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Vintage gold watches in line for scrap?

ghce
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lindo lindo
When to sell gold is the rub.

A year ago I sold off a collection of gold coins that I had lost interest in, and the gold price then was attractive - or so I thought. What a bad decision.

But it has been the case all my long life that gold will always keep going up. So my advice is not to sell any gold until you absolutely have to. I wish I had followed it myself!
Gold prices only ever go up!

Rather than selling gold the smart financial choice is to always BUY gold, even if it costs more than the current market rate as it will assuredly increase in value just about more rapidly than any other traditional investment and all of course with zero risk!!!

I think people who sell gold are nuts, trade it yes, for more profit ie to buy more gold.
 
padders
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ghce ghce
Gold prices only ever go up!

Rather than selling gold the smart financial choice is to always BUY gold, even if it costs more than the current market rate as it will assuredly increase in value just about more rapidly than any other traditional investment and all of course with zero risk!!!

I think people who sell gold are nuts, trade it yes, for more profit ie to buy more gold.
This is nonsense and not born out by fact, metal prices do go down, and there is nothing to say they won't this time too. If prices only ever went up we in the UK wouldn't still talk about the idiocy of Gordon Brown who sold off 80% of the UK gold reserves at the lowest point for about 40 years. You could argue persuasively that the long term trend is up, but if you buy on a spike it could be years before the market catches back up and if you need the money, you can't always wait. Also further to my earlier point, while it is an investment (though one it should be noted that doesn't pay a dividend), you can't easily spend it without converting to Fiat money first. Yes the UK Sovereign is legal tender, but buys exactly 100 pence of goods if used that way.

That said, I am a buyer not seller at present, though it pays to be aware of the risk of a serious market fall and not spend money you can't afford to lose.
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Evitzee
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ghce ghce
Gold prices only ever go up!

Rather than selling gold the smart financial choice is to always BUY gold, even if it costs more than the current market rate as it will assuredly increase in value just about more rapidly than any other traditional investment and all of course with zero risk!!!

I think people who sell gold are nuts, trade it yes, for more profit ie to buy more gold.
Nah, let's look at the last 50 years, gold in 1975 was $160/oz, now it's $4,200, an annualized return of 6.75%. If you had invested that $160 in the S&P 500 and reinvested all the dividends you would have $54,168 today, 12.2%/ yr. The smart financial choice over the long haul are in equities and not the yellow metal. It is foolish to think there is no risk in buying gold, but there can be long periods where it does nothing, or goes down.
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noelekal
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There are foreign gold coins on hand here in the amount of a pound in weight. These are outside a small numismatic collection of US gold coins. I am not emotionally vested in the foreign coins, however at 100 to 400 years old they offer historical interest and so many are of stunningly beautiful designs. Mostly British guineas, sovereigns, and fractionals, but also other European coins are represented.

The last time I purchased some of them it was off of Ebay in about 2001-2002 when gold was $267 per ounce. Infrequently, a common date sovereign or half sovereign could be bought from an Ebay seller for slightly less than melt value back then. I could sell now and clean up, but don't need the inflation ridden dollars so am happy to keep them squirreled away. Besides, I enjoy dragging them out to view George III's mug and the spade device on the reverse side, Queen Victoria's young portrait and St. George slaying the dragon, or else pleasing representations of Napoleon, roosters, Swiss misses, double-headed eagles and whatnot.


I am a rather hopeless collector at heart.
 
Evitzee
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Numismatic coins are far different than buying modern bullion coins for gold investment.
 
Larry S
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I get it… you wear an Apple Watch or no watch, inherit a gold watch from gramps or dad and want to head straight for the “cash for gold” place. A nagging voice says, “get a second opinion” or not. I guess those annoying posts we get are not always in vain.
 
Evitzee
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Larry S Larry S
I get it… you wear an Apple Watch or no watch, inherit a gold watch from gramps or dad and want to head straight for the “cash for gold” place. A nagging voice says, “get a second opinion” or not. I guess those annoying posts we get are not always in vain.
Who are you addressing? And your point is?
 
