Let's say in your quest for the planet's finest unearthed watches you come across a local man who has a very rare and very valuable watch which you desperately want to add to your collection, or perhaps sell for profit. Let's say, in this example, and amazingly patinated untouched 2915-1.

When it comes time to talk dollars... He confides he does not know what it's worth. He paid $150 for the watch when he bought it new in 1958. He then says to you, "I will pay what you think is fair. What do you think?"

EDIT: this thread is purely for entertainment purposes. I am in no such situation. Curious to hear honest responses. Many are saying do the "right thing". Well, what is the right thing? I have also removed the word "elderly" from the description of the man to keep the question purely about value. [emoji41]

 

In said situation you'd have to be pretty low to take full advantage of someone's trust and ignorance.

 

I think it's a shame anyone has to ask.
Do the right thing.

 

Why not offer to sell the watch and split the money?

 

Of course. This thread is purely for entertainment. I am in no such situation. So what would you do?

 

Of course. This thread is purely for entertainment. I am in no such situation. So what is the "right" thing?

 

I would tell him because I couldn't enjoy owning it if I had known he was unaware of its value. Even if I was unaware of its value and bought it for next to nothing then I would have to tell him. If it was a shop then tough titties I would have no problem keeping the watch

 

The right thing is to tell him to the best of your knowledge what similar watches have sold for at auction and then make him what you think is a reasonable offer of an amount that you would be able/willing to spend.

He then has to weigh up whether or not he wants the hassle and risk of selling the watch himself and if he isn't greedy, he may recognise the same quality in you and be very happy to sell to you at the price you have suggested.

People are generally decent and respond well to being treated with honesty and decency.

 

It really is simple. Offer him $50,000 and you will both be happy. Now you have outed it, if you low-ball him, you will be seen as a pariah in the watch community. Alternatively, tell him what it is worth and graciously accept whatever he offers you in return for you using your contacts to get him the best price. Here in the UK, we would term that as him offering you "a drink".

 

Simple. Treat others as you want to be treated, and do not compromise your integrity.

A few years ago, i was traveling with my family to Malaysia, I sat in the aisle seat and noticed a few rows down, an older gentleman with a Comex Sea Dweller. WIS would understand why we notice these things. As we deplaned, i chased that man down, caught up to him post customs and asked about his watch. Turns out he was a diver for Comex a few decades ago. As we were both rushing to our connections, we simply exchanged cards. Wife thought i was nuts.

He emailed me a few weeks later with some pictures, and said that an AD offered to trade him a new SD for it. He sent along some pics of the watch and his history with it. He wanted to sell it to raise funds for retirement. I told him what it was worth, pointed him to some recent Antiquroum auctions, and offered him $10k (with the caveat that it is well below market). He asked me to help him contact Antiquorum, i did, and he auctioned the watch off there.

He sent me a nice note thanking me for providing the info. While I lament that i do not have a Comex SD from an original owner, I am glad he was able to get full value for it and put those funds to great use.

Here is the last correspondence i had from him

Dear Alfred,
Have just received the message below which I know you will be interested in.

This is the company that you kindly sent me the details of, based in New York.

So just want to sincerely thank you for your assistance and hope that some time in the future I can buy you a drink in Langkawi.

Cheers,

xxx.



-----Original Message-----

From: xxx@antiquorum.com

Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 8:40 PM

To: xxx

Subject: Re: Comex Sea Dweller



xxx,
Thanks a lot for your message and pictures. According to the pictures I assume it is a Comex Reference 16660 with a Matt dial, circa 1980-1985......

Depending on overall condition I would estimate the watch to be worth in the range of $ 40-60'000 I would love to feature it in one of my upcoming auctions Let me know your thoughts xxx




alf

 

A question of ethics. You are in the dry cleaning business. A customer drop off a suit. You go through the pockets and find a $100 bill. Now for the ethics part. Do you tell your partner?

Still thinking about the XVI

 

Amazing post. You mean there are things in life more gratifying than money (or watches?) ;-)

 

Laughed out loud for real

 

regarding many rolex mil.subs : the story often was, that the SAS guys dropped it in for a service later in life and got a quote, they could not afford. then they were offered a brand new rolex submariner in exchange and most thought, the guy who offered that, was nuts and took the deal. and both sides were fine. maybe unless the quite unlikely twist, that a newspaper reported an auction result of pounds 60,000.00. anyway, there is something like karma. offer your assistance and see, if you can get it for yourself for a figure, you can look into the mirror with..... kind regards. achim

 

[QUOTE=" and both sides were fine. maybe unless the quite unlikely twist, that a newspaper reported an auction result of pounds 60,000.00. anyway, there is something like karma. offer your assistance and see, if you can get it for yourself for a figure, you can look into the mirror with..... kind regards. achim[/QUOTE]

This is the direction I was hoping to go in this thread. The original post made it a little too easy. But in a case like this... Was the Guy offering the new Rolex in the wrong? Shouldn't he have explained the value to the new owner?

