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What's it worth?


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Imho...

The accepted rule is something is 'worth' what an informed  buyer will pay. 

Maybe yes, maybe no.  

Take vintage rolex watches for example...25 years ago a 5513 or 1680 was 'worth' maybe $1500USD.  Now the same watches are 'worth' $10,000 or more.

They are the same watches (with 25 more years of wear and tear) for sale during a different time, that's all.  Inflation would make today's prices around $3000 not $10,000 or more.

 

Why are buyers willing to pay so much today?

Maybe they just want to be trendy by wearing an old 'tool watch'.

Most of today's vintage rlx buyers are too young to remember when the watches they are paying $10k+ for sold for $400 new.

 

Every generation has its legions of buyers who will pay the price to go back in time.  

My generation buys 1960s/70s American musclecars for 10x to 50x what they sold for new. They remember when the cars were new in showrooms but they did not have the money to buy one.

Why do they pay so much for an old car today?

Probably because they are Nostalgic.   

 

I was a car freak in the 1960s and 1970s but I would not give $100 for an old car today if I had to drive it everyday and keep it up.

Why?

Because I remember the $400 '55, '56, '57 Chevrolets I had back then with maybe 80,000 actual miles on the clock.  The door hinges sagged and you had to pick up on the door and stuff it in the door frame, the suspension was all worn out, the differential gears whined like a wild Panther in heat, the brakes would not stop the car in half a mile, they went around curves like a three legged dog, the window regulators were all shot so the windows were half way down in the winter, the vacuum windshield wipers stopped when you accelerated, the engines were on their second or third set of rings and bearings, the valves were loose in the guides and the floppy rocker arms mushroomed the valve spring tips, the cam lobes usually had flat spots, the ignition points always needed setting, and the cars rattled like a truck full of hub caps.

 

I guess I am a little bit nostalgic...enough to have a 55xx Frankenstein.   :pimp:

 

Are you nostalgic?

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Well, R, I am getting to the point in life where I almost agree with you.  As I get older it's more "chore" than "fun" working on the ol' heap.  But, when I get thumbs-up going down the street in my '57 Belair Rat-Rod it makes it almost worth it.  That being said, having a rebuilt front end, disc brakes on all 4, newish GM 350 crate motor, TH700-4R overdrive tranny, power steering, power bucket seats, and air conditioning makes it easier to put up with the little issues that pop up from time-to-time! ;)

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I like vintage watches and just a child when my datejust was made. For me it's no nostalgia its preference.  I think any one that wear a watch had to be a little nostalgic.  The price for some rolex models has kept up with inflation and other are just WAY over priced 

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Interesting Topic!!!!  

I usually have these sorts of discussions with those I know locally and sometimes even with strangers while sitting in waiting room at the doctors for hours on end.

 

Most collectible items regardless of what they may be, start off as typical items that nobody would have ever imaged to be collectibles at the time when they were just a piece of equipment or tool.  These range from the every day pieces from old valve radios, Bakelite telephones and of course the wrist watch and our family car of the time are no exceptions!!  I recall a time as a child when seeing most of these items dumped on the sidewalks just in front of home fences for the garbage collector to collect of for anyone needing them for spare parts.  The old saying "one persons trash could be another one's treasure"

 

As for me, it can be both nostalgia and practicality!!!!  As for a 5512 or any other mechanical watch for me is no longer something that just tells the time!!!!.  It is something that also tells history l!!!!!  It is something that reflects an era beyond what is considered the disposable age !!!!  It is also something that one can pass onto future generations as they also tell a story!!!!  As for telling the time, my cellular phone is enough but I was brought up in the 1970's and 1980's where a watch was also like cuff links!!  Again a combination of both nostalgia and a lifestyle trait.

 

As for cars, the same analogy can also apply!!!  We still have the first family car that I ever stepped into - an immaculate original 1965 Chrysler  273 V8 Valiant collecting dust at my late parents estate shed!!!  I occasionally drive it to keep it alive but I would not go out  of my way to buy one for what they sell, nor do I have any interest to sell it as no money will ever replace such long life memories. For all I know, I was probably conceived in that very car LOL!!!!! I guess I am nostalgic in some cases but I also know where to draw the line!!!!.

 

I drove a Ford F100 for nearly 20 years purely because it was nuts and bolts as any fool like myself can do basic maintenance!!!!  I saw it as a great substitute for Samson's donkey!!!.  I didn't have to worry about the vehicle having to go back to the dealer (or even worse the factory spending big $$$$$$)  when one of the many computers that are essential for running the car plays up.  If the battery goes flat, I can jump start it with jumper leads or even use tap water for coolant like when I was caught up thousands of miles out in the Australian desert a few years ago.  Some cars have the computer playing up when you run out of fuel.  Mine had a carburetor and was no problem to start if I run out of car juice!!!  I am a little nostalgic about it but not to the point that I need grief counselling when it is no longer in my life!!!!   

 

All in all, I suppose it is up to the individual as to what makes them tick (excuse the pun!!) and if someone is willing to pay above inflated prices to get their fix, then the market will also follow depending on how many will travel that same road!!!!  The very reason I am grateful to belong to this forum as I no longer need to wear the Genuine collectible big$$$$$  watch when the high quality replica of the same model gives me the same buzz at a fraction of the price!!!  As for paying big $$$$$, I know my limit!!! 

