Buying pre-owned watches that have already depreciated from eBay or specialist retailers is a great way to save a buck. However, there is perhaps an even better source for finding and buying watches from people just like yourself on private watch collector forums. As the pre-owned watch market heats up, buying second-hand watches from non-traditional peer-to-peer sources will remain a widely accepted way of acquiring them. While there might be many forums a watch collector can search to buy pre-owned timepieces, the task can quickly become overwhelming.
What the buyer needs is a tool that has the intelligence to cut through all the static and do the hard work of sifting, sorting and compiling watch sale listings. Luckily, two such Watch Search Compiler Apps exist, and they are absolutely free to use on your mobile device and desktop computer. This will be a comparison between competitors Watch Recon and Watch Patrol. “On your mark, get set…. COMPARE!”
Watch Patrol and Watch Recon are Powerful Apps
PRIVATE WATCH SALE LISTING COMPILER APPS
If the idea of a Watch Search App is new to you, it might help to set the record straight with what these programs can and cannot do. Watch Recon and Watch Patrol are narrowly focused applications that search the internet for sales from private sellers on watch forums and watch threads on larger social sites. Such sites may include WatchUSeek, Rolex Forums, WatchNet, Reddit’s Watch Subreddit, and other peer-to-peer watch enthusiast forums. Here is a list of many of the searched forums.
The makers of these Apps know exactly where to look and save you the effort of going to each forum individually to manually flip through the constantly updating sales ads. That could be a tedious task and unnecessary. Also, you may have to be an active member of those forums to see the ads, but more on that later. If you are still searching for watches on forum at a time, then put down your stone ax and pick up a sharper, more modern tool. haha
Watch Recon and Watch Patrol are not designed to search on websites that represent larger e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, WatchFinder, brand retail sites, reseller sites or random ads in local newspapers etc. These Apps generally stick to the known forums where watch collectors hang out. This makes sense if you see Watch Recon and Watch Patrol as Apps filling a narrow purpose for a niche audience.
Search results on the browser version of Watch Recon
Traditional e-commerce retail sites like Amazon and eBay are already strongly indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. It would be a waste of resources for Watch Recon and Watch Patrol to include these sites in their searches. It is too big a task and dilutes their focus. Also, Watch Finder, eBay, and Amazon are “search engines” within their own retail space. It is more efficient to search within those websites using their internal search tools. However, I should note that Watch Patrol will show you current eBay listings if any are active for a particular model so +1 to Watch Patrol.
Search results on the browser version of Watch Patrol
HISTORY
I have been using Watch Recon for years as my watch forum sales search tool of choice, and frankly, I felt like there was little need to use another program. It got the job done allowing me to create watch alerts that would tell me if and when a watch matching a search parameter got a hit. However, I was listening to a Love ‘N Watches podcast and one of the hosts, RanchRacer, mentioned Watch Patrol. I felt a little “out of the loop” so I installed Watch Patrol to investigate. What I found made me question which Watch Sale Compiler App might be better at completing similar tasks. In this head to head comparison, I’ll take a look at the two most popular watch sales monitoring tools to see how they are similar and how they are different.
INSTALLATION ON MULTIPLE DEVICES
The name of the game today in software development is having a cross-platform application that looks and behaves the same on any device. Both Watch Recon and Watch Patrol have you covered no matter what computer platform or smart mobile device you are using. There are stand-alone Apps in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Simply install the Apps from your phone and you can start searching right away. There are also websites for each App that work on practically any modern browser, on any computer system at www.watchrecon.com and www.watchpatrol.net.
After installation, you can simply start making live watch searches, but I would recommend doing something else first. You will get the most from both Watch Recon or Watch Patrol by creating a FREE user account. It literally takes 30 seconds to create a username and password, but this act unlocks powerful, time-saving features that you will want to use such as Saved Searches and Alerts. Creating a user account also binds all of your devices together for unified, consistent user experience. At the very least, your Saved Search Alerts are remembered.
SEARCHING FOR WATCHES
One of the most powerful features of Watch Recon and Watch Patrol is the ability to search for specific watches in real time. This is like making a Google Search, but the results will be specific to private watch sales on watch forums. You can search as wide or as tight as you want by combining search phrases such as brand, model, part number and so on. For instance, you can look for “Seiko Marine Master” and be treated to a wide variety of models at a different price point. This can be helpful if you are not sure which model you want. It is a research tool to help you familiarize yourself with costs, models, features, specs etc. You can literally spend hours spiralling down this wormhole of watch discovery.
