Guy tries to sell watch for $9.95, gets $66,100

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#1
Guy Tries to Sell Watch for $9.95, Gets $66,100



That smiling white-haired guy with the wine glass is Bob, a Navy doctor who put his watch for sale on eBay for $9.95. He got it cheap at a Navy Exchange fifty-two years ago. The final auction price: $66,100.

The reason isn't that Bob and his watch got to party with Superman (yes, that's Christoper Reeve). It's a lot better than that.

Soon after posting it in eBay, the price skyrocketed to $30,000. After talking with his son, they found out that the watch was a collector's item coveted by watch nutters all over the world: The Rolex Submariner Ref 5510, nicknamed the Bond Rolex because Sean Connery wore the same model in Dr. No, Goldfinger and Thunderball. Bob's Submariner is not the actual watch used by Bond, however. He bought it on a Navy Exchange on a lost rock called Kwajalien Atoll.

He's probably very happy with the sale, but I'm sure the buyer is much happier: The same watch with a different wristband was sold for $100,000 at an auction in 2008.
That is insane. Any of you guys got anything you bought cheaply and later found out was worth something? When I began collecting all of Prince's albums on CD, I bought the album "Around The World In A Day" from 1985, at a local indie music store used for like, £5.99 or something like that. Later on I discovered that my copy was actually a rare German release where the actual disc was gold colored when everywhere else it was silver. Checked the catalog number on the spine to confirm and it matched. It's sold for over £300 in the past. That's nothing compared to this watch guy though, lol.
 

Flipmo

VIP Member
Staff member
#2
I don't know if I have anything like that personally, my grand-father maybe left some stuff, but I haven't looked through yet.

Reminds me of the show Pawn Stars, or The Pickers on the History Channel. People come in with random coins thinking it's worth a 100$, end up finding out it's worth 5000 lol.
 

Jokerman

Well-Known Member
#8
Didn't mean to spoil the thread. I should have known the haters would come out in force after that little Prince joke.

So, back to the thread. Yeah, that's great luck. I've sold some DVDs and CDs that I've bought cheap that sold for like $50, but never had something that was so rare as that watch. One of my friends works in the antique business and when some old person dies and either there's no one to claim their stuff or the relatives don't even bother to look, they call used furniture dealers to just take a quick look and make an offer. Well my friend went to one of these apartments to pick up the stuff and found a stash of comics with Action #1, the first Superman issue ever. I was like GTFO! That shit is worth anywhere from $200,000 to at least $800,000.
 

Rukas

Capo Dei Capi
Staff member
#9
When I was a kid I bought a cheap swiss army knife knock off of for $2. Randomly went into a pawnshop later and asked how much they would give me for it, they told me $20. So I sold it, went back bought ten more, went back to the pawn shop and sold them.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
#10
Didn't mean to spoil the thread. I should have known the haters would come out in force after that little Prince joke.

So, back to the thread. Yeah, that's great luck. I've sold some DVDs and CDs that I've bought cheap that sold for like $50, but never had something that was so rare as that watch. One of my friends works in the antique business and when some old person dies and either there's no one to claim their stuff or the relatives don't even bother to look, they call used furniture dealers to just take a quick look and make an offer. Well my friend went to one of these apartments to pick up the stuff and found a stash of comics with Action #1, the first Superman issue ever. I was like GTFO! That shit is worth anywhere from $200,000 to at least $800,000.

I admit I am a Prince hater. It consumes me. I have a little voodoo doll I torment every day.

I didn't realise it was a joke either. I think your skills are slipping. I thought you were in my hating Prince club. I make it a code of the club that every second post is a hater towards Prince. I'm slipping too though. As that was my first, and it was tongue in cheek.
 

Preach

Well-Known Member
#11
I have 100-150 leftover vinyl from the 1960-1980s. I have yet to go through them but I always wanted to check their worth, and see if there were any super awesome samples in there :)

There are quite a few Elvis records there, I'm hoping there are some collectors items I could sell :-D
 

Duke

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#12
Didn't mean to spoil the thread. I should have known the haters would come out in force after that little Prince joke.

So, back to the thread. Yeah, that's great luck. I've sold some DVDs and CDs that I've bought cheap that sold for like $50, but never had something that was so rare as that watch. One of my friends works in the antique business and when some old person dies and either there's no one to claim their stuff or the relatives don't even bother to look, they call used furniture dealers to just take a quick look and make an offer. Well my friend went to one of these apartments to pick up the stuff and found a stash of comics with Action #1, the first Superman issue ever. I was like GTFO! That shit is worth anywhere from $200,000 to at least $800,000.

So...who eventually took the comic?
 

Jokerman

Well-Known Member
#13
So...who eventually took the comic?
I did, and then ripped it up and threw it away. My friend did. It's his family's antique business and he found it and already has a great comic collection, so he got it. This was like 5 years ago. He still has it. I think it's in good condition. He now regularly makes around $100,000 to 200,000 a year in the business, so this is not as big a deal to him as it would be to us poor slobs. I worked for them a little as a teen and probably could have continued in that field, but I couldn't stand all the wheeling, dealing, selling, and pricing you have to do. Not to mention storing and carrying stuff all the time. Not for me. Plus I'm no business man.
 

S O F I

Administrator
Staff member
#14
What price did he originally buy it for at the Navy Exchange?

I don't have anything of material value that greatly exceeds the original price I paid for it. I'm not big on collecting, I'm hoping to digitize everything I can in the next few years, put it up in a cloud. It's that whole minimalist movement nowadays, all the cool people are doing it hah.
 

Duke

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#15
I did, and then ripped it up and threw it away. My friend did. It's his family's antique business and he found it and already has a great comic collection, so he got it. This was like 5 years ago. He still has it. I think it's in good condition. He now regularly makes around $100,000 to 200,000 a year in the business, so this is not as big a deal to him as it would be to us poor slobs. I worked for them a little as a teen and probably could have continued in that field, but I couldn't stand all the wheeling, dealing, selling, and pricing you have to do. Not to mention storing and carrying stuff all the time. Not for me. Plus I'm no business man.
Damn, he liked comics already and then finds the most hallowed comic there is to find? Epic
 

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