Why Alerts Beat Manual Searching
The pre-owned watch market moves fast. A well-priced Rolex Submariner or Omega Speedmaster can sell within hours of being listed. If you're checking marketplaces manually once a day, you're missing the best deals. Alerts flip the model — instead of you searching for watches, the watches find you.
Setting Up Your First Alert
Step 1: Create a Chronomarket Account
Sign up — the free plan includes one daily summary alert, which is enough to get started. If you want real-time notifications (every 3-30 minutes), upgrade to a paid plan.
Step 2: Define Your Criteria
Go to My Alerts and create a new alert. You'll define:
- Brand — required. Start specific (e.g., "Tudor") rather than broad.
- Model — optional but recommended. "Tudor Black Bay" is better than just "Tudor."
- Keywords — for specific references or features. e.g., "126610LN" or "blue dial."
- Price range — set your maximum. If the market median is $3,000, try setting $2,500 as your ceiling to catch deals.
- Condition — filter to pre-owned, unworn, or new.
- Sources — select which marketplaces to monitor. Reddit and Catawiki tend to have the best prices.
Step 3: Choose Your Alert Type
Chronomarket offers three alert types:
- New listing alert — triggers when any new listing matches your criteria. Best for rare watches where you want to see every option.
- Below fixed price — triggers only when a listing appears below your specified price. Best for common models where you're waiting for a deal.
- Below market value — triggers when a listing is priced below the 3-month average for that model. The system calculates the threshold automatically. Best for collectors who trust the data but don't want to pick an arbitrary number.
Step 4: Pick Your Notification Channel
Alerts can be delivered via:
- Email — default, works for everyone. Slight delay depending on email delivery.
- Telegram — instant push notifications. Best for time-sensitive alerts. Connect via Account → Telegram.
- Discord — sends to a Discord channel. Good if you have a watch-collecting server.
- Slack — integrates with workspace channels. Useful if your team collects.
For the fastest response time, use Telegram. Push notifications appear within seconds of a new listing matching your criteria.
Pro Tips for Effective Alerts
- Don't set too many alerts. Start with 1-3 focused alerts rather than 10 broad ones. Signal-to-noise ratio matters.
- Adjust your price threshold quarterly. Market prices shift. A target that was aggressive in January might be normal by June. Check the model's pricing page periodically and adjust.
- Use the "below market value" type for models you're flexible on. It adapts automatically to market movements.
- Use "below fixed price" when you have a hard budget. If you absolutely won't pay more than $3,000, this is the right type.
- Check Today's Deals daily. The deals page surfaces the best-priced listings across all brands — it's a good complement to targeted alerts.
What Happens When You Get a Match
When a listing matches your alert, you'll receive a notification with the listing title, price, source, and a direct link. Click through to see the full listing on the original marketplace. If it looks right, act fast — the best deals sell within hours, sometimes minutes.
On paid plans, alerts check every 3-30 minutes depending on your plan tier. The Pro plan checks every 3 minutes across all sources, which means you're typically seeing listings within minutes of them being posted.