Bidding Fever

[chris mabbott]

I often watch auctions on ebay without any intention of actually bidding on the item, I simply like to watch how people get carried away and how a flowery description can influence potential bidders..

Here is an example AUCTION of many that just get “carried away” subsequently giving the false impression to potential sellers that their crap is worth gold 😆
I’m not saying this item is crap, but now, we are starting to see even the worst PWs being advertised for 3-5 times their actual value. Because the uninitiated sellers, those that just know that their item is a “Pocket Watch” and they command high prices, feel that they will sell..
This fever is transmitted to the buyer/bidder, along with the fact that buying is an emotional act, so what we have are crazy prices fueled by emotional buying 😮

For example the piece in the auction link, is a Rockford 935 movement, normal value of this movement, of which many were made, ranges from $45 – $140, depending on condition and amount of bidding emotion.
Throw in a fancy dial and a set of euro hands…well… these $40 additions raised the value $300 😆

[tmac1956]

Chris:

Absolutely! Even the prices for junk movements on eBay are going through the roof. I am considering spending the money for tooling up to make my own replacement parts – staffs, gears, etc. I’d rather gear up for that because eventually the parts will be gone anyway – so why pump money into crappy movements that aren’t usually worth repairing to begin with. One can always sell the equipment if needed. Just think… we can jack the prices up on all of our stuff and stick it too someone else on eBay. 😮

I’m just kidding of course because I’m into SPENDING my money on watch tools.

Later,
Tom

[bernie weishapl]

Chris I noticed the same thing. When I was watching several auctions when I was looking at get a Taig. It simply amazed me that used lathes were selling for new price and a couple of times more than what a new one sold for. I like to go on there sometimes and will buy clock movements or a old pocket watch to fix up. I bid on a Elgin 18s 17J pocket watch about a month ago or so. Should have sold in it’s condition (broken balance staff, said it wouldn’t wind, missing second and minute hand, etc.) for maybe $40 to $75. My last bid was $115. It finally went for over $200. Maybe I am out of the loop on PW’s but seemed rather high for something that needed that much work. Just amazes me what people do at auctions. Movements for clocks and watches are just going thru the roof. Like Tom that is why I tooled up to start making parts instead of buying old movements for parts. Just crazy. 😆

[david pierce]

Pocket watches are antique collectible recics from the past. Like many other members of this forum I have several pocket watches that I collected over the years, but also like many other members I don’t carry them on on my person for everyday timekeeping. I think that a lot of the price issue on these items has to do with supply and demand. Many of the items that have come up for sale were from the estates of watchmakers who collected these items over their lifetimes and died. As these watches are sold and the supply diminishes, the price goes up. Most, if not all, of the old pocket watches sold today are going to end up in a collection. Since there are no new watches of this type comming up through the supply chain, the supply goes down and the price will go up. This of course makes it difficult for watchmakers who are looking for inexpensive watches to repair and resell.
Another aspect of the problem is the emphasis that watch repair courses put on working on pocket watches and then going to smaller watches at a later time. This puts a further strain on the dwindling supply of inexpensive high quality movements and watches.
david

[arutha]

There is a renewed interest in watches and pocket watches (I wonder how many watch courses Bob sells as opposed to clock courses), I think more and more people are looking at watch repair as a retirement hobby. This helps to push up demand and as well as complete watches fetching good prices I have noticed spares/repair movements going up in price as people are looking to replace parts that can no longer be purchased. This also means that watches which could have been repaired are now becoming donor movements and again this increases the scarcity of certain watches. Movements that are perfectly good are also being used for parts as cases are being melted for their gold. It is a sad state of affairs but prices will continue to rise so get the bargains while you can!

