How to Buy a Pre-Owned Watch from Japan

Buying a watch from a seller on the other side of the world raises fair questions. How is the condition described? What happens at customs? What if it arrives and you do not like it?

This guide answers those questions for our own shop. Everything below describes how we actually operate, not general advice about buying watches online.

Why so many pre-owned watches come from Japan

Japan has an unusually deep second-hand watch market. Watches have been bought and worn here in large numbers since the 1960s, the domestic resale trade is mature and well regulated, and — this is the part people notice when they open the box — watches here tend to have been looked after.

It also means the range is different. Japanese-market Seiko and Citizen references that were never officially sold elsewhere turn up routinely, alongside European brands that arrived through Japanese retailers decades ago.

How we describe condition

Every watch is inspected, photographed and graded by hand in our Tokyo workshop before it goes on sale. Each listing carries:

  • A condition rank for the body, and a separate one for the bracelet or strap
  • Part-by-part notes covering case, bezel, case back, crystal, dial, hands, bracelet and buckle
  • An operation note confirming the watch was running when it was listed
  • Our own photographs — never stock images or supplier photos

The ranks run from MINT down to AS-IS. If you want to know exactly what each one means before you buy, read our guide to the condition ranks.

One thing worth saying plainly: the grading is our opinion, formed with the watch in hand. It is consistent across the catalogue because the same people apply the same scale to everything. But the photos and the part-by-part notes carry more information than the single-word rank, so read them.

Shipping, tracking and delivery times

All orders ship from Tokyo by DHL with a tracking number. We dispatch Monday to Friday; our office is closed at weekends. International delivery normally takes three to five business days after dispatch.

Every watch is packed with protective cushioning. Full details are in our shipping policy.

What shipping costs

  • United States — from $50, scaling with the order total
  • Rest of the world — $30 to $100 depending on the destination
  • Within Japan — 1,000 yen

We do not ship to PO boxes, or to certain countries and regions.

Duties and import taxes

This is where international orders usually go wrong elsewhere, so it is worth being explicit.

Orders to the United States: duties and import taxes are prepaid by us. The price you pay at checkout is the price you pay. Nothing is collected at the door.

Everywhere else: customs duties, import taxes and VAT are the responsibility of the buyer, and are collected by the carrier or customs authority on arrival. Rates vary widely by country. If you are unsure what your country charges on a watch, it is worth checking before you order — the amount is set by your government, not by us, and we cannot waive or reduce it.

We declare the full value on every shipment. We will not mark a parcel as a gift or understate its value.

Returns

You can return any watch within 30 days of delivery, for any reason. You do not need to justify the decision.

Contact us at info@froevo.com within those 30 days with your order number and we will reply with return instructions. Please do not send anything back before contacting us. The watch needs to come back in the same condition it arrived in.

We cover the cost of return shipping, except where the return is due to a battery fault. Once the watch arrives and has been inspected, we refund to your original payment method within ten business days.

The full terms are in our refund policy.

What to expect from a pre-owned movement

Two things surprise first-time buyers of vintage watches, so we would rather say them up front.

Accuracy drifts. A mechanical watch from the 1970s that gains or loses half a minute a day is behaving normally for its age. Where we have measured the daily rate, it is stated in the listing. A service will usually improve it, and on a vintage piece a service every few years is part of ownership.

Quartz watches can stop in transit. The battery may simply have been near the end of its life when the watch left us. A replacement is cheap and routine. If a fresh battery does not bring the watch back, that is a fault and the return policy covers it.

Water resistance figures in the specifications are the original factory ratings. On a watch with decades-old gaskets, have it pressure-tested before trusting it near water.

Finding the right watch

Roughly 900 watches pass through our workshop, and around 250 are in stock at any one time. A few ways in:

Only watches we actually have in stock appear in these collections.

Questions before you buy

If something in a listing is unclear — a mark in a photo, the condition of a specific part, whether a strap is original — email info@froevo.com. We have the watch in hand and can take another look at it. We would much rather answer a question first than process a return later.

You can also reach us through the contact page, or read more about how we work on our about page.

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