Razio_20 on eBay from Spain - Anyone know him? And speculations on the source of melted watches

[kaplan]

https://www.ebay.com/str/razio20?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_tab=about

He's one of my favourite sellers for spare parts, and from his inventory, it's pretty safe to assume he melts watches - and I think it's 5-10 watches a month - among them C-Case's

I've messaged him asking to potentially buy some watches for slightly above melt value instead, but he doesn't reply, I'm wondering if anyone knows him and can connect / ask for this favor?

At the same time I really wonder what the source for all those watches could be, definitely not online

 

[JwRosenthal]

I’m willing to bet he’s not doing the scrapping- he is probably getting the movements/parts from pawn/“we buy gold” places he knows. I know a few people who have those relationships with local places to them.
It’s tragic to see lovely watches (particularly pocket watches with their massive gold cases) melted for scrap value. But it’s instant cash for them and trying to broker vintage watches (as you know) is a labor of love.
You may be served by trying to build relationships with any and all gold scrap/pawn places in your region (if you haven’t already) and let them know that if they take a breathe before ripping the watches apart and send you text pics of any and all gold watches they get through their doors, you can give them a quick yay/nay on if you want to buy it from them whole.
Sadly, some watches truly don’t have much market value above their scrap (ladies watches, overpolished cases, damaged dialed 2nd tier brands) and some with solid gold bracelets are just too tempting to melt (like Rolex day/date aka presidentials).