Learning How To Fish: The Under $50 Collection

Please be careful... most people who play-down the risks are old enough not to care !

Face masks and gloves on, storing it till the weekend when I have daylight to work with 😀

Just paid for and just over the $50 range. Anyone know what this is? Maybe a mityoyo movement. Should be here in a couple of days.

Paid 8 usd for this one but needed a service

$28. Running well, clean and oiled.i added the strap.

$50 Tissot, running. $30 Cyma, not running.

The Cyma is the better value I think 😀

Perhaps. The bottom right lug is worn more than the rest, & a really ugly solder job has been done on the bottom bar. I think it will clean up well though. I suspect the movt. only needs a new mainspring & service. If all that comes true, I'll agree with you.

What a great thread. I've been bitten by the watch collecting bug and came home with "GOLD". For the past year I've been searching eBay, other online sources, and every thrift store, flea market, and estate sale I can get to. The other day while visiting one of my regular stops another customer asked me why I was looking at watches. After explaining my illness as a result of being bitten by the watch collecting bug, he said he had just purchased an old watch and asked if i was interested. Of course! He showed me a vintage Omega that I knew nothing about. We settled on a price just under $20. Here is what I got.
I know this is not typical but if i was hooked before, then I've just been harpooned by this hobby. I think this is a case of persistence and just chasing those rare finds which is a major part of the hobby.

Now off to discover the other part of the hobby, learning what this watch is all about. Along the way I hope to discover a brand of watches I never took time to learn because I never thought I would own one.

Estate sale find. $2 70s?

Looks to be a stainless steel with a 30T2PC movement dating to 1944. Very nice for the price, if you can take a picture of the markings on the caseback for further reference and identification. A service IS required so please let us know where you're located and we can refer you to excellent vintage watchmakers who are sympathetic in maintaining original condition.


Funky, late 60s to 70s for sure. Check the bottom of the dial to see if it says 'SWISS' as Benrus, Bulova and Waltham all started using movements from other locations during this time. Not that is that is necessarily bad, it can make for some eclectic watch collections 😀

Edit: this is an incoming of mine, bought for parts and same dial font as yours with a UTC movement. A quick search shows that these are Japanese Seiko movements!

No country at the bottom of the dail. I'll pop the back off soon. Get the movement info. Seems to be keeping time.
UT30C movement

From Russia with love ....10 euros at my local fleamarket. Automatic movement and still works fine.

I love this thread. It is great .

Picked up this little gem at a thrift store for $5 . 14k solid gold.

Accutron $5 at an antique show in a bucket of junk. Needs a bit of poly watch but I like it.

1975 Caravelle Devil Diver . Found for $20

After a day of yard saling and finding no watches, much to my wife and daughter's dismay, late yesterday afternoon, I stopped into a local auction house about 5 mins after the auction's start. Obviously, we were running blind, with no checking of the goods pre-sale. We had no more than gotten our number and found seats, the girls were still grousing that they hate auctions cuz the bidding goes up and you can't "dicker down" like at a yard sale when the auctioneer announced the next item for bid was a box of "old watches". I look at my wife and she made a face, like you better get these. He started the bid at $50, but got no takers. He asked who would give him $20 and no one raised a hand. When he said, "Then start me off at $10.", I made sure my hand was up first and high in the air. My bid was acknowledged and after some asking for $12.50, I was declared the high bidder and the runner brought the box and it's contents to me. These 5 are the best of the lot. The 2 on the top are running and have kept perfect time for 26 hours. Both seem to go for about $45 on eBay. The gray dialed one may be from around 1979 and the white dialed is from 1975. I think it is still a Marlin model. The electric in the middle needs a battery and seems to have sold for a bit over $20 on eBay. The two earlier Marlins don't work, I can't even pull out the crown and have probably taken in water, but others have sold for parts, so I will try to sell these as such also. I am fishing and then selling off my catch so I can afford another Omega. A bit different than some, but aren't we all? ;-)

McK

I did the under $200 collection for a while. While you can get legit watches for under $200 the selection may be unsatisfactory. I do think you can still be a happy Omega vintage collector at the $500 price point - some "ck" Seamasters still at that price point as well as newer Geneves and all the Devilles and cosmics you can shake a stick at.