Greetings,
If buying and selling watches accounts for a
fair percentage of your income, you may have
noticed that it seems to be a good time to be buying. Unfortunately, it can be tough to follow the curves in the market.
This evening, after advising another dot com
guy about his recent multiple collection aquisitions, I retreated to my basement and spent some time looking at old paper! What inspired me to write was a comparison of a
pre-depression(1928) catalog by Bredel& Co. of Chicago Wholesale Jewelers and two 1934 post
depression(barely,maybe) wholesale catalogs by Aisenstein-Woronock of N.Y and The Harris Co. of Chicago.
Of course, all the prices seem cheap but what is relevant is the comparison of pre and not-post depression prices. What I found surprised me a bit. Example: Illinois 60 hour Bunn Spl in 1928 retail $60 keystone list $65-(wholesale
32.50) and in 1934 it was the same! It was hard to find identicle offerings but the prices
generally appear "flat" and did't decrease in these years.
The best investment watches from the era might surprise though. In 1934, the 23 jewel Vanguard up/down cased at 22.95 (18.95 uncased) seems like a good deal but don't get suckered.
My pick was the Big Bad Wolf PW with strap and fob in the box for 1.05 .You might get a thousand times that for the box alone nowadays.
In Sam's "cheap watch" catagory there is little offered for a dollar. Ingersoll Lapel
Sports were 77 cents (just noticed there's no cents key on my keyboard) and only 69c for an Ingraham "Dixie". (Sam, I've got an old 1890's
catalog offering N.O.S. fusee watches for 95c
each and will send you a xerox if interested).
Anyway, I realized years back that it was counterproductive(futile) for me to collect AND deal watches so I gathered up old paper about watches instead. The collection is paying off.
I've got pics of a gazillion watches I'll never own for my vicarious thrills.
-Cort
<(';')>
If buying and selling watches accounts for a
fair percentage of your income, you may have
noticed that it seems to be a good time to be buying. Unfortunately, it can be tough to follow the curves in the market.
This evening, after advising another dot com
guy about his recent multiple collection aquisitions, I retreated to my basement and spent some time looking at old paper! What inspired me to write was a comparison of a
pre-depression(1928) catalog by Bredel& Co. of Chicago Wholesale Jewelers and two 1934 post
depression(barely,maybe) wholesale catalogs by Aisenstein-Woronock of N.Y and The Harris Co. of Chicago.
Of course, all the prices seem cheap but what is relevant is the comparison of pre and not-post depression prices. What I found surprised me a bit. Example: Illinois 60 hour Bunn Spl in 1928 retail $60 keystone list $65-(wholesale
32.50) and in 1934 it was the same! It was hard to find identicle offerings but the prices
generally appear "flat" and did't decrease in these years.
The best investment watches from the era might surprise though. In 1934, the 23 jewel Vanguard up/down cased at 22.95 (18.95 uncased) seems like a good deal but don't get suckered.
My pick was the Big Bad Wolf PW with strap and fob in the box for 1.05 .You might get a thousand times that for the box alone nowadays.
In Sam's "cheap watch" catagory there is little offered for a dollar. Ingersoll Lapel
Sports were 77 cents (just noticed there's no cents key on my keyboard) and only 69c for an Ingraham "Dixie". (Sam, I've got an old 1890's
catalog offering N.O.S. fusee watches for 95c
each and will send you a xerox if interested).
Anyway, I realized years back that it was counterproductive(futile) for me to collect AND deal watches so I gathered up old paper about watches instead. The collection is paying off.
I've got pics of a gazillion watches I'll never own for my vicarious thrills.
-Cort
<(';')>