OT: Did Anyone See the Rolex on Antiques Roadshow This Week

RichR

A young guy bought it while in the USAF in 1970 from the Camp PX in Vietnam...for...wait for it...$375...and then put it away and never even wore it...receipts, papers, everything in mint condition.

The appraiser pegged it at anywhere from $750,000 to $1 million or more!

And the guy nearly hit the floor.

Now why didn't any of us do that?

Musky1011

Yes, the guy actually fell backwards
Amazing quality of that watch made in January of 1971
Never worn

291fifth

Time to SELL!

ChrisH821

Wow! I can't imagine buying a Rolex and then never wearing it.
What model was it?

CaptHenway

Oyster

AUandAG

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Y4bmbh1KY

RichR

So...my wife actually put down her magazine to watch...and she said to me "Why didn't you buy one of those?'

And I replied..."Because I was only 3 years old, dear..."

ms70

Amazing.

Barndog

looked staged to me, but cool if it has that value.

crazyhounddog

I just now seen it on the news. WOW!

hchcoin

That's awesome.

AUandAG

My wife did the same and said where's yours? Hmmmmmm, I was a lot lower in rank that this USAF guy. My monthly was like $85. I said: still at the PX I suppose.

bob

steelielee

Nice. Thx for posting the video. I'd fall over too!

planetsteve

I wonder what parallel stories may exist in numismatics. Hasn't a regular guy ever taken possession of a contemporary coin or product that few others purchased, kept everything in an SDB for nearly a lifetime, and then wowed everyone when finally deciding to sell? Like, say, a 1936 proof set? (I know, those were issued as singles, weren't they.)

BLUEJAYWAY

Sure did. Wonder what will become of the watch.

1northcoin

Thanks for the posting and link.

scotty1419

I could have sworn there was another Antiques Roadshow Rolex that had nearly the same story - bought at PX right before leaving service in Germany on advice of his CO and he had full documents as well...

Edit: Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li0mRLcGbU8&pbjreload=10

ricko

Great story....$346....and that was a lot of money for an enlisted man at that time....I wish him well. I did buy an Omega Seamaster many years ago for $300... still have it, though not with any papers. I know they are selling for $3000+ now. However, I wore mine for many years, though it is still in super condition. Now I just wear it on special occasions... not many of them anymore Cheers, RickO

thebeav

@Barndog said:
looked staged to me, but cool if it has that value.

I've always thought that show was 'staged'. It's just too unbelievable that these people find these wonderful things in their deceased uncles closet. Then, once again, when the person appraising the item knows the maiden name of the patent holders wife.
It's been such a successful show, they can't chance the fact that no one will bring in something amazing. I believe, in many cases, the appraiser owns the item.

amwldcoin

I'm still kicking myself in the As*. I had a friend that had a jewelry store. Around 20 years ago he offered me a Rolex that was pretty much brand new in the box with all the papers,etc. I don't know the model # but it was the same type that James Bond wore in 1 of his earlier movies. I couldda bought it for 3K. The stupid thing was the reason I passed was the recommendation to have it serviced every year or so by Rolex at a cost of a couple hundred bucks?

Cameonut

I almost bought a stainless Rolex back in 1976 - as I recall it was about $750 or about half of a month's pay for me as a beginning engineer.
I would have worn it everyday but value today would likely be more than I paid.

Later in my career I got hooked on Breitlings. Own 6 of them - wear one everyday, two are dress watches with lots of bling so they get worn once a month, the others don't get worn. I doubt I will lose money on them unless fine mechanical watches go completely out of style.

topstuf

I just used some needlenose pliers to fix the band on my Seiko.

astrorat

That's a cool watch with great original boxes and paperwork ... but ....

If that's a watch "I never used" and put in a SDB and "only took it out 2 or 3 times to look at it" over 30-40 years .. then he also has some land in Florida to sell.

There is no way that is a pristine, 'new old stock' Rolex ... no way. The watch is dirty, the band has encrustation, and the foil sticker is worn.

And the owner should have watched some of Chevy Chase's prat falls before he tried to fake one.

yspsales

I was at and IDPA event and a guy was wearing a Rolex Explorer (I)... original it's about $10K.

I would love to one of the original Explorer II with the train track dial (?)... they go for about $30K

Problem is, I am not not sure Rolex will even work on some of these older models without changing dials and hands.

Sold my Batman and made a small profit, but they ran up another $3 to $5K. Just could not justify wearing them around work and having employees or customers eyeballing it. Not to mention insurance or leaving it in a lock box.

