No need for us to make it sound so mysterious. Here is the Skipper, listed for sale on the Matthew Bain website, at $7,200 -- http://www.matthewbaininc.com/watch-details/1633

This is the same watch as offered at the Bergdorf Goodman "trunk show", this past weekend, at $7,350.

As I understand it, Bergdorf Goodman regularly offers some vintage watches for sale. I expect that they are supplied and owned by Matthew Bain. In the old days, many department stores had "rented departments". This may not be exactly the same, but I am guessing that the customer would be buying this one from Matthew Bain, and not directly from Bergdorf. Imagine if you had a problem with the watch in the future; I believe that Matthew Bain would stand behind the watch, rather than Bergdorf Goodman.

To quote the mythical exchange between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, that probably never actually took place, "The rich, they are different . . . Yes, they have more money." Someone with a big budget, who wants to buy a good watch from a leading dealer, and not sweat the details, will be happy to buy this one from Matthew Bain, at something like $7,000. The rest of us can do the late night searches on eBay or deal with LiveAuctioneer, hoping to find the bargains or at least the ones priced more reasonably.

Jeff

[photo courtesy of Matthew Bain, Inc.]

[photo courtesy of Hodinkee]

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: I'm fairly sure I know who the dealer is and I've seen the skipper
: on his website for some time now, and I've never understood why
: he has this watch priced so high. I've bought from him in the
: past - including some Heuers. He's not the cheapest by any
: stretch, but they have been in the correct range - if slightly
: on the higher side of that range. He typically has very good
: stuff. This one though seems way overpriced. I was wondering if
: I was missing something.