A couple weeks ago I happened upon the following watch on Ebay: http://www.ebay.fr/itm/191919256127...a90ba9af0cc&bu=44154622036&cp=1&sojTags=bu=buPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network We've seen one of those dials before, it clearly looks like opal - the whole thing another perfect embodiment of art deco, and without thinking or calculating too much I ask the seller if he /she can show a picture of the movement and case back and indicate whether the case is marked "Longines". Lo and behold, the seller responds a week later… thanking me for having led to the discovery that the case is actually 18K gold. He/she had promptly sold the case to the watchmaker to be melted, but if I was interested I could have the rest for 131 dollars !! (why not 130, I never asked). Given that the case back had indeed been marked Longines I told the seller the watch was only interesting to me as a whole and suggested they go and try to retrieve the case. I just heard it's not possible. I can't quite believe anyone would think the dial and movement have any value without the case. In truth, it wasn't the best time for me to spend on this… and there are much worse disasters in the world… still a shame though.
The most saddening is that the melt value is often nothing compared to the value of the complete watch. They just do not know..... Lack of knowledge on the value of vintage watches, and the ease of not having to sell the thing as a whole, leads to many watch cases being melted. Gold brings out the greed in many persons, and the greed of the gold value leads very often to a very unwise decision. Unwise also in terms of money. A wristwatch case often contains but a few grams of gold. The melt price is not that good. Let's say a watch case contains 10 grams of 18K gold (that is quite a lot for a watch case). That could land you about USD250-300 on a good day. Do the maths compared to what good vintage watches are selling for.
In the grand scheme of things again it's just a watch, but what saddens me is the level of ignorance, the failure of transmission, the lack of respect and appreciation for art, beauty and history. Those are the engines of much worse ills. I'm reading the Agatha Christie novel "Murder in Mesopotamia", the action is set on the dig of Niniveh in Irak and in it she describes archeological practices of the time (I think she was in fact married to an archeologist and followed him around?). Local workers who found gold objects were paid the value of the weight in gold as an incentive to turn in the pieces -- so they would be preserved for history and study instead of diverted and sold off. I thought she could not have made it up and it had to be true.
Very true indeed. What would (and does) also happen is that objects of great historic value are being stolen. They have no value on the open market (since they are unique), and are consequently melted. The source of the gold can (normally) never be traced. Of course it can sometimes, unintentionally, lead to good things if a gold artefact is stolen. http://gemini.no/en/2014/05/viking-raids-protected-precious-artefacts-2/
I am friends with a couple pawn brokers. From time to time I will stop in the shops and ask if they have anything interesting. At one shop I usually can pick up a nice pocket watch movemet that came out of a gold case that was sent off to the scrap pile. It all depends on the weight of the case large heavy gold pocket watch cases go to the scrap pile. It is a shame to scrap the watch. For me it works well. I get some nice movements for a low cost. Every now and then I am able to pickup a decent gold watch for myself. Several times I picked up some very nice womens jewelery for my wife at scrap value. I am always amazed at all the stuff they scrap. Several pounds of gold at a time go off the scrap pile. As far as the pawn brokers go it's all about $$$
Pity! I recently bid on a 24-jewel Illinois Bunn Special, 16-size, in a beautiful 14-karat hunter case. Perfect double-sunk vitreous enamel dial. Case weighed 62 grams, with the springs. It came to me from a jeweller who wanted the movement removed as the case was being sold for scrap, and the movement was destined for someone else. I offered good money for it, but the seller was committed!
Guess the $131 was stretching it. Now back to $130. Sent him a message saying not a rare movement, not 1930's (19.4 introduced in 1953 and serial number on this one places it around 1956), and overall would be worth a lot more if came with original case. A shame. http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLLECTIBLE...MOSAIC-OPAL-Dial-1930-Movement-/191942505549?Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network