Wrist Watch Estate Sale find.

huntsman53

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I am not sure that this is the correct forum but here goes!

I attended an Estate Sale for a few hours Friday and did not buy anything because on Saturday, everything was going to be discounted half off. Don't you just love it when there are so many items, especially smaller items in the Estate Sale and the Company responsible, neither has the time to check and double check everything nor does their employees have the expertise to know everything. I arrived early Saturday and secured the items I wanted, so I decided to look at the Watches and they had hundreds and hundreds of them. "A note here is needed." This was an Estate Sale of Pawned and/or purchased items as the owner died about 8 years or more ago and I believe his wife just recently died. Well, I picked up some really decent Watham, Seiko, Elgin, Citizen, Wenger and Timex Indiglo Wrist Watches most of which are vintage and were marked $4 to $10 and I got them for half of those prices with no tax mind you. Some are Quartz, some are Wind-up or Self-Winding and a few are running but some need batteries or work. I had picked up about 10 Wrist Watches so far and decided to really look over the watches in a couple of trays which were loaded with watches piled on-top of each other. I quickly checked the ones on the surface and then dug down through them, moving the checked ones to one side so that I could get to the unchecked ones and not get confused. I pulled one Wrist Watch from the bottom of the tray and nearly crapped myself right there and actually dropped it because I was so excited, then had to dig it out again. I pulled the Wrist Watch back out and there before me on the Pearl Whitish/Grey dial were the words (i.e. name) "Patek Philippe" and below the center of the Dial was "3ATM" and below "Water Resistant" and below that "Quartz". Now I know that there is a very high chance that this watch is a fake but it looks real good. In fact, the Crystal has no scratches or marks on it whatsoever and must be a genuine Sapphire Crystal and the Dial is flawless. There are no other markings on the outside and I do not have the tools to remove the (what appears to be) Stainless Steel back but the Bezel appears to be high grade Gold which is usually the norm for Patek Philippe Watches. The price on the watch was only $3, so I got it for $1.50 and I never broke a grin or a smile nor did I do the happy dance when I handed the watch to the Estate Sale personnel to add to my' items and I quickly went back to searching the wrist watches in hopes of something else nice. I took some pics with my' cell phone but only one came out okay enough to post. I will have it checked soon and if it turns out to be genuine, I will post better pics. It does not have a genuine Patek Philippe leather band but it does have a nice and genuine leather band.


Frank

Patek Philippe #1a.jpg
 

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JimDon

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Sorry but not even close. I would've loved to have gone through the lot myself!
 

Spartcom5

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Yea I'm gonna have to agree with being fake, no Swiss on dial, and most importantly the font of Patek Philippe is all wrong! At least it was only $1.50... Would love to see the Seikos, certain vintage Seikos can pull a good amount of money, mainly only the automatic ones however.
 

ARC

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If you take it to an authorized PF dealer and it is a fake you will not be getting it back.

They do/did make a Quartz that was a $10,000 model... which IMO no watch that is a quartz made by anyone is worth even 1/4 that,

I will check on this for you.
 

ARC

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More pics perhaps ?
back pic.
Also ... CAREFULLY use a small pocket knife and remove bands and photos of both areas between band lugs.

From the photo it seems very "light" in appearance.
Does the watch have a "heft" to it... in other words... is it "meaty" feeling for its size ?
 

JimDon

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Yea I'm gonna have to agree with being fake, no Swiss on dial, and most importantly the font of Patek Philippe is all wrong! At least it was only $1.50... Would love to see the Seikos, certain vintage Seikos can pull a good amount of money, mainly only the automatic ones however.

Yes Seiko's can be all across the board. Look for a Grand Seiko. Big bucks!
 

OP
OP
H

huntsman53

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I was pretty certain that the Patek Philippe was a fake but won't know for sure until the Back is removed and the internals (movement) can be seen! In my and it's defense, it appears to be vintage which I noticed when I picked it up and although it may be old, it looks almost brand new. Also, it looks like an older version of a Calatrava and although the leather of the Band is in great shape, the threading is apparently rotted and is coming loose.

I was mistaken about some of the prices, a few of the wrist watches were priced from $10 to $18 but some were priced $2 or $3 and of course I got them at half off. They even discounted some even further partially because I was purchasing so much stuff. The main Lady even discounted an Elgin Diamond that is missing the Crown down to $2.50 even though it looks brand spanking new. There is a total of 17 wrist watches that I picked up for around $50 or less but I don't know the exact cost because they ran a running total of what each person purchased and gave no receipts. I will try to lay the watches out later, get some pics and post them here. There are several that I am very partial to, so the decision of which one to keep is going to be hard. There is a Citizen Eco-Drive Titanium WR 100 that I really like, also a Seiko Kinetic Titanium, the Elgin Diamond, a Wenger Model 7218X Diver that is rated down to 200 meters and a few more. So you can see my dilemma!

Thanks for all of the replies! It is nice to see that there are quite a few folks here on Treasure Net that like and are into Watches like me! I used to do a lot of purchasing of mostly Pocket Watches and some Wrist Watches for re-sale when I had my' small business. I have owned a lot of wrist watches and pocket watches at one time or another including about 8 Tag Heuer Wrist Watches, an assortment of Elgin...Hamilton...Illinois and Waltham Pocket Watches but the most valuable one was an A. Lange & Sohn 18k solid Gold Hunter Case Pocket Watch made in 1888 that literally looked and ran just like it came out of the A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte Factory in Glashütte, Germany.


Frank
 

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JimDon

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We want pictures!
 

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