- It's all about who shows their hand first.

- I have an idea what I think the watch is worth, the seller knows how much they paid for it and what sort of a margin they would like to achieve.

- Historically, the dealer has opened with their asking price but that was almost universally seen as the starting point for negotiations rather than a fixed price.

- If that starting point was ridiculously high (and I'm talking multiples too high), I didn't go there as I felt our valuations would never meet and we would both be wasting our time negotiating. That happened a bit.

- Rarer, but still something I came across was when the starting point was crazily low, I would move quickly to take advantage. The seller might not know quite what they had but they had probably factored in a margin, so we could both come away happy (with me feeling smugger because I'd felt I'd used some "insider knowledge").

- Normally, the price point was a bit more goldilocks and we could enter into negotiation knowing we could probably reach a mutually agreeable outcome. Which didn't always happen but it was possible, which was key.

- Common to all this was that the seller had opened the bidding with their asking price. Knowing full well that it was likely to be chipped away at and hoping they'd given themselves enough leeway to turn a decent margin once negotiations were over. Though there were a couple of times I bought at the asking price, and a couple of times I advised others to do so, because the price asked was fair and I felt the piece was worth it.

- Maybe some sellers have grown fed up with them being the ones responsible for knowing the market price and for theirs always being the opening bid, so have changed their prices from explicit to poa. Maybe there were too many enquiries and too many low-ball offers and too few sales.

- Also, as Brook has found, it's an opportunity for the seller to get the buyer to show their hand first and turn the tables. Whether this works or not, or the buyer stays silent or opens with that ridiculous lowball offer I'm not sure - perhaps the net sellers of watches amongst us have some experience?

- From a personal perspective, I'm not all that keen on poa prices. They turn me off a casual purchase, such as a dial variant, that I otherwise might well have made. If there is a watch I am seriously interested in, it wouldn't really dissuade me but even in that case, you better believe that I am not going to be showing my hand, my idea of the value, first :)