[chris mabbott]

I agree, in part, but many of these watches are actually running as in this Crazy Auction 😆
Even the 15 – 17 jewel ones are now commanding the same price as the RR models did last year.. Look at how much Bunn Specials, Vanguards etc are now posted for.. 😯

[chris mabbott]

What I see in the future, as well as right now, is more of this kind of ridiculous thing on this Buy It Now watch.
Really, does this guy have an actual base in reality 😆

Scary thing is, people are already watching it, maybe for fun :

[tmac1956]

Guys:

We should just get bold enough to tool up and build our own. I’m not experienced enought to do it, but I know that many of you are.

Thanks,
Tom

[arutha]

@tmac1956 wrote:

Guys:

We should just get bold enough to tool up and build our own. I’m not experienced enought to do it, but I know that many of you are.

Thanks,
Tom

If Only I had the time, machinery and expertise! I will be happy once I can churn out replacement parts

Chris, it dont matter what you are in to, there will always be chancers on e-bay listing items way above their worth, a case in point is a watchmakers lathe that has been on e-bay for almost a year, priced at £1250 Buy It Now, you would think after a few months he would drop the price!

Thats funny, I just checked to see if it was still on e-bay which it is but he has now listed it on an auction and knocked £200 off the starting price!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IME-8mm-WATCH-MAKERS-LATHE-IN-ORIGIONAL-BOX-WITH-CHUCK-/251545384210?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3a9145f512
If he gets a bid I will be amazed!!!!!
Paul.

[bernie weishapl]

Paul I see the same thing on the big Bay for pocket watches. What amazed me about a couple of months ago there was one Elgin 7J 16s extremely rare for $330 opening bid. Extremely rare???? 😆 Just amazing. People are thinking they are going to get rich on the Bay. I was watching the same one Chris listed for $432. What makes that watch $432? I like to look around for a bargain but they are getting harder and harder to find. Even at household auctions, etc around here people just get stupid when buying watches and clocks. I watched 3 ladies and a gentleman who all four own antique shops bid on a simple Ingraham kitchen clock. Probably worth $125 to maybe $175 bid it up to $480. The lady that got it has it in her store for $600. But the funniest one I witnessed was a couple of antique dealers bidding on a Ithaca Calendar clock. One got it for $915. Now that doesn’t seem like a bad deal except neither looked very close to check it out. It had the movement taken out and a quartz movement put in. 😆 I just didn’t have heart to tell him about his deal. Just some things I have observed over the last couple of years.

[willofiam]

@Arutha wrote:

If Only I had the time, machinery and expertise! I will be happy once I can churn out replacement parts

This my friends is the next level, personally I too am working on just that, maybe not smart enough but I am working at it.
Also from what I understand is that the prices were up there several years ago, dropped and now seem to be going up again. If I were selling something I too would try to get what I can out of it. Supply and demand recently looking for a roller jewel and see that I can buy ONE for $5. what else can I do but buy a old movement and take a chance and have some extra parts. hard to get a pocket watch running without the right parts so I have to bite the bullet. In the end the one who cannot make parts is going to be paying whatever it takes to get them. It is possible, just like alot of others things, the seller is pricing out each part and coming up with a total for a complete watch instead of taking the time to part it out. In this day and age there are ALOT of people out there buying up stuff to resell, the days of going to a auction for something you need and will actually use without 20-30 others buying just for resale and the internet involved at the same time………are gone.
It sure would be nice to go back 30-40 years and buy up a slew of pocket watch parts cabinets. recently seen a guy selling off his cabinets of pocket watch parts and supplies for $2600.00 extremely expensive, though tempting, William

[bernie weishapl]

You are so right William. We have 3 people here in town that go to every auction held household or otherwise. They all have a building that is just full of stuff that they buy. Then they turn around and list it on ebay. Their wife, kids, friends, etc list all of it on the Bay. So I understand and as pocket watches get scarce the price is just going to keep going up. So it will come to a point sooner or later where if you want to work on watches or clocks you best be able to make parts. 😆

[chris mabbott]

Hey guys, I’ve been following this one with interest, it’s going, going….. Basically they’re just paying for the case as the movement is fairly common, so a case driven auction fever 😆 AUCTION

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