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I am drawn to what I call the Strategic Air Command look, i.e. 50s space-age designs, and the early Rolex sport watches fit right into this category, as do things like the Leica M cameras, Fender Stratocaster guitars, etc. Of course 50s cars are huge, just watch American Graffiti, but I haven't taken the plunge into owning one yet. 

 

I think nostalgia is a bit of a disease, or at least it can have a detrimental effect on one's moral well-being. I definitely find myself at times disparaging contemporary trends and people, and withdrawing into my own mental world of nostalgic objects, media, and values. I'd compare nostalgia to believing in an afterlife; in both cases the mind flees reality toward a fantastic ideal realm, probably due to anguish or dissatisfaction with present conditions. I see correlations between the development of capitalism, proliferation of technology, decline of mental health, increase of social isolation, and rise in popular nostalgia. 

 

With that said, I think a watch is a good comforting dose of nostalgia; it's a small object serving a simple but vital purpose, it's unobtrusive but never out of sight, and it's packed with cultural information, i.e. can be considered as a piece of history, jewelry, a tool, a work of art, an icon of pop culture, a scientific achievement.. and probably in many other aspects. Most accessories are just what that word implies, something non-vital and only fit for certain occasions, but a watch you really love can practically never leave your wrist and really become a part of your identity. I think to some extent wearing a vintage watch can communicate the idea that you long for some better world than what we currently have.

 

One startling discovery I had recently is that the trend in bringing vintage-inspired products to market has now even reached firearms. Companies are now making reproduction assault rifles with the same veracity of the best rep watch makers. From a design standpoint, I find them absolutely cool and beautiful. From a social standpoint, I find it terrifying that there is a community out there as obsessed with the minute details of now easily-acquired deadly weapons as we are with watches ...

BROWNELLS-BRN-10-RETRO-RIFLE-AR-10-1.jpg

 

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"...I no longer need to wear the Genuine collectible big$$$$$  watch when the high quality replica of the same model gives me the same buzz at a fraction of the price!!!"

 

I see it the same way.  Besides that, I put my 'tool watches' together out of a pile of parts.  There is some pride in that even if it is a replica...especially when the average guy wearing a mech watch today has no idea what makes it tick.

 

 

"Companies are now making reproduction assault rifles with the same veracity of the best rep watch makers."

 

I did not know this, I am not much of a gun guy now like I used to be.

Still have my Dad's M1 and 1911 from WW II.

 

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1 hour ago, jimcon11 said:

 

I think nostalgia is a bit of a disease, or at least it can have a detrimental effect on one's moral well-being. I definitely find myself at times disparaging contemporary trends and people, and withdrawing into my own mental world of nostalgic objects, media, and values. I'd compare nostalgia to believing in an afterlife; in both cases the mind flees reality toward a fantastic ideal realm, probably due to anguish or dissatisfaction with present conditions.

 

I recall reading something like this about people that are overly obsessed with footballl, religion, substance/ alcohol abuse and heavy gambling!!!   

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5 hours ago, jimcon11 said:

I find it terrifying that there is a community out there as obsessed with the minute details of now easily-acquired deadly weapons as we are with watches ...

 

I see nothing terrifying about it, just a mechanical device or tool...  I appreciate the history and technology behind most mechanical devices.

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11 minutes ago, jmb said:

"...just a mechanical device or tool..."

Oh great, I bet my Rover heard that.  Now she's going to refuse to start after work. 

 

I read it somewhere once... "unlike most people, Land Rovers are capable of returning affection."

 

Nostalgia?  Naaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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3 hours ago, jmb said:

I see nothing terrifying about it, just a mechanical device or tool...  I appreciate the history and technology behind most mechanical devices.

I really appreciate the history and all but in reading some of the weapon forums I get this kind of vibe from certain people. Sure humans make things and they're tools but you can't ignore how the tools then feed back into how we understand and act in the world.

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4 hours ago, Nanuq said:

Oh great, I bet my Rover heard that.  Now she's going to refuse to start after work. 

 

I read it somewhere once... "unlike most people, Land Rovers are capable of returning affection."

 

Nostalgia?  Naaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I do believe they can sense fear.  I had a BMW 320i that I nicknamed "Hitler's Revenge" as it was always trying to bankrupt me.

 

jim - I agree, any tool can and will be misused but if we are afraid of what things might be used for we'd never leave the house! :crazy: I never considered a car to be a weapon of mass destruction until a couple of years ago, how times have changed since Nanuq and me wuz kidz...

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"What if they didn't have Lucas electrics?"

 

They didn't call Joseph Lucas 'The Prince of Darkness' for nothing.

I had Ducati and Norton motorcycles when I was a kid.  Only thing worse than Lucas was Magneti Marelli.

They didn't call Ercole Marelli any nick names.  People just went into cussin' fits when Marelli was mentioned.

 

What do you call a Ducati with Marelli electronics?

A statue.   :prop:

 

220px-Mus%C3%A9e_L%C3%A9onard_de_Vinci_M

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9 hours ago, dieselpower said:

Us crazy Brits you gotta laugh.

That's because you do not know what is happening in Australia.  We Aussies are the laughing stock of the planet as a new movie should be made (depicting what is happening here ) more appropriately labelled "Dumb and Dumbest". At least you still have a car industry even if it is run by Marelli.  We no longer have one here thanks to our politicians.  

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