Bargains in NOS watches...

[automatico]

After reading the Horologist post about the over priced $3500 ETA powered heirloom...for a contrast I will list a few good buys in NOS watches that I have made in the past.  I'll post a few and maybe other members will chime in with their finds. 

I went with NOS because they are not as common as finding a bargain in a used watch. 

One rule...No quartz, mechanical only.

 

Two NOS stainless Eternamatics on leather straps (one with b/p)  $40 each.

Four NOS steel J.W. Benson watches on straps with ETA 2892-A2  $200 each.  Not a super bargain but they are very high quality.

NOS steel Universal Geneve Polerouter on signed bracelet  $100.

NOS 1970s 14k Girard Perregaux automatic/date on black leather strap with B/P  $225.

NOS lady 14k Omega manual wind with B/P on original 14k bracelet  $40.

Two NOS Ernest Borel lady 'Cocktail' (KALEIDOSCOPE style) manual wind dress watches, gold plated on leather straps  $5 each.

Four NOS Ferdinand Bachschmid 'STEELMASTER' stainless ETA auto/date on bracelets  $50 each.  I had never heard of them when I found them but the price was right.

http://www.watcharama.com/fb001/

 

I am sure many of us have made similar buys in the past, so let's hear about them.

[horologist]

True, one can be surprised with what is available!

 

about 10 years ago I purchased a NOS Vintage Blancpain with 37 jewels cyclotron for AUS175 on ebay!  Wished I still had it!!

 

Before the swatch group announced their new Draconian policy in its supplies to eta parts and especially with omega spares, there was not much vigilance on most old stock timepieces where some has eta movements!

 

i found many NOS zenith automatic timepieces for approx USD200

Even longines NOS for great value?

As an example there is one there now as we speak

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-LONGINES-Watch-1970s-Cal-508-DAY-DATE-AUTOMATIC-NOS-MINTY-Runs-1510/233007269413?hash=item364050c625:g:E5YAAOSwgJlbEWt8

 

for those still looking for an new eta 2824 movement might find it handy to purchase a NOS complete watch which is cheaper

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Automatic-ETA-2824-2-CARABINIERI-Italian-Army-Mens-Swiss-Made-NOS/123462528661?hash=item1cbef0ae95:g:NwsAAOSwxudbaywB

 

I bought a 9k gold 25 anniversary presentation omega Geneve watch in a garage sale from a deceased estate for AUS100 which appeared to never have been worn!  It is not uncommon even today! 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by horologist

[tomhorn]

My brand new Accutron with an ETA 7750 for $286 (linked below) was probably my best buy. Wanted to swap the movement into my IWC 3717 but the watch was too nice. Also got both my 2846's for my Rolex builds from donor "Swiss Military" watches. I don't think they were NOS, but bargains nonetheless at $28 each.

[Timelord]

I have nothing to offer here in terms of what NOS watches are a good buy as the market on these has almost dried up as more and more horology enthusiasts are waking up on this concept.

 

In the day before the internet and even when the fad was quartz watches and anything electronic that was new and faddish, I had visited old shops that had been around for decades to ask if they had any unsold stock which they wanted to get rid of.

 

Many wanted to coerce me into buying their new items as they would not want to offer me a guarantee on their old stock as by law they had to obey the consumer trade practices act.  I managed to buy some old Longines and Omegas which were from the early 1970's era for almost a quarter price of their original price tags but were al bulky and unattractive. 

 

My favorite was when I was on an overseas trip and stopped in an old shop in a town outside Rome in Italy back in 1992 and asked if he had any old stock from previous unsold items.  He thought I was the American in Paris with an open bank account and pulled out some 20 solid gold watches which were all New old stock with their original tags.  These were no ordinary gold watches but Omega Constellations from 1950's, Jaeger LeCoultre and Zeniths.  My jaw dropped when he said " you can have them all for just their weight in gold only and the watches come for free as these are all past glories.  I was a young graduate from Engineering school and had very little money after this holiday and only had enough change to buy a manual Zenith El sporto

[automatico]

"...pulled out some 20 solid gold watches which were all New old stock with their original tags.  These were no ordinary gold watches but Omega Constellations from 1950's, Jaeger LeCoultre and Zeniths.  My jaw dropped when he said " you can have them all for just their weight in gold only..."

