Anybody can sell a watch. A phone, a photograph and a supplier is the whole of the setup, and most of the watches sold in Albania are sold by somebody who has never had the back off one. We came at it from the other direction: the bench first, the shelf second.
The Person Choosing the Stock Has Been Repairing Watches Since 2002
Our owner began as a watchmaker working for other people in 2002 and opened Iglisi Watch in Durrës in 2009. It is still a family-owned shop and the repair bench is still the main business. Alongside the watches, we have cut keys here for years, and passed the half million mark in 2020.
That history is not decoration. Somebody who repairs watches every day sees which brands come back, which crowns strip, which bracelets shed pins after a summer, and which cheap movements die quietly in the second year. A seller who never sees a watch again after the sale learns none of that, and has no reason to want to.
Every Watch Is Inspected Before It Is Listed
The same hands that repair a watch select and inspect every watch we list for sale. Case and crystal for marks, crown for a clean action through its positions, bracelet and clasp for play, and the movement running properly before anything goes on the shelf.
It is a small thing that gets said a lot and meant rarely. When we write that a watch has been checked, we mean somebody sat down with it under a light and a loupe. Everything we list is brand new, and it still gets that look.
What a Watchmaker Will Not Write Down
The most useful test of a watch seller is what they refuse to claim. Ours is written into the way this whole site is put together.
- Sapphire only where we can prove it. Sapphire crystal is claimed on the Hislon range and one Romanson, and nowhere else, because that is where we know it.
- No movement stated for Philippe Lauren. We have not verified one, so we do not publish one, even though it would read better if we did.
- Chronograph only when the pushers have been tested. Plenty of watches have three subdials and no stopwatch behind them. We describe the dial on those and say nothing about what it does. That distinction is the whole of our guide to chronographs and lookalikes.
- No water-resistance claim without a rating. If a rating is not printed and confirmed, we do not invent one.
None of that is modesty. It is what happens when the person writing the description is the person who will be handed the watch when it fails.
The Guarantee Is Honoured by the People Who Gave It
Every watch carries our own 1-year guarantee from the date of purchase, on top of any manufacturer warranty. What makes it worth something is that the workshop honouring it is the workshop that sold it. Nothing is posted abroad and nobody refers you to a form. You walk in with the watch, we open it here, and either we fix it or we replace it.
Compare that with a private seller in a direct message, who cannot give you a warranty at all and may not have an account next month. We set that out in detail in our guide to buying a watch on Instagram in Albania. Alongside it sits the plain version of the returns policy in our guide to returns, exchanges and the guarantee.
The Years After the Sale
A watch is not finished when you pay for it. A quartz watch wants a battery every couple of years, and we change one for 200 to 600 Lekë depending on the battery, while you wait. Bracelets get sized free at the counter. A crystal, a crown, a strap or a full service is quoted before we start, and we will tell you honestly when a repair is not worth the money.
All of that happens whether or not you bought the watch here, which is the point. The shop was a repair shop first and it will be one long after any particular sale.
A Shop With an Address
Rruga Aleksander Goga, Durrës. Open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 20:30, no appointment. A 5.0 rating on Google, from customers who mostly came in with something broken. You can walk in, put a watch on the counter, and ask the person who will repair it what he thinks of it before you buy it. That is not a service most sellers can offer, and it costs nothing.
If you cannot get to Durrës, everything is available with cash on delivery anywhere in Albania, free, normally in 3 to 7 days.
The Watch a Watchmaker Points At
Asked which one to buy with no budget attached, the answer here is usually the Hislon Classic CL213S-02SS at 199 euro (19,300 L). Stainless steel, fluted bezel, horizontal-stripe silver dial, date window, and a sapphire crystal, which is the part a repairer cares about most because it is the part that decides how the watch looks after five years in a pocket and a car door.
It is the dearest watch we sell and the one we expect to see least often at the bench. Our longer look at the range is in the Hislon Classic review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does it matter that the shop is a watchmaker?
Because the person choosing what to sell has spent more than twenty years opening watches and knows which ones come back. Our owner started as a watchmaker for other workshops in 2002 and opened Iglisi Watch in Durrës in 2009, and the repair bench is still the main business. A seller who never sees a watch again after the sale has no way of learning that lesson and no reason to.
Are your watches new or second hand?
Every watch we list for sale is brand new. It comes with our own 1-year guarantee from the date of purchase, on top of any manufacturer warranty. We repair second-hand and vintage watches all day at the bench, and that is a service rather than the shop stock.
Do you check the watches before you sell them?
The same hands that repair a watch select and inspect every watch listed for sale. Case, crystal, crown action, bracelet and clasp, and that the movement is running properly before it goes on the shelf. When we say a watch has been checked, we mean somebody sat down with it under a light.
Can you service a watch you did not sell me?
Yes, and most of the bench work is exactly that. Battery replacement, crystal, crown, strap and full service, whether the watch came from us, from another shop or from a drawer at home. We quote before starting and we will tell you honestly when a repair is not worth doing.
Where is the shop and when is it open?
Rruga Aleksander Goga in Durrës, open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 20:30, no appointment needed. It is a family-owned shop with a 5.0 rating on Google and it has been at this trade since 2009. If you cannot come in person, message +355 67 571 6090 and we deliver anywhere in Albania with cash on delivery.
The One We Would Keep
The Hislon Classic CL213S-02SS is 199 euro (19,300 L), brand new, sapphire crystal, with our 1-year guarantee. Inspected at our own bench before it went on the shelf, and delivered free anywhere in Albania with cash on delivery.
Rruga Aleksander Goga · Durrës 2001 · Albania · +355 67 571 6090