The proverbial “barn find”

janice&fred · Dec 23, 2019

speaking of cars, there is plenty of interesting old cars in Connecticut but the craziest find I ever witnessed was the original 60's 427 cobra sinking into the dirt on a coconut plantation on the island of leyte in the Philippines. when inquired where the missing engine and transmission was for the car, the land owner pointed to an old farm truck also semi-abandoned nearby. my inlaws bought the property for the sole purpose of getting these vehicles. the cobra and associated parts were promptly shipped to California and eventually sold. turns out it was originally bought in the USA by an American serviceman and shipped to Clark AFB when he was stationed there and somehow passed thru a few hands until it ended up on the plantation.

watchknut · Dec 23, 2019

janice&fred
speaking of cars, there is plenty of interesting old cars in Connecticut but the craziest find I ever witnessed was the original 60's 427 cobra sinking into the dirt on a coconut plantation on the island of leyte in the Philippines. when inquired where the missing engine and transmission was for the car, the land owner pointed to an old farm truck also semi-abandoned nearby. my inlaws bought the property for the sole purpose of getting these vehicles. the cobra and associated parts were promptly shipped to California and eventually sold. turns out it was originally bought in the USA by an American serviceman and shipped to Clark AFB when he was stationed there and somehow passed thru a few hands until it ended up on the plantation.

That is one of the coolest stories I’ve ever heard

janice&fred · Dec 23, 2019

watchknut
That is one of the coolest stories I’ve ever heard

yea too bad it wasn't MY find! the only car find I can report snagging lately is the beat up chevy cavalier currently in our driveway. 😀

dougwhiz · Dec 23, 2019

Larry S
It wouldn’t be entertaining if they were just blindly stumbling through hoarders barns unscripted. Pawn Stars ain’t real either.

Well at least Storage Wars isn't fake or scripted! 😉 Maybe I'll try wearing Barry's skeleton gloves...

Renton · Dec 24, 2019

Interesting topic for discussion! Would you guys consider this a strict ‘barn find’ or just a lucky find?

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/f...-worth-over-35000-for-599-at-phoenix-goodwill

eugeneandresson · Dec 24, 2019

Larry S

history channel

Wryfox · Dec 24, 2019

How 'bout just finding one in a parking lot?

Found this Universal Geneve when I was 11yrs old in a parking lot of the local supermarket. 1967.

Yes its gold, and it had been run over by a car so the gold band was damaged. As a kid I just threw the band away(pangs of pain now), and got a cool(to me) leather band for it. I remember payong $3 for the leather band at the local Woolworths, a lot of money for a kid, certainly at the time. I wore it all through Jr High school but thought I lost it before going to high school.

I found it again a few years ago in a box of my kid stuff from that era. Had been in the attic for 35yrs.

I still wear it occasionally, and it keeps 2 seconds/day. Amazing. The new band on it was given to me by a jeweler who I had look at it after I found it again. He said it was too nice not to have a nice band so he found one in his box of tricks and put it on, no charge. He and I became quite good friends (RIP Mario) so that was worth as much as finding the watch again after all these years.

janice&fred · Dec 24, 2019

Wryfox
How 'bout just finding one in a parking lot?

Found this Universal Geneve when I was 11yrs old in a parking lot of the local supermarket. 1967.

Yes its gold, and it had been run over by a car so the gold band was damaged. As a kid I just threw the band away(pangs of pain now), and got a cool(to me) leather band for it. I remember payong $3 for the leather band at the local Woolworths, a lot of money for a kid, certainly at the time. I wore it all through Jr High school but thought I lost it before going to high school.

I found it again a few years ago in a box of my kid stuff from that era. Had been in the attic for 35yrs.

I still wear it occasionally, and it keeps 2 seconds/day. Amazing. The new band on it was given to me by a jeweler who I had look at it after I found it again. He said it was too nice not to have a nice band so he found one in his box of tricks and put it on, no charge. He and I became quite good friends (RIP Mario) so that was worth as much as finding the watch again after all these years.

oh yea that would qualify as a lucky find! I too found an old watch when walking home from grammar school and it also had been run over by a car. nice enough old watch but not as desirable as the one you found. i'll have to dig it up and snap a pic or two later today 😀

STANDY · Dec 24, 2019

With anything do the miles get the smiles.

Most barn finds are people that go to that car boot sale that most didn’t know about.

I saved half the price on a new boat by telling a guy at work I didn’t know i was looking for a boat. Just so happens he was moving in 10 days and hadn’t sold his boat and mentioned he would be happy with half of what he paid. 3 weeks later the same happened with a trailer, a guy I didn’t know mentioned his misses told him he had a week to get his spare one out of the garage.
Talking to people works a treat.

Canuck · Dec 24, 2019

I was driving through a suburb of our city of about (at the time), one million people, approximately 30 miles from home. As driving, I noticed a car caddy by the side of the road, that had a for sale sign on it. I kept going. The following day, I got a phone call from a guy who had a grandfather clock that needed work. I took the address, and the following day, I gathered my tool kit and took off. I ended up at that VERY HOUSE where I had seen the car caddy for sale, two days earlier!

jaspers · Dec 24, 2019

STANDY
Talking to people works a treat.