Example of a wide search for Seiko Marine Master
You can also perform a narrower search for a specific watch model, such as typing “Seiko SLA019”. Searching for the model number will return fewer results that only have this parameter, as demonstrated below. This technique is great for buyers who know the exact model that they want. It can save them time if they are past the “research phase” of a watch search.
Example of a narrow search for Seiko Marine Master SLA019
If you are not sure of the exact model the watch, you may get different usable results by searching a phrase associated with the watch. For example, searching for “Zimbe” will show limited edition Seikos from Thailand. Searching for a watch’s nickname can also yield great results if you do not know the exact model number. An example of this might be searching for a “Rolex Kermit”. Make sure to check out the different parameters for the searches such as timeframe, price, location, whether to exclude results without photos etc.
Compare the features in the table below.
| Feature | Watch Recon | Watch Patrol |
|---|---|---|
| COST | FREE | FREE |
| PLATFORM | Browser, iOS, Android | Browser, iOS, Android |
| NUMBER OF SAVED SEARCHES | 8 | 8 |
| CONSISTENCY | Browser App and Mobile App act independently | Browser App and Mobile App act collectively by syncing through the user account |
| INTERFACE LANGUAGES | English | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish |
| EMAIL ALERTS | YES | YES |
| DISPLAY STYLE | Small Grid, Large Grid, Matrix, List | Masonry or Grid Display with Small, Medium and Large Image Options. |
| TIME RANGE SEARCH | All Time, 7-days, 14-Days, 30-Days, 3-Months | All Days, 1-Day, 2-Days, 3-Days, 4-Days, 5-Days, 6-Days, 7-Days, 14-Days, 21-Days, 31-Days, |
| PRICE RANGE SEARCH | Yes | Yes |
| CURRENCIES SUPPORTED | US Dollars, Euros, Pounds, Singapore Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars, Any Currency | US Dollars, Euros, Pound, Swiss Franc, Yen, Any Currency |
| EXCLUDE LISTINGS WITHOUT IMAGES | No | Yes |
| SPECIFIC BRAND SEARCH | Yes | Yes |
| SPECIFIC COUNTRY SEARCH | Yes | Yes |
| SORTING STYLES | In List View Only - Price, Seller, Location, Source, Brand. Model, Updated - Ascending and Descending | By Date, By Price - Ascending and Descending |
| USER ACCOUNT | Yes - Free | Yes - Free |
| SYNCHRONIZATION | Yes, Limited | Yes |
| SAVE FAVORITES? | Add a Heart (follow listing or seller) | Add a Star (see all of your STARRED listings in one collection) |
| DISCOVERY TOOL | No | Yes - Search by Recommendations, Price Ranges, Region, Popularity, Type of Watch |
| WATCH APPRAISAL TOOL | No | Yes |
| SMART PRICING ENGINE | No | Yes |
SAVED SEARCHES
The watch model you might be looking for won’t necessarily be available on your first search. I have hunted for some of the watches that I now own for months or years. Patience is key and also having a way to store frequent search parameters. The SAVED SEARCH function has a baseline memory. It remembers your SAVED SEARCHES and the last time you reviewed the search results. The Apps will display fresh “NEW ALERTS” as numbers next to the name of the watch. This is great because the Apps should display only new hits and ignore ones that you have previously seen, but this depends on the settings that can be adjusted. This way, you do not have to sort through hundreds of ALERTS that you previously reviewed. This is a huge time saver.
Watch Recon and Watch Patrol are very similar in creating a SAVED SEARCH, but Watch Patrol might have the advantage. This is because the SAVED SEARCHES are updated across all devices (as long as you have an account and are signed in). For example, if I check a SAVED SEARCH on my phone, and then recheck it on my web browser version Watch Patrol, it knows that I have recently checked that search. The number of “NEW ALERTS” will be updated next to the search. Woohoo! That is smart!
