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Reference

Guides

Licensing, record-keeping, holding periods, and tax for people who buy and sell watches — organized state by state, with a guide for the UK. Find your city, or tell us to write it.

Compare every jurisdiction side by side — holding periods, licences, fingerprinting and fees in one table.

Type to narrow the list. If we don't cover your city yet, tell us where you deal and we'll add it.

58 guides

Federal

6 guides

Arizona

3 cities
AZ

State overview

Watch dealing in Arizona: licensing, records, and tax

Arizona has no statewide license specifically for outright-purchase secondhand dealers — a good-faith outright purchase is expressly excluded from the pawnbroker statute, so licensing and reporting sit city by city. Transaction Privilege Tax applies statewide. Start here, then check your city.

Read the Arizona guide

California

4 cities
CA

State overview

Watch dealing in California: licensing, CAPSS, and tax

California licenses secondhand dealers statewide but issues the licence locally, through your chief of police or sheriff. Reporting runs through one state system, CAPSS, and the law bars cities from adding holds or reporting rules of their own.

Read the California guide

Florida

4 cities
FL

State overview

Watch dealing in Florida: registration, records, and tax

Florida registers secondhand dealers at state level with the Department of Revenue — $6 a location, fingerprints, a 24-hour report on every purchase, and a 30-day hold on jewelry and precious metals. Cities may add more on top. Start here, then check your city.

Read the Florida guide

Georgia

1 city
GA

State overview

Watch dealing in Georgia: what's confirmed, and what isn't

Georgia has a statute chapter devoted entirely to dealers in used watches, one of three states covered here with a law on second-hand watches by name (Pennsylvania and New Jersey have the others). This guide sets out what the Department of Revenue, the Secretary of State and the county clerk confirm, and is explicit about the statutory text we could not read: Georgia's official code is CAPTCHA-gated, so the terms of those chapters are marked not confirmed rather than guessed at.

Read the Georgia guide

Illinois

1 city
IL

State overview

Watch dealing in Illinois: the Resale Dealers Act

Illinois has no state licence for resale dealers, but 815 ILCS 398 imposes real statewide duties — a record book your local police chief has to approve, a daily report before noon, a 10-day hold on anything individually identifiable, and penalties that reach a Class 4 felony. There is no state agency in the process at all: your county sheriff or municipal police chief runs it.

Read the Illinois guide

Massachusetts

2 cities
MA

State overview

Watch dealing in Massachusetts: licensing, records, and tax

Massachusetts has no state dealer licence. Each city or town decides whether to license dealers in second-hand articles under M.G.L. c. 140 § 54, and watches are not among the articles the statute excludes. The state adds one dealer duty of its own (a purchase book for gold, silver and platinum bought for $50 or more), a 6.25% sales tax, and a $100,000 remote-seller threshold.

Read the Massachusetts guide

Nevada

6 cities
NV

State overview

Watch dealing in Nevada: licensing, records, and tax

Nevada is the reverse of most states. There is no state secondhand-dealer licence, but NRS Chapter 647 imposes statewide duties that hit a watch dealer directly — a daily transcript to the police before noon, a holding period of 30 days in Clark County and 15 in Washoe, and a record format that names watches by name. Licensing sits with the cities.

Read the Nevada guide

New Jersey

2 cities
NJ

State overview

Watch dealing in New Jersey: licensing, records, and tax

New Jersey has no state dealer licence — towns do the licensing, and Newark and Jersey City both do. What the state adds is a 1939 law written about second-hand watches by name, a used-jewelry law whose reach to watches is unsettled, and 6.625% sales tax.

Read the New Jersey guide

New York

4 cities
NY

State overview

Watch dealing in New York: licensing, records, and tax

New York has no statewide secondhand-dealer licence — the licensing is municipal, and New York City's is the one that matters. The state does set sales tax registration, marking rules for gold and silver watch cases, and an unusually expensive LLC formation.

Read the New York guide

Ohio

2 cities
OH

State overview

Watch dealing in Ohio: the precious metals licence, records, and tax

Ohio has two statewide regimes, and what the watch is made of decides which one you are in. Buying gold, platinum or silver watches from the public needs a Precious Metals Dealer licence from the Division of Financial Institutions, with a daily police report and a hold. A plain steel watch falls under the secondhand-article duties instead — a record book and no buying at night — unless its jewelled movement counts, which the statute does not answer. Sales tax applies statewide. Start here, then check your city.

Read the Ohio guide

Pennsylvania

2 cities
PA

State overview

Watch dealing in Pennsylvania: precious metals, second-hand watches, and tax

Pennsylvania has no general secondhand-dealer license, but two old statutes reach watch dealers directly. A 1984 law makes anyone buying gold, silver or platinum from the public get a county sheriff's license, report each purchase and hold it five working days: gold and platinum watches are in, steel is out. A 1945 law requires every second-hand watch, steel included, to carry a tag, come with an invoice and be advertised as second-hand. Sales tax is 6%, with more added in Allegheny County and Philadelphia.

Read the Pennsylvania guide

Texas

5 cities
TX

State overview

Watch dealing in Texas: licensing, records, and tax

Texas has no general secondhand-dealer license, and its 'crafted precious metal dealer' rules are aimed at scrap and melt buyers — an item selling above ~scrap value is excluded, so a dealer trading watches at market value is likely outside them. Sales tax applies statewide. Start here, then check your city.

Read the Texas guide

Washington

2 cities
WA

State overview

Watch dealing in Washington: records, holds, and tax

Washington has no state secondhand-dealer licence, but RCW 19.60 puts statewide duties on every secondhand dealer, with or without a shop: a transaction record that carries the serial number, a 30-day retention period, a 120-day police hold, and a daily transcript when police ask for one. Gold, silver and platinum add a stricter tier. Licensing sits with the cities.

Read the Washington guide

United Kingdom

UK

Country guide

Watch dealing in the UK: licensing, money laundering rules, and VAT

There is no UK-wide licence to deal in second-hand watches. Scotland licenses dealers council by council, parts of England require registration under local Acts, and none was found for Northern Ireland. What reaches every dealer is national: the £10,000 cash rule that makes you a high value dealer, VAT and its margin scheme, consumer rights on what you sell, and hallmarking.

Read the United Kingdom guide