Larry S
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Evitzee Evitzee
Who are you addressing? And your point is?
Not you. Why so crabby?
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Vercingetorix
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ghce ghce
Gold prices only ever go up!

Rather than selling gold the smart financial choice is to always BUY gold, even if it costs more than the current market rate as it will assuredly increase in value just about more rapidly than any other traditional investment and all of course with zero risk!!!

I think people who sell gold are nuts, trade it yes, for more profit ie to buy more gold.

IMG_8482.webp
 
padders
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In the course of my day job today, a business acquaintance of mine produced 2 small dull cast yellow bars from his safe, each about the size of a wad of notes and commented that each was worth around the GBP equivalent of $200k, they each weigh somewhere between a kilo and 2 tops. The world has gone clean mad.

Auric Goldfinger's solid gold Rolls Royce car would have been worth hundreds of millions if melted down today.
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BlueBoy
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A different way of looking at this issue, would be that Gold essentially stays at the same value, it is just currency that either goes up or down relative to Gold.
 
Waltesefalcon
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BlueBoy BlueBoy
A different way of looking at this issue, would be that Gold essentially stays at the same value, it is just currency that either goes up or down relative to Gold.
I didn't really get into precious metals until the interest my savings account no longer kept up with inflation. I decided that putting money into gold, silver, and platinum that could easily be bought and sold at melt value was the way to go. Now I have a safety deposit box instead of a savings account.
 
C
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It’s not a fun thought, all those beautiful watches being picked apart and melted down…
 
cristos71
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Absolute carnage in the vintage woman's small watches world, I've never seen so many movements/hands/dial sets for sale

And I'd think in the men's vintage watch world there will also be an extinction event going on. I mean here there are already discussions about scrapping good starter solid gold Omega's. I have seen it myself as I mentioned in another thread, where I was too slow to a great vintage jumbo Seamaster chronometre which was sold to a gold scrapper.

All those other brands with slightly less street cred are likely toast by now.
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GuiltyGear
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cristos71 cristos71
Absolute carnage in the vintage woman's small watches world, I've never seen so many movements/hands/dial sets for sale

Where I live it's a bloodbath, and I imagine it's the same everywhere. Watch dealers now are laser focused in gold. Movements are being sold by the bucket.

Someone had a 168.045, beautiful condition (from photos) including the 18k integrated bracelet. Had removed the stem with pliers. Only sent it to a watchmaker when they learnt the dial was gold too. Absolute travesty.
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lindo
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Another example. I bought this with original papers and box from an OF member only a couple of years ago for a fair market price. The gold value now easily exceeds that price - but there is no way it goes for scrap1

IMG_1506.webp
 
noelekal
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This thread reminds me of a dumb crook news item I read probably 20 years ago. Seems this particular dumb crook stole a Purdey side by side shotgun then valued at £17,000, mutilated it by sawing off the barrels, and used it to rob a liquor store, netting about £700.
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Tony C.
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Here's an amusing connection. I offered a watch for sale in October of 2021 on this forum. A beautiful, and very rare example of an exceptionally well-preserved 18k CYMA "sports" watch. The case is thick and heavy.

No one bought it. Since that time, gold is up ~133% (in USD).

So, I must thank the OF community for having taken a collective pass! 😂

Seriously, though, I'd be sick if a watch of this quality were to have been melted for scrap.

link to the original listing:

18k CYMA
 
C
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Tony C. Tony C.
Here's an amusing connection. I offered a watch for sale in October of 2021 on this forum. A beautiful, and very rare example of an exceptionally well-preserved 18k CYMA "sports" watch. The case is thick and heavy.

No one bought it. Since that time, gold is up ~133% (in USD).

So, I must thank the OF community for having taken a collective pass! 😂

Seriously, though, I'd be sick if a watch of this quality were to have been melted for scrap.

link to the original listing:

18k CYMA
It was a pearl for swines.
 
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