What's specific to Jacksonville

Jacksonville is the one Florida city covered here that regulates secondhand dealers directly rather than only taxing them. Chapter 185 of the Ordinance Code requires a permit from the Sheriff, sets its own records, and adds its own holding period. All of it sits on top of the state regime in the Florida guide — the state registration, the thumbprint, and the 15- or 30-day state hold still apply.

Which watches Part 4 actually reaches

This is where Jacksonville is more useful than the statute. Part 4 defines its two categories precisely (§ 185.402):

• Secondhand jewelry — an item previously owned or used, not sold as new, which contains one or more diamonds, emeralds, rubies, or sapphires.
• Secondhand precious metal — a previously owned item, not sold as new, which contains gold, silver, or platinum, excluding certain coins and properly assayed bullion.

Applied to watches, that gives an answer state law doesn't:

• Any watch with gold or platinum in the case or bracelet falls squarely inside the precious metal definition, so Part 4 reaches it.
• A watch set with diamonds or sapphires — a stone-set bezel or dial — is secondhand jewelry, so Part 4 reaches it.
• A plain steel or titanium watch with none of those materials appears to fall outside both definitions, and so outside Part 4.

That last point is worth confirming with an attorney rather than relying on, because a watch outside Part 4 is still secondhand goods under state law: the Department of Revenue registration, the 24-hour state report, and the state holding period all continue to apply.

The permit

No person may engage in a business regulated by Chapter 185 without a permit from the Sheriff (§ 185.102). Permits expire on September 30 each year and are renewed on application and a finding that you have complied with the chapter (§ 185.104). The ordinance creates the permit without setting a fee: neither § 185.102 nor § 185.104 prices it, and Chapter 772 carries no secondhand dealer classification either. What a dealer does pay is the municipal business tax receipt, which Chapter 772 computes through the City's own Business Tax Receipt calculator rather than a figure printed in the code (§ 772.204). For scale, the trades the code does price are a pawnbroker at $225 (§ 772.323) and a junk dealer at $150 (§ 772.317). Confirm the permit's application route with the Sheriff's Office.

Records to the Sheriff, within 24 hours

For every purchase of secondhand precious metals or secondhand jewelry, record (§ 185.404):

• The seller's name, address, date of birth, sex, and race, their signature, and their driver licence, official military identification, or state identification card number.
• A specific description of the item, accurate and as complete as the item permits, referring to any brand, monogram, hallmark, or pattern — which for a watch means the maker, the model, and any engraving.
• The estimated quantity or weight of precious metal.
• The date of purchase.

Records are open to inspection by all law enforcement officers at all times, preserved for three years, and submitted to the Sheriff within 24 hours after purchase.

The five-day hold, and why the state's is usually longer

No secondhand precious metals or secondhand jewelry may be transferred outside the City, sold, melted, altered, or otherwise disposed of until five days after the date the record of purchase is submitted to the Sheriff, and the item must be available for law enforcement inspection during that period (§ 185.405).

Note two things. The clock runs from filing, not from purchase, so a late filing delays the date you can sell. And the state's 30-day hold on precious metals, gemstones, and jewelry runs from acquisition and is longer, so for most watches the state period is the one that actually governs when you can sell.

What else applies

A municipal business tax receipt applies to businesses operating in Jacksonville, separately from the Chapter 185 permit, and its amount comes from the City's calculator rather than the code. The state-level obligations — Department of Revenue registration at $6 per location, fingerprints through FDLE, the 24-hour state report with the seller's thumbprint, and three-year record retention — are all in the Florida guide.