One day, I would like to own an Omega Speedmaster MOTM but I am just not that much into them to drop several thousand on a finicky, fragile work of art.

I do find pocket watches interesting and worthwhile to own for a few hundred dollars.

If you want to have a hoot of a good time, watch Archie Luxury on You Tube. Obscene, unemployable, watch loving Aussie living off his dad and YT viewers with about $100K in watches and maxed out CC's

ChrisH821

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
Sure did. Wonder what will become of the watch.

I bet it will find its way to Heritage.

scotty1419

@thebeav said:

@Barndog said:
looked staged to me, but cool if it has that value.

I've always thought that show was 'staged'. It's just too unbelievable that these people find these wonderful things in their deceased uncles closet. Then, once again, when the person appraising the item knows the maiden name of the patent holders wife.
It's been such a successful show, they can't chance the fact that no one will bring in something amazing. I believe, in many cases, the appraiser owns the item.

Typically they have crowds filter at the event to experts. When something is identified as significant for filming, they normally stop and redirect. I imagine before the filming, the expert also does a little further research to prepare for the on-camera. So it's not purely ON THE SPOT, but I believe they still are 'walk-on' items...

topstuf

I sold and was glad to have done so EVERY high end watch that I got through the pawn shop.
Never got the "watch bug."

(It was interesting how many of the Rolex pawners had to pawn goods regularly for cash to make it to the end of the month.)

Even their cars.

metalmeister

Made the local news. I saw that. Cha-Ching!

johnny9434

good for the buyer. wish I had that type of common sense

mustangmanbob

I own a Rolex, and it lives in the SDB. The only time I wear a watch is when I am overseas, and do not want to pay $$ for accidentally using my IPHONE.

I am the 4th owner. 1st owner passed away, as did the 2nd. My dad had talked about wanting to own one, someday, when he was rich. I knew the 2nd owner, and when he passed, I bought it out of his estate and gave it to my dad for his 75th birthday. He wore the watch a lot. When my dad passed, there was a note for the watch to go to me.

I wear it a couple times a year, more in memory of my dad than flashing $$.

Namvet69

I have a nice ecodrive wristwatch and others but I don't wear them anymore. I also have several vintage gold filled men's dress pocket watches that I should sell. Gonna dig them out and put them on the BST shortly. Peace Roy

Stork

Maybe staged a bit, but that dude falling surprised a couple people. Looked like two of the production types started heading his way.

So cool. And I like how the appraiser said 'don't wear it or it drops to the $400K range'. Just like some of us saying 'don't clean it'. Nothing like ruining value by actual human contact.

I'd heard about this story, and came here...ya'll did not disappoint in providing a link so I could see it without wading around the interwebs.

PhilLynott

@amwldcoin said:
I'm still kicking myself in the As*. I had a friend that had a jewelry store. Around 20 years ago he offered me a Rolex that was pretty much brand new in the box with all the papers,etc. I don't know the model # but it was the same type that James Bond wore in 1 of his earlier movies. I couldda bought it for 3K. The stupid thing was the reason I passed was the recommendation to have it serviced every year or so by Rolex at a cost of a couple hundred bucks?

Was probably a submariner and don't kick yourself too hard you can buy one now for a little over double that so it's not like the price exploded over 20 years what's that like 3-4% increase per year? You can also buy a beautiful vintage Datejust right now for around $3k and not kick yourself in 20 more years. That's my daily watch and I never get tired of looking at it. It was made in 1978 and if you saw it you'd guess it was made yesterday - call it an MS69.

As for servicing, you can wear a Rolex every day in any situation and feel like you're beating the hell out of it and probably won't need a service for around a decade. I've seen some people say they didn't need one for 20 years before theirs started to act up finally.

messydesk

@ChrisH821 said:

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
Sure did. Wonder what will become of the watch.

I bet it will find its way to Heritage.

Yup. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I imagine they'd put it in their Intelligent Collector magazine.

1northcoin

Again, thanks for posting. Story motivated me to pull out the Rolex I purchased a number of years ago. Comparing to today's valuation looks like I might double my purchase price were I to sell it today. Now to locate the original box and paperwork which I held onto.

TONEDDOLLARS

I own an Oyster date just Rolex that my wife gave me in 2002 for our anniversary. I wear it everyday and I work in the construction field and it shows. This watch has never been serviced by Rolex, or for that matter anyone else. I did once bring it to a high end jewelry store to get an estimate on repairing some worn watch band parts. They called me a week or so later to say Rolex could not repair the band and that I could buy a new band for it. The cost was going to be a few dollars less than the original price, I passed.