Absolutely positively. Particularly when it concerns senior citizens. I come from a large family, and my parents (in their 60s) have tons of (second) cousins. It's been my experience that these folks have a lot of old watches in drawers, appreciate someone taking good care of them and enjoy their watches staying in the family. No need to scour barns, in my view 😁

jsducote · Dec 24, 2019

I think my only chance for a barn find is if I take a good thump to the head and then wander into my bedroom to discover my own watches again for the first time.

Or perhaps I can recreate the magic with tequila.

CPRwatch · Dec 24, 2019

While not exactly a barn find , as I don't think many watches are actually found in a barn .. Anyway this SmithS 6RG is about the best find I've ever had , picked it up in second hand shop ( no pun intended ) while I was looking at some old vinyl records , the owner of ths shop was talking to some other customers while... I waited to be served. So thought I would have a look at some other cabinets with items in & spotted the watch , price was £7.00 but did a deal with the records and paid £10.00 .And sent it off to my watchmaker for a check over & new crystal , So I think it pays to check out those little town shops, that may just have the proverbial barn find just waiting to be spotted by a discerning eye .

gefmey · Dec 24, 2019

Well not a "barn" find as it was at a nice antique show, but my best "in the wild" find. Thrown in with a bunch of misc. watches, and priced at sixty five. Well I didn't know if it was truly $65 or based on the show, a vastly overpriced Rolex Prince price of $6500, which would not be out of line at this show. How to solve it. Fortunately there was some other stuff that I could also ask the price of and combine. A grand total of $125. Success. It had a broken balance staff, but otherwise great. You just don't see these anymore.

noelekal · Dec 24, 2019

My first vintage watch came along in the early 1980s, sometime before 1983. A family member gave me an old World War II era side-opening .50 caliber ammo box filled with a bunch of old reloading equipment, thinking I'd use it in my shooting sports hobby. Rattling around in the bottom of the ammo box with the steel hand loading dies, steel tools and component bullets was a Glycine watch. Proved to be in a solid 18kt gold case. Even ran though it'd been lost within the ammo box for decades. Strap was a dry crust, but the watch ran when wound. The relative wasn't aware of its existence, having obtained the box of stuff from a long deceased son-in-law, but didn't want the watch when I offered to leave it with him.

The Glycine fired my interest in vintage watches.

Still have the Glycine and the ammo box and both are put to use.

On the occasion of the commencement of our youngest son's wedding.

janice&fred · Dec 24, 2019

oh man what a find. that's one snazzy looking glycine. love the hour hand!

Dan S · Dec 24, 2019

Renton
Interesting topic for discussion! Would you guys consider this a strict ‘barn find’ or just a lucky find?

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/f...-worth-over-35000-for-599-at-phoenix-goodwill

Not so lucky for the charity running the thrift store. I always feel a bit uncomfortable with these stories.

I guess it’s fine if you make a lucky score like this, but just shut up about it. You’re basically taking food out of the mouths of the people that the organization is trying to feed. Yes, I know that the finder claimed to make a donation afterwards, but who knows.

Dan S · Dec 24, 2019

Canuck
I was driving through a suburb of our city of about (at the time), one million people, approximately 30 miles from home. As driving, I noticed a car caddy by the side of the road, that had a for sale sign on it. I kept going. The following day, I got a phone call from a guy who had a grandfather clock that needed work. I took the address, and the following day, I gathered my tool kit and took off. I ended up at that VERY HOUSE where I had seen the car caddy for sale, two days earlier!

I googled “car caddy”, but that didn’t really help. Then I googled “car caddy Canada”, but still not much help. 😉

Is it some sort of a jack for moving a car?

Archer · Dec 24, 2019

Dan S
Not so lucky for the charity running the thrift store. I always feel a bit uncomfortable with these stories.

I guess it’s fine if you make a lucky score like this, but just shut up about it. You’re basically taking food out of the mouths of the people that the organization is trying to feed. Yes, I know that the finder claimed to make a donation afterwards, but who knows.

He is a member here, or was at the time this happened. I think he first posted about his find here actually...

https://omegaforums.net/threads/oh-yeah-that-just-f-ing-happened.20611/

Canuck · Dec 24, 2019

Dan S
I googled “car caddy”, but that didn’t really help. Then I googled “car caddy Canada”, but still not much help. 😉

Is it some sort of a jack for moving a car?

A car caddy is a two-wheeled trailer that is towed behind a truck. For use when towing a car. You drive the front (or rear) wheels onto the caddy and strap them in place. Hook up auxiliary tail lights to the truck and attach them magnetically to the trunk lid of the towed car, and away you go. If the front wheels of the towed vehicle are on the road, you have to secure the steering wheel. Sometimes called a “dolly”.

The proverbial “barn find”

janice&fred

watchknut

janice&fred

dougwhiz

Renton

eugeneandresson

Wryfox

janice&fred

STANDY

Canuck

jaspers

jsducote

CPRwatch

gefmey

noelekal

janice&fred

Dan S

Dan S

Archer

Canuck

Similar threads

Found this "Barn find" 2998-5 on Ebay

Heuer Carrera 110.573 barn find

Barn find - Universal Geneve FS "Ferrovie dello Stato" MK2

Speedmaster 145.022 - 69 barn find

(Not a) Barn Find 145.022-69

Barn Find