It brings up interesting questions. in a garage sale, (or at A Thrift Store) a speedmaster is for sale with a $100 sticker on it. Where is the moral line drawn? Is it your responsibility to mention that the value is $10,000 more before you buy it?

Edit: typo

 

I must admit that it took some resolve to do this. Greed in the hunt for a WIS trophy is strong

 

That's what I'm getting at. So far 100% of responders have said they would pay at or near auction value ... I have a hard time believing everyone reading this thread feels that way.

And if someone would pay a seller less because they are not aware of the value....I'm not judging at all. It happens on a smaller scale often.

For example, a seller has a Navitimer 806 for sale. He does research and sees identical watches selling for 5k. He lists at 6k. Someone takes one look at the watch and realizes there's a R72 inside and the value is 10k++. He pays the 6k and gets his Grail. Is that wrong? Same concept....

Who's job is it to educate an uneducated seller?

 

A number of years ago, I got a phone call from a fellow who had a Patek watch he wanted my opinion on. There was a carpetbagger in town wanting to buy watches, jewellery, gold, silver, etc. etc. He intended to take the Patek and see what they might offer, but he wanted to be prepared. I thought the watch looked odd, and asked him if the dial had ever been replaced. It hadn't. I took out my collectors guide and found the watch. The unusual dial that piqued my interest was vitreous enamel with applied markers. This was at the time the only automatic wind gent's wrist watch to have ever been produced with a vitreous enamel dial! The case was 18-karat yellow gold on a croc strap. The book value at the time was $8,000.00! I put a bookmark in my collector's guide, put the guide into a brown paper bag, and loaned him the guide. I told him to take the watch and get their best offer on it, and to pull out the guide if necessary.

The following day, he phoned me and asked if I was going to be home. He had something for me! He arrives with a bottle of excellent single malt scotch, my guide, and his story.

The best they would do for him was $1,500.00 (Cdn.). He pulled out the book, and walked away with $5,000.00! Was he happy? Had I been the devious type, I might have anticipated the low ball offer and told him I'd up their best offer by $500.00. Coulda bought it, like, cheap! What do you do? That's what I did, and maybe I'm a fool for having a conscience!

 

I agree with what others have said, do the right thing. I wouldn't feel so bad if it were a thrift store find (see "yeah that just happened thread")

I'm sure there are some that would take the other path, but if you were to do that, you certainly shouldn't be posting about it on a web forum..

 

My best deals have all come through eBay and in all cases have been BIN purchase from listings by either watch dealers, pawn shops or antique dealers.
My conscience is clear on all of those purchases because they were all "in the trade", eBay is too easy to use for research/reference on current pricing (which they didn't do), they chose their price and decided not to give themselves a potential upside (BIN rather than standard auction) and presumably they all made a decent profit in a very short time frame (within minutes of listing). I do feel for whoever traded or sold the watches to them prior to that but again research isn't hard these days and I doubt anyone even considered spending that little extra time on getting a second opinion.

The one time I missed out on a sensational deal was after paying for a BIN auction with a private seller. Someone else saw the completed auction and posted it immediately on WUS as 'deal of the decade'. Another member of WUS decided that it was their 'duty' to contact the eBay seller, who decided to refund my payment and relist as a standard auction.
I was pretty upset at the time but my lack of sympathy for the seller only grew with the stupid excuses that they kept feeding me.

If I ever noticed someone out in public then, if they were happy to talk, I'd be more than happy to research their watches value for them.
I also wouldn't feel bad about offering them a price that saw us both happy but was less than market value if I fully disclosed that fact and wanted to keep it myself.

There are dealers local to me that have adverts out in the local press offering guaranteed amounts for certain watches that are ridiculously low.
I used to enjoy "American Pickers" (and I know it's all faked up for TV) but the attitude of "You've got to understand we're pickers and we need some meat left on the bones" is just wrong, in my book, when they've rocked up unannounced on someone's doorstep and been politely offered to be shown around.


Bit of a mixed up reply, I know . But those were some of the thoughts that went through my head .