What "Sourced on Request" Actually Means

You name the reference, the condition standard, and the number. Then the work starts. Here is exactly what happens between that message and the watch on your wrist.

"Sourced on request" appears on a lot of websites and almost nobody explains it. That vagueness is a problem, because for a buyer being asked to commit to a five-figure purchase, an unexplained process is indistinguishable from an excuse.

So here is the whole thing, in order, including the timelines that are genuinely uncertain and the parts that occasionally go wrong.

Why sourcing exists at all

Consider the position you are in. You want a specific reference, in a specific configuration, in a condition you would be happy to own, at a price that reflects what the market actually pays.

At any given moment there might be twenty examples of that reference publicly listed worldwide. Perhaps six are in acceptable condition. Perhaps three are priced sensibly. Perhaps one has the dial colour you want. And there is a reasonable chance that none of them do — in which case your options are to compromise, or to wait and check again next week, indefinitely.

Meanwhile, a substantially larger number of that reference are in the hands of dealers, collectors, and trade contacts who are not publicly listing anything. They have no need to. Their pieces move through relationships.

That is the gap sourcing closes. It is access to a layer of the market that does not advertise, plus someone whose job is to work it on your behalf rather than to sell you what happens to be in stock.

A watch that has reached a public listing has already been passed over by everyone in the private layer. That is worth sitting with for a moment.

The four steps

1. The Brief

You tell me four things:

• The reference. Exact, if you have it. If you only know the model, we will narrow it — that is a five-minute conversation, not an obstacle.
• The condition standard. What you will accept and what you will not. Unworn only, or is an honest very-good example fine? Do you require an unpolished case? Full set or watch-only?
• The number. What you are prepared to pay. If you do not know, say so and I will tell you what the market says first.
• The timeframe. Whether this is for a date or whether you can wait for the right example.

This step matters more than the rest. A vague brief produces a slow hunt and a compromised result. A precise one — "15720ST in khaki green, unpolished, full set preferred, up to X, no rush" — is actionable immediately.

2. The Hunt

The reference goes out across a private network of dealers, collectors and trade contacts, alongside a systematic sweep of the public market so we have the full picture of both.

What comes back is a set of candidates. Not a single option presented as the only one — every example located, with condition, completeness, price, and my honest assessment of each. Including, always, any publicly available option that is a better deal than anything I can offer you. If the best answer to your brief is a listing on a marketplace at a price I cannot beat, that is what the report will say, and you should go and buy it.

That is the same principle as the dossier, applied to a live search. The report is the product. What you do with it is yours.

3. The Proof

Once you select a candidate, you see it properly before anything is finalised.

That means video of that specific watch: the serial number legible in the frame, a handwritten card showing your name and the date, and a condition walkthrough in which the flaws are pointed at rather than lit around. If you want it live over a video call instead of recorded, that is available and it is the better option — live video cannot be prepared in advance.

This step exists to answer the question every buyer is silently asking, which is whether the watch being discussed actually exists in the condition described. It costs four minutes to produce and it removes the largest single uncertainty in the transaction. I have written about the underlying principle in never wire before you see your serial.

4. The Protected Close

Two separate protections, on two separate rails, because they guard against two different failures.

These are frequently conflated and they should not be. An authentication service does not hold your money. An escrow agent does not inspect your watch. You want both, and any dealer describing a single service as doing both is being loose with language in a way that should concern you.

Then the watch is shipped insured for its full value, signature required, and I remain personally accountable through delivery and after it.

Honest timelines

What can go wrong, and what happens then

I would rather set this out now than have you discover it later.

A candidate fails inspection. It happens. A piece that looked right in photographs shows a refinished case or an undisclosed dial issue on close examination. The candidate is rejected, you are told exactly why, and the hunt continues. You do not pay for a watch that failed.

A candidate sells to someone else first. The private market moves. If a piece goes before you decide, you will hear about it immediately rather than after a week of silence.

The market number is above your number. Then I will tell you that, with the comps that show it, and you can decide whether to adjust your number, adjust the condition standard, or wait. What I will not do is quietly find you a worse example to fit the budget without saying so.

Nothing surfaces. On genuinely scarce references this is a real outcome. You will be told, and you will not be strung along on the assumption that persistence looks like effort.

What it costs you

The quoted price is the price. There is no separate search fee, no retainer, and no charge for a brief that does not result in a purchase.

If a sourcing search requires a deposit to secure a piece, it is stated in writing before you send anything, with the refund conditions specified — not referenced, specified. A deposit whose terms are vague is not a deposit; it is a hope.

CHWD Timeworks is an independent dealer and is not an authorised dealer for any brand. Escrow and authentication providers vary by transaction and jurisdiction; terms are confirmed in writing before any funds move.