do you all think?

This is day 1, so it will evolve and change. Any and all feedback is welcome. Watchrecon is fantastic for the forums, but I wanted a site that looked at only trusted, vetted dealers so the quality would be incredibly high.

Thanks for your thoughts
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:09 AM   #2
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This is awesome! Perfect for somebody only looking to buy from trusted dealers! Great work
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:17 AM   #3
tudorbaja27
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Brilliant. Bookmarked.
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:22 AM   #4
droptopman
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This is awesome. A few years back I was trying to source a birth year gilt Sub in mint condition. I would check about 10 sites every few hours everyday for about 2 years until I finally found one. This would make that process much easier.
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:29 AM   #5
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This is awesome! Perfect for somebody only looking to buy from trusted dealers! Great work
Thanks!
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:31 AM   #6
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This is awesome. A few years back I was trying to source a birth year gilt Sub in mint condition. I would check about 10 sites every few hours everyday for about 2 years until I finally found one. This would make that process much easier.
Perfect example of what it can be used for - and I'm tired of doing the exact same thing. There are too many dealer websites to work through. This way its a single stop.
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:43 AM   #7
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This is great, thank you!
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:46 AM   #8
amg55
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Great job!
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:49 AM   #9
imperio
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This is great! But how does a grey dealer get the "trusted" stamp of approval?
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:52 AM   #10
JorgeCCW
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Isn’t WatchRecon a little bit like this ?


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Old 18 September 2018, 06:54 AM   #11
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This is great! But how does a grey dealer get the "trusted" stamp of approval?
At the moment, basically the people I trust and add. If there are dealers you'd like for me to add, just let me know and I'll check them out.
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:55 AM   #12
The Joker
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Is this like confused.com for watches?
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:57 AM   #13
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Isn’t WatchRecon a little bit like this ?


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Yep, the difference is that WatchRecon is a search for watches on forums or "private watch sales." I love that site, but was looking for something different - only the dealers that I approve vs anyone that posts on TRF, Watchuseek, etc. Too many people post crud on forums, and this way I'm focusing only on the best dealers.

Essentially any piece on Orolo is real and you'll have a great experience purchasing it.
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Old 18 September 2018, 07:01 AM   #14
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Is this like confused.com for watches?
Hmm I'm not familiar with confused.com, but I think my v1 was similar. This is actually v2 of the site. I originally launched it as a place to aggregate details around pieces so you could make sure the piece you bought is real. The problem was that it didn't take off so I rethought the problem.

IMO most buyers just want to buy from someone they trust vs doing all of the research to ensure the piece is real and authentic. With that in mind, I noticed many of the dealers I like aren't on WatchRecon or Chrono24. A new search would let me vet who I put on the site, and that way keep the quality of the pieces very high and let enthusiasts spend more time finding the right piece vs worrying if the dealer is legit.

Hopefully that explains it better. I need to remove more parts of the site that still reference the v1...like the about page.
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Old 18 September 2018, 07:55 AM   #15
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Well done!
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Old 18 September 2018, 08:05 AM   #16
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Well done!

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Old 18 September 2018, 08:09 AM   #17
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Old 18 September 2018, 08:55 AM   #18
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Thanks everyone for the kind words! Any dealers you'd like to see on there?
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Old 18 September 2018, 09:02 AM   #19
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Great initiative.
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Old 18 September 2018, 11:02 AM   #20
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This would be hugely helpful. Best of luck.
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Old 18 September 2018, 11:33 AM   #21
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I will use
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Old 18 September 2018, 12:02 PM   #22
etp
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Great initiative.
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This would be hugely helpful. Best of luck.
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I will use
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Old 18 September 2018, 04:40 PM   #23
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Great idea. Where does the liability end when (or if) there are problems?
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Old 18 September 2018, 05:55 PM   #24
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Great idea. Where does the liability end when (or if) there are problems?
I'm not sure what liability he would have. All his site does is redirect you to a company's website. It does make a nice searchable database but any actual deals are all done with the private companies so I can't imagine any major problems. Perhaps his site will have a hiccup where it shows a watch is available and then when you get to the site it's sold. Other than that I don't see any issues
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Old 18 September 2018, 06:45 PM   #25
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Is there a way if getting rid of the “sold” listings? If I’m looking to buy “sold” is is as good as doesn’t exist.


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Old 18 September 2018, 09:03 PM   #26
etp
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Is there a way if getting rid of the “sold” listings? If I’m looking to buy “sold” is is as good as doesn’t exist.


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Not yet, will be up in a day or two
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Old 18 September 2018, 10:27 PM   #27
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I'm not sure what liability he would have. All his site does is redirect you to a company's website. It does make a nice searchable database but any actual deals are all done with the private companies so I can't imagine any major problems. Perhaps his site will have a hiccup where it shows a watch is available and then when you get to the site it's sold. Other than that I don't see any issues
Exactly. Because I'm not conducting any commerce, there is 0 liability. If someone has a bad experience, I'd still like to know to keep the dealers I link to incredibly high. Bad dealers will be removed, and likewise I will be adding more dealers that the community trusts.
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Old 19 September 2018, 12:35 AM   #28
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Exactly. Because I'm not conducting any commerce, there is 0 liability. If someone has a bad experience, I'd still like to know to keep the dealers I link to incredibly high. Bad dealers will be removed, and likewise I will be adding more dealers that the community trusts.
Great. Apologies for being a Negative Nancy! Good luck
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Old 19 September 2018, 01:06 AM   #29
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Great. Apologies for being a Negative Nancy! Good luck
Oh its all groovy I'll add that question to my FAQ. I'm getting emails from others asking other questions too. With a new platform, always a bit of head scratching to understand exactly whats going on.

Happy to answer any and all ?s

EDIT:
I've updated the FAQ to add this and a few other questions I've gotten:

https://orolo.co/faq/
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Old 19 September 2018, 02:15 PM   #30
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Great job!
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