Salesmen samples...what is their value?

Recently I’ve seen more and more “salesman samples” appear on eBay. Presumably these were popular in yesteryears to allow traveling salesmen and small shops to sell watches to the public. They didn’t have movements which I suppose meant that the salesman wouldn’t be tempted to sell it and it could remain a sample. Now we see these pop up in excellent condition as they were never worn. I’ve read posts about people getting movements to fit into these watches but issues come up since the crown and pushers were glued into the samples. What is the feeling on this? Are these being bought as future frankenwatches? I was watching this Benrus and thought it could be an interesting project but at the price it went for it seems like it isn’t as good of a value. Finding a donor Valjoux 72 isn’t so hard but finding one with a GMT function (724) is harder and more expensive. Then finding a Benrus bridge for the movement is going to be next to impossible. I suppose if you already had a Benrus 2446 this would be great to swap into your existing watch.

What about bezel, case and hands value to a Heuer collector. I think the bezel is worth a pretty substantial amount.

That’s true. I’m sure the bezel would fetch big money if they part this out. The case does have a serial number though and it would be somewhat unscrupulous knowing that it never belonged to a Heuer watch should it appear on Instagram as a NOS unpolished Heuer 2446. The hands are in excellent shape and the dial would also fetch money if being sold to a Benrus 2446 owner.

I kind of agree but reality is so far removed from that idea. For sure there’s “something” wrong with converting it into a “NOS” Heuer, and absolutely wrong if then that is passed off as original hen sold. But if this is turned to a running Benrus then I think that’s fair. Hoping something like this would remain a salesman’s sample is wishful thinking.