 

It would have been nice to have a wad of $$ handy at the time!

I bought a couple nos 14k gold bracelets and a few watches from a rolex AD/repair guy in the mid 1990s.  They had a small rotating counter display with only two generic (unsigned) 14k bracelets left on it.  They wanted to get it out of the way so their repair guy weighed them and sold them to me for scrap value.  He also sold me a 14k Hamilton Van Horn Electric watch for scrap, around $40 or $50 iirc.  Still have it but it does not run.  Gold was about $390 per troy ounce then compared to $1200+ now.  He also sold me his like new rolex 16013 for $1200...said he only wore it a few times.  He had a 6263 Daytona for $1300 ($1600? can't remember) but it was all apart and he sold it to a traveling watch buying outfit before I could get it. 

 

I have a few gold watches that I bought years ago but the prices I paid back then were not really bargains then but are bargains now compared to today's gold watch prices.  One of my favorites is a 14k Mickey Mouse project watch that I put together using a 14k 1958 Bulova case and modern Disney MM dial with a Seiko/Hattori two hand movement.  Total cost was about $125 including a 14k Accutron buckle.  Mickey Mouse 'birthday' number 90 was November 18.

Mickey Mouse was 'born' November 18, 1928 according to The Walt Disney Company.

[horologist]

On 21 November 2018 at 2:18 PM, Timelord said:

 and pulled out some 20 solid gold watches which were all New old stock with their original tags.  These were no ordinary gold watches but Omega Constellations from 1950's, Jaeger LeCoultre and Zeniths.  My jaw dropped when he said " you can have them all for just their weight in gold only and the watches come for free as these are all past glories.  I was a young graduate from Engineering school and had very little money after this holiday and only 

I guess being in Italy they would have all been 18k gold!!   It must have been an Aladdin's cave for those like us!!! Back then this scenario would not have been uncommon especially in a place like that.  As you said no internet information like today!

 

Your situation of wrong timing back then would be something we all have experienced at some stage or perhaps all the time!!  Bargains and Golden ( excuse the pun) opportunities always occur when your finances are at their worst or after you have spent big on something you later regret for not postponing!

 

I notice that with solid gold timepieces they were not very popular with those into horology as they were seen as either jewellery or fragile!  I always liked them as they were actually more rugged than  expected , corrosion resistant and at least their scrap gold content would appreciate if the watch didn't!!

 

i recall that the Longines 18k solid gold cases were amongst the best and heaviest of all other gold watches made by other Swiss companies that passed my hands and also very under rated!!   I always had a soft spot for Longines!!  Unlike the Rolex presidential case and even  Patek Philippe that were almost hollow being just shells.  Sadly with our rising gold prices, gold models are now very difficult to find for similar prices of even 3 or 4 years ago!

[automatico]

"I recall that the Longines 18k solid gold cases were amongst the best and heaviest of all other gold watches made by other Swiss companies that passed my hands and also very under rated!!   I always had a soft spot for Longines!!  Unlike the Rolex presidential case and even  Patek Philippe that were almost hollow being just shells."

 

True.

In my experience, solid gold Longines and Bulova cases have the most gold of all the brands I am familiar with.  Rolex hogs out all the extra gold inside the case, even part way into the lugs, leaving two small 'stands' for casing screws to mount against.  A friend who worked in a rolex AD in the 1990s said you had to be very careful buffing gold rolex cases because by the time they had been buffed a few times, they were be getting pretty thin on the sides. 

 

Had a Patek 'Golden Ellipse' and it had a good amount of gold in the bracelet but the case was very thin.  It had a manual wind cal 23-300 movement and they supposedly have the reputation for being fragile as a baby's breath.  I do not know about that because I never wore it.  I gave scrap value for it in 1998 ($300 troz) and traded it for a nib rolex 16233 with factory diamond dial.  I never wore it either.  Now I see the occasional Go Elip going for $10k+.  They were a better deal at scrap rate.  Ha!

 

Have seen a lot of solid gold modern quartz watches with 'oinion skin' cases selling for $499 or so retail, they only have a few grams of gold in them.  You have to pull the crown/stem out and blow the crystal out with an air pump to change the battery. 

You can mash one flat with a brass hammer in three smacks.