A challenge.

[kernow]

I was in a Pound store yesterday and they even had (working!) watches for a quid - 1 whole UK Pound. 

 

If if anyone can beat it they can have this one for ....... FREE. 

 

Post them up here and the winner takes all. 

[Sogeha]

Is that a 120 click bezel? Does it even turn at all? Are you having buyers remorse yet?

Wish sometimes has watches for FREE, just pay shipping, which varies between €1 and €2

 

At the opposite end of the spectrum there is the Haldimann H9, it’s a Tourbillon movement, it winds and ticks and does all the Watch stuff, but it has an opaque black crystal, so it doesn’t tell the time. About $100,000 I believe, Emperor’s new clothes don’t come cheap you know

[daovto]

£1 !! Expensive....

66p shipped and looking ok !? 🤣

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Sogeha]

£0.66 is bulk buy, more likely £1.62 for a single purchase, which I should more than I would pay for a watch however rich I was 🤣

[automatico]

It's hard to believe how cheap some wholesale lots can be sold for.

 

Bought 1200 nib ($39 list price) 30mm ladies fashion watches with faux MOP dials, 'diamond' bezels, 3 quick change leather straps with each watch, stainless buckles, for 25 cents each a few years ago.  Made by SII with Hattori/Seiko PC 21 movements.

Sold 600 of them at cost upon delivery, sold some at a profit, gave some away, still have 9 cases left (450 watches).  Hard to sell.

 

A friend sold 25,000 new fashion watches to a national chain store for $3 each with new batts installed.  I saw them for sale later in one of their stores for $6.99 each. 

He paid 25 cents labor each to the batt change guys to r/r all the batts.  The 377 Seizaiken (Seiko) batts cost 15 cents each in lots of 1000.  The batts that were removed scrapped for $600 to a batt recycler. 

Still have at least a thousand non runners from the original 50,000 wholesale lot that the 25,000 came from, not worth repairing at today's movement prices.  Never got around to sorting them out to throw the junk away.  We did throw a few thousand away a few years ago but the 'scaves' got them out of the dumpster and tried to sell them to local pawn shops.  Also threw out hundreds of 'Power Rangers', 'Cars', 'Barbie' etc plastic digital kid watches because they use a relatively high priced 392 battery and are a hassle to change the batts.

 

Knew a guy in NYC who used to sell a snow shovel full of 'store returns' for $30 to street vendors.  Street vendor to sucker:  "All it needs is a battery."  Ha! 

'Store returns' = lower priced watches exchanged/returned to stores for any reason...dead batt, broken spring bar, strap etc.  Some with no defect at all.

'Shelf pulls' = new condition watches taken out of stores and usually sold under cost or liquidated.  May be out of date/out of style or with dead batts.  May or may not have b/p.  Usually without a warranty.

NOS...everyone knows what it means.  Usually sold at a deep discount unless the watch is 'collectible'.  Bought two nos stainless Eternamatics in boxes a while back for $30 each, made in the 1980s.  Used to be a lot of nos mechanical stuff around before eBay.  Not much now though.

 

 

"Haldimann H9, it’s a Tourbillon movement, it winds and ticks and does all the Watch stuff, but it has an opaque black crystal, so it doesn’t tell the time. About $100,000 I believe..."

 

Otoh, I have a Citizen Eco-Drive minute repeater that tells time without looking at it.  Maybe it needs is a blacked out crystal.  Ha!  

[martijnp]

I just can't beat that. That is a bargain!