Hi,

I was wondering if you could help me. For months now I've been looking around for an accurate valuation of the watch that belonged to my great grandmother. It is an 18K gold wristwatch dated circa 1945-1952, has rubies and seems like it has never been opened.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/173968986229

The problem I've had so far is that it's not 'in fashion'. Therefore auction houses don't factor the historial value of the piece, just that the market isn't strong at the moment, and only offer what it's worth as scrap ie its gold content and the rubies.

I've been looking for particular buyers, people that collect these kind of watches and value the piece for its worth. But I realised I'm not looking at the right places - especially eBay, which is full of fake accounts willing to waste people's time.

I was wondering if you could help me, with your experience and knowledge, to give me an idea of what is a realistic price I could ask for the watch, and where do you think I could find the right buyer. It has a massive emotional value to my family and selling it has been a difficult decision, but unfortunately we have to. And thought your impartial, expert advice would be invaluable to help us selling it to the right person.

Many thanks

 

I'm sorry to hear you have to let go a piece of your family. Sadly for those piece the current value is the scrap value. Like you mentioned yourself. Collectors look for great example in really good condition. Sadly looking at this piece the dial looks damaged, the case and bracelet is in good shape.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, maybe try to keep the watch and sell something with a bigger current market.
Please keep in mind that you aren't allowed to sell a Watch here, before reaching 200 posts.

 

As said the money in this is scrap gold content.

I would have the rubies removed and sell them seperate to maximise your return. ( or keep them and have them made into something in the future. This might appease the family also. )

 

The “massive emotional value” to your family will not result in someone making an offer that would please you, unfortunately. The tongue on the buckle indicates that the case and bracelet might be made of 18-karat gold. The links are hollow in the bracelet, so the apparent weight of the case and bracelet are misleading. You asked about help in “selling it to the right person”. You seem to have had difficulty finding the “right person”. How do you think we might be able to help in that regard. In a generally depressed collectables market, ladie’s watches have suffered the most, unfortunately.

 

As others have said the watch's value to anyone is the scrap value.of the gold, there is no horological value here. If you have the weight in grams of the total piece we can give you an approximate value of the contained gold to help you negotiate the value you will receive from any scrap dealer if you go that route. Most jewelry and dress style women's watches don't have a ready secondary market unless it is from Tiffany, Cartier and the like. Unfortunately Omega just doesn't fit that grade.

 

Im afraid no one here can help you find the right person. Those watches have unfortunately no market value beyond gold content.

 

This is really helpful, thank you all so much for your responses. Even though is not what my family's looking for, it really helps that you all agree on the same - that we should be objective and only expect the gold scrap value if we want to sell them.

 

Scrap gold value only, the rubies, cut as they are will add nothing unfortunately. Auction houses generally know what they are doing. Don’t forget to subtract the weight of the movement, crystal, dial, crown and stones in your estimation of weight. You probably think the market is crazy, but bear in mind in real terms the gold is worth way more today than when the watch was made. It has likely appreciated in value (even after factoring in inflation) purely on the gold value.