You'll smell him soon enough. He really likes that cologne.
Introduction
My usual - and very sincere - thanks to everybody who is subscribing to this newsletter, and a warm welcome to those who are reading a newsletter in this weekly Friday series for the first time.
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide guidance on which auctions on Yahoo Japan should be avoided, but also to highlight auctions that might be of interest.
For those of you who are reading one of these newsletters for the first time, you can access the archive of all the previous newsletters on the Substack website.
I’m going to be trying something a little different this week, and would very much appreciate your feedback on whether or not you would like me to continue with this going forward.
When starting out this newsletter, it was solely dedicated to highlighting auctions on Yahoo Japan that those who were interested in collecting vintage Grand Seiko should be wary of. Frankensteined watches, watches with “redone” dials, etc. Then after a few weeks, for some balance I started to include some more positive listings, pointing out watches that I felt were worth actually bidding on.
It would seem clear from the click-through rates (the text above the photo of each watch detailed below is linked directly to the auction listing) that this has been received positively, and indeed occasionally to my own personal detriment, because I’m not above including lots that I’m actually considering bidding on myself!
One thing that will have become clear to everyone who reads this newsletter weekly is that often the same (or at least, very similar) dodgy references keep appearing week-in week-out. Listing every individual one of these lots takes up quite a bit of time and space in the newsletter, and I was thinking that maybe there was a better way to highlight these watches, that would free up time and space for more positive content.
So, this week, rather than link to every instance of “the usual suspects” appearing, I will simply present a thumbnail grid of images from past auctions and explain what to keep an eye out for. As always, if you spot a listing on Yahoo (or indeed anywhere) that you would like me to check out for you, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
What doing this going forward will enable me to do, is to expand the scope of what I recommend beyond just what’s on Yahoo Auctions this week. Read to the end of the newsletter to see what’s new!
Wilson Fisk
The usual suspects, part one