Unfortunately, Watch Recon on your computer has no idea what your phone is doing and does not synchronize the numbers on the SAVED SEARCHES. This can result in thousands of search results to sift through. An example of this behavior can be seen if you check the Watch Recon phone App daily and show zero NEW search results, but checking your SAVED SEARCHES on your computer reveals hundreds of search results. This is because the last time you checked your SAVED SEARCHES on your computer was months ago. These SAVED SEARCH results do not appear to be synchronized.
Watch Recon does not seem to have coordination between searches done on your phone and the internet browser. It treats these searches as separate entities. This means it might be harder to tell which items are new or old. You can manually reset the alerts if it gets out of hand.
Watch Patrol seems to have coordination between searches done on your phone and the internet browser. It keeps track of a single set of saved searches.
LIMITS OF SAVED SEARCHES
Both Watch Recon and Watch Patrol limit you to only 8 SAVED SEARCHES. I found this annoying at first, but there is likely a very good reason for this limit. Remember that these are free Apps so we should all be grateful that the creators are giving us access to their search software… for absolutely nothing. However, you can bet that the developers are incurring significant monthly costs by running servers that get lots of traffic with large bandwidth requirements. If you think about it, 8 SAVED SEARCHES should really be enough to get the job done unless you are the most avid serial “watch-o-holic”. If that is the case, simply run different searches on both Watch Recon and Watch Patrol at the same time to give you a total of 16 SAVED SEARCHES. You can still manually run searches too. If that is not enough… Then set up multiple accounts… or go see a doctor because you might have a serious watch addiction. haha
APP ALERTS
As mentioned previously, you can manually check the list of your SAVED SEARCHES within the web version and mobile app of Watch Recon and Watch Patrol. Your mobile device can also give you a “heads up” on your home page (left) and notifications center (right) without even opening the Apps. Watch Recon and Watch Patrol will display a number badge next to the App icon showing how many NEW ALERTs are ready for you to check out.
EMAIL ALERTS
While checking your App daily can be a great ritual, Watch Recon and Watch Patrol can be set up to send you alerts via email and text message. This is a wonderful feature because you can simply scan the running list in your email to see what is selling. The information is fairly basic, but there is enough shown to make a decision on whether to investigate further.
Watch Recon compiles a running list of alerts in groups. You can quickly scan the list that contains the basic information including brand, model, priced, update time and seller.
Watch Patrol shows less information and larger images.
APPEARANCE
As a graphic designer, I will always be drawn to things that are beautiful. That is just how it is. Beauty and elegance of design often create a better user experience (UX). Between these two Apps, Watch Patrol edges out Watch Recon on pure looks, but it is not that simple. Watch Patrol might appear a little more polished, more organized and just looks better, but Watch Recon should not be discounted. The Watch Recon designers stuffed more information into the same space and allow you to focus on different aspects of the information through the use of color. What it lacks in visual flare is more than made up in usability.
Watch Recon has a more compact display that shows more information at one time. This makes it easy to scan large lists of search results. Different colors are used for price, brand, seller and time stamp, which makes it easy to focus on any one parameter.
Larger photos with rounded edges might look better and be easier to see. These take more space and might take longer to sort results, though it is no big deal to swipe through results on a phone. Watch Recon might have a polished look, but the is it just window dressing?
ACCESS A LARGER WORLD WITH FORUM MEMBERSHIPS
To get the most from your watch searches on Watch Recon and Watch Patrol, you will likely need to join and participate in watch forums. If you are not a member of these forums, then surely you cannot expect to just waltz in and make an offer on a watch. Participating in a watch forum makes you part of a community. Participating in community discussions and proving that you are a real person with values, ethics and morals is a great way to gain access to the watches that you want to buy. And, you will likely meet other watch collectors who share the same enthusiasm for certain watch brands and models.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the end, you really cannot go wrong with using either Watch Recon and Watch Patrol individually or using both in tandem to supercharge your watch searches. That is what I do. Each program solves the problem of searching for watches on the internet in similar ways, but with subtle nuances that make each unique. There may be instances where one App does one task better than the other. The best way to discover which Watch Search App will work for you is to download them and start exploring their features. I am sure that I did not even list everything these Apps can do so you might discover even better ways to use them.
We should all send a giant collective THANK YOU to the creators of Watch Recon and Watch Patrol. Watch collecting, and buying things from the watch enthusiast forums would be infinitely more difficult without their giant contributions to the hobby. I am truly thankful to the ingenious programmers behind these applications.
