4um: Turtle's $80 watch now worth $15.00

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
All is Vanity
See other All is Vanity Articles
Title: Turtle's $80 watch now worth $15.00
Source: [None]
URL Source: [None]
Published: Mar 28, 2012
Author: Turtle
Post Date: 2012-03-28 13:52:04 by Turtle
Keywords: None
Views: 192
Comments: 8

Since high school I have always bought Timex watches. Then one day (I guess they've been made in China for a long time) I bought one and the stem pulled out that day.
So I bought an $80 Seiko quartz watch, which lasted 23 years until the stem pulled out. I had it repaired.
Yesterday it stopped running, so I had the battery replaced. It's got on of those screw-on backs that only a jeweler can take off. It cost $19. When I asked the jeweler how much the watch was worth these days, he said, "About $15."
Still, the watch has lasted me 25 years, so I plan on keeping it.
Gee, I thought the value of the watch would go up. I guess not.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Turtle (#0)
Quartz watches, back when you bought it, were the watch of the future, relatively new technology.
Like everything else electronic, the price has dropped through the floor.
You must have a nice one or it wouldn't even be worth $5.

TooConservative posted on 2012-03-28 14:55:12 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#2. To: TooConservative (#1)
Like everything else electronic, the price has dropped through the floor.

This is a high-end store. I was looking at the price of some watches...Gucci, etc. I thought, "You have got to be kidding."
Not just five hundred or six hundred dollars, but several thousand dollars.
"You shall have fun, no matter what you do." -- Turtle
Turtle posted on 2012-03-28 15:04:02 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#3. To: Turtle (#0)
Curiously, I will be taking my Seiko quartz railroad watch in for a new battery today...must be that time of year.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson

Lod posted on 2012-03-28 15:22:02 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#4. To: Lod (#3)
Curiously, I will be taking my Seiko quartz railroad watch in for a new battery today...must be that time of year.

I'm going to buy one of those little tools that screws that back of the watch off. The battery probably only costs $5.00, so I was charged about $14 to take the back of the watch off.
"You shall have fun, no matter what you do." -- Turtle
Turtle posted on 2012-03-28 15:24:27 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#5. To: Turtle (#0)
thought the value of the watch would go up. I guess not.

Mass-produced by the millions, no precious metal: nope, won't even hold it's original retail price. But Seiko's are very serviceable and durable watches, even the quartz models. Eventually the quartz movement will give up the ghost and that'll be that, most quartz movements are doing good to get 15 years. You've exceeded the average by a significant margin, that's the excellent Seiko engineering going on right there on your wrist.
Rarity, collectibility, and precious metals content (white gold/rose gold/yellow gold/platinum) determine whether or not a watch will appreciate.

“With the exception of Whites, the rule among the peoples of the world, whether residing in their homelands or settled in Western democracies, is ethnocentrism and moral particularism: they stick together and good means what is good for their ethnic group."
-Alex Kurtagic
X-15 posted on 2012-03-28 15:44:46 ET (1 image) Reply Trace Private Reply
#6. To: X-15 (#5)
DO YOU KNOW WHAT PATEK PHILIPPE'S COST?!?!?
"You shall have fun, no matter what you do." -- Turtle
Turtle posted on 2012-03-28 15:46:45 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#7. To: Turtle (#6)
Yes, I do:

It tends to mesmerize the ladies, something that I did not anticipate :-)
“With the exception of Whites, the rule among the peoples of the world, whether residing in their homelands or settled in Western democracies, is ethnocentrism and moral particularism: they stick together and good means what is good for their ethnic group."
-Alex Kurtagic
X-15 posted on 2012-03-28 15:48:55 ET (1 image) Reply Trace Private Reply
#8. To: Turtle (#0) (Edited)
I have a Seiko that cracked it's crystal when I fell 43 feet to the pavement and nearly died. It still works great. It is an 1970s Seiko I've had for decades. It has the days of the week in English and French, and I got it when I lived as a young teenager in Quebec.
I actually have a Rolex I inherited a long time ago, but I keep it in a safety deposit box with all my U.S. coinage that is worth too much to keep laying around.
I wore it in the service, and when I was arrested once as alias me when someone was using my I.D. for traffic stops and speant four days in jail before they cleared that up after new year's day weekend, they grilled me several times as to who the actual owner of the watch was.
My Dad who was an officer in the Navy in WW II got it as a gift from my great Granddad, but try to tell that to cops. Guess they felt the VW bug, my long hair and the watch was not a match. ;-)

Ferret posted on 2012-03-28 16:14:50 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

Freedom4um