I don’t write that much about watch shops and about places where you can fix your watch, also in general about places where watch people can meet and chat. That’s why I finally decided to write an article about these topics, so you have a deeper insight in the watch world.

As many of you know, I live in Latvia. Here in Latvia, we don’t have such a big watch community like in other countries – the United Kingdom, Germany or USA. But of course, we also have few watch enthusiasts like myself who are really passionate about watches.

Today I want to tell you about BalticWatches.com (not to be mistaken with the popular microbrand). Baltic Watches is a local Latvian business that was created by a watch enthusiast Girts Strencis. He dedicated more than 10 years of his life to watches as a hobby and slowly turned it into his profession. I have paid a visit to Baltic Watches shop a couple of times and I must say that I was very impressed by the high quality of the service and with the watch choice they have there.

Baltic Watches is a business that offers you high-end pre-owned watches. You can also sell your own watches or do a trade-in for another watch they have in stock, you can bring in or send your watch to them so that you get a full service by certified specialists. Of course, if you are a local or you come to Riga (Latvia), you can visit their physical watch shop and check out their stock, talk about watches and get some advice from specialists – what to buy, what is the best for you and your budget.

Ok, so let’s talk about what Baltic Watches has to offer when it comes to watches. Right now they have around 70 pre-owned watches for sale, from 25 different brands – Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Omega, as well as some pretty rare ones from Harry Winston, Romain Jerome and other maybe less known brands; they are constantly adding more watches to their stock. Each and every watch they are selling is tested and if necessary, serviced by their certified watch specialists. So you can be 100% sure that if you purchase a watch from them, it will come with a 12-month warranty and will be running to the specifications like when it was new and maybe even better!

When it comes to prices, they have really good deals there. Comparing to all the other dealers that deal with pre-owned watches – their prices are one of the lowest. Of course, you can find all these watches on Chrono24.com selling for a same or even lower price, from a private seller, but as I mentioned, Baltic Watches are better because each watch is tested by a specialist and they give you a 12-month warranty. Another very good thing I must mention is that they offer worldwide express shipping so you can buy a watch from them from almost any point on the globe.

In my opinion, anybody looking to purchase a quality watch should consider buying pre-owned. If you’re not sure why buying pre-owned is such a good idea, or have some reservations about buying pre-owned, then the following information should help you decide, and may even save you a lot of money.

The biggest hit of depreciation is during the transition from new to pre-owned. Many pre-owned watches will settle in price after this and depreciation will slow considerably, and some even increase in value through the chain reaction of price increases on new models, desirability and rarity.

The watch you coveted as a teenager, or even the one that has just been replaced by a newer model, these discontinued watches are available pre-owned. Choose the watch you want, from the manufacturer you want.

Some manufacturers depreciate much more than others from new to pre-owned—not good news if you bought new, but when buying pre-owned it opens up opportunities to afford far more exotic pieces than you would have otherwise expected. It also means you can consider the piece you really want without being put off by inherent high depreciation.

Depreciation after the transition to pre-owned is much more gradual than from new, and in some cases nil or even appreciating. This means that if something else takes your fancy, selling the piece will not have the same sting on your bank-balance as it would from new, leaving you in a better position to get what you want.

Baltic Watches beside selling watches offer you to sell them your watch or trade it in for another. On their website, there is a section where you can send in a photo and some information about the watch (reference number, condition etc.) you want to sell and they will come back with a good offer for your watch. You can also bring the watch to the physical store in Riga and sell the watch there and of course, you can also trade in your watch for another one that you like from their stock.

So, as I previously said, you can bring or send your watch to Baltic Watches to get it serviced or repaired by their own certified specialists. The Baltic Watches workshop is equipped with all necessary tools and machinery. Their watchmakers work with Elma, Greiner and Witschi equipment and Bergeon, Breitling tools. Baltic Watches lead watchmaker Ervins Undelis is certificated by Swiss manufacturers, such as Omega, Maurice Lacroix, Raymond Weil and many more. It allows them to provide a warranty service for watches of these brands in Riga, by using the accredited Swiss equipment and also order the original parts directly from the manufacturer. They also have a laboratory in their workshop for performing manipulations under particularly sterile conditions, such as the removal of micro-dust, cleaning and polishing.

They have three specialists in their team – Ervins Undelis, Imants Jansons and Stanislav Nefedov. Ervins Undelis is Baltic Watches lead certified watchmaker, Imants Jansons is certified watchmaker specialising in the repair of especially complex mechanisms – tourbillions, minute repeaters, etc., and Stanislav Nefedov is specialised in repairing quartz watches.

They are a full-service watch centre, offering:

• Battery replacement
• Complete diagnostics
• Full Service
• Ultrasonic cleaning
• Tightness and water-resistance test
• Case restoration
• Strap change
• Glass replacement
• Ordering and manufacturing of components
• Repair of internal mechanisms, tourbillon, chronograph, minute repeater, perpetual calendar and other components

In my opinion and overall, this is the best place where to buy luxury watches, trade in for a great price or repair/service your watch. After visiting Baltic Watches for a couple of times I can guarantee and recommend them for the quality service and with no doubt, you won’t be disappointed. There are very knowledgeable people in the store that will help you with everything you need to know about a certain watch, talk with the specialists that repair watches and check out their current stock.

I also want to add that Baltic Watches will be giving me watches for review. So soon there will be reviews on Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Hublot, Rolex, Omega, and many other watches. I wanted to do a review on luxury watches for some time as many people have asked and me myself wanted to check them out too. I have had some luxury watches like Breitling Navitimer and Omega Speedmaster, but I sold them to fund my blog so I couldn’t make a review about them.

balticwatches.com