Chrono24 Direct — For professionals
For notaries, estate and insolvency administrators
Watches from estates, guardianships, insolvencies and liquidations: identification, authentication in our own workshop, a documented assessment and realisation through Chrono24 — with evidenced proceeds rather than a dealer's offer.
Instructions
Who we work with
The common thread: you are not disposing of your own property, and you need to be able to justify your decision.
Titles and procedures differ across Europe, so what follows describes roles rather than any one country's terminology:
- Notaries and succession lawyers — where an estate includes watches and a value has to be put on them before the parties can reach agreement.
- Executors — realisation with proceeds that can be evidenced to the beneficiaries.
- Estate administrators and court-appointed estate curators — taking stock of unidentified watch holdings, including where entitlement is still unresolved.
- Professional deputies and guardians — where assets belonging to a protected person must be realised on a documented basis.
- Insolvency practitioners and liquidators — from single pieces in personal insolvency to complete trading stock.
- Companies in liquidation — jewellers, dealers and businesses winding down a watch inventory, new or worn, with or without papers.
- Insurers and banks — claims, found property, closed safe deposit boxes.
A single watch or a holding in the hundreds: the process is the same, only the scale differs.
Services
What you get from us
Evidenced proceeds can be defended. A dealer's offer is an opinion.
Taking stock, including remotely
You send us photographs of the holding. We establish in advance which pieces are worth examining and which are not — saving you from shipping an entire holding when only part of it is relevant. For larger holdings we agree the approach with you beforehand.
Examination in our own workshop
Our watchmakers, polishers and goldsmiths work in our workshop near Glashütte. Each watch is identified and opened: movement, serial number, reference, originality of components, mechanical condition. Chrono24 Direct is the only certified authentication and consignment partner of Chrono24 in Europe. Missing papers are no obstacle.
A documented assessment
You receive a schedule covering the whole holding: identification, condition, an assessment of the achievable price — and expressly also which pieces have no relevant market value. For your file, the second point is often as important as the first. Tell us the form in which your procedure requires the figure and we will discuss what we can provide.
Realisation through Chrono24
On request we handle full realisation by consignment. The proceeds are then the price actually achieved in the market, documented and verifiable — not an estimate and not the outcome of a negotiation with a trade buyer. Commission applies only to pieces that sell, with no upfront fees.
Transport and discretion
Shipping is insured on every leg, including the return of pieces that are not realised. We currently work with watches located in the European Union, and advise in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish — relevant where parties sit in another country.
4.9 out of 5 stars from 10,206 reviews, and 12,877 watches sold through Chrono24.
Ratings and sales figures are collected by Chrono24. View the reviews on Chrono24
Insolvency and liquidation
Proceeds against time — plainly put
Consignment usually returns more but takes longer. In a formal procedure that is a real trade-off.
A trade buyer pays immediately, carries all the resale risk afterwards, and prices that in: the figure sits well below market level. Under consignment we achieve the market price through Chrono24, but you wait for buyers. Publication usually takes about four weeks, and roughly every second piece finds a buyer within the first 90 days after that.
If your procedure has a fixed closing date, that is the decisive question. Give us your timeframe and we will tell you plainly whether consignment fits it or whether another route serves you better. We will also tell you when we are not the right answer.
Trading stock
Holdings from jewellers or dealers behave differently from estates: the pieces are often new or unworn, frequently complete with papers, and there may be several of the same reference. That changes the strategy, because identical watches should not all go into the same market at once. We will discuss how we would stagger it against your list.
Partial and mixed holdings
Not everything in a holding is a luxury watch. We tell you which part we can sensibly realise and which part is better placed elsewhere, rather than taking on a whole lot indiscriminately.
The direct route
For professional instructions a form is usually the long way round. Call +49 35204 772106 or write to service@chrono24-direct.com with a line about the file — type of procedure, approximate scale, timeframe. We will come back with a view on whether, and to what extent, an examination is worthwhile.
FAQ
Questions that come up in practice
We are watchmakers and sellers, not court-appointed or sworn experts. What we provide is a documented identification with a condition description and an assessment of the achievable price. Whether that satisfies your procedure, or whether a sworn expert report is required, is a matter for your jurisdiction — tell us what is demanded and we will clarify what we can cover.
From a single watch to substantial holdings. For extensive lots we agree the process, timetable and transport with you in advance rather than accepting everything at once.
Publication on Chrono24 usually takes about four weeks. Roughly every second piece finds a buyer within the first 90 days after that. If your procedure has a fixed closing date, give it to us and we will tell you plainly whether consignment fits.
We identify them as such expressly. Your file then records that they were examined and that no relevant value exists. Those pieces are returned to you insured.
Evidence of your authority to dispose — depending on the procedure, an instrument of appointment, grant or court order — together with the usual identification details. The precise requirements differ by country, and we clarify them with you before anything is transported.
No. Our watchmakers establish authenticity on the watch itself and document the result. The achievable price is usually lower without documents, and how much lower depends on the model. More on that under Selling without papers.
We currently work with watches located in the European Union, and advise in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish. Where parties sit in another member state that is normally sufficient.
There are no upfront fees; commission applies only to pieces actually sold and is set before the sale begins. How the accounting has to look in your procedure — to the insolvency estate, the estate or the protected person — we discuss case by case.
We do not pass on details of procedures, parties or the origin of a holding, and we do not use them in listings. A listing describes the watch, not its history.
A file with watches on your desk?
Discuss a fileContact
Get in touch
A few details about your watch are enough — we will get back to you with an initial estimate within 48 hours.
Currently Available Within the EU
We handle appraisals and consignment sales for watches located in the European Union.
Personal estimate by our team
The more precise your details, the more accurate our estimate of sale proceeds and market prospects.
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