Old Rolex - Fake or Real

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Henryhill2 wrote: »

Ok but how do you fix the bracelet and glass without devalueing it?

carefully, it can be restored to maintain a certain amount of original patina. Take it to an expert and they will advise what the market expects, the 1019's on chrono24 are all in very good condition so some restoration must have been done.

Henryhill2

Amirah Magnificent Pastrami wrote: »

carefully, it can be restored to maintain a certain amount of original patina. Take it to an expert and they will advise what the market expects, the 1019's on chrono24 are all in very good condition so some restoration must have been done.

Thanks
I don't know anything about watches but I can't imagine replacing the glass would enhance the value

Op said he is replacing glass

Wibbs

Amirah Magnificent Pastrami wrote: »

carefully, it can be restored to maintain a certain amount of original patina. Take it to an expert and they will advise what the market expects, the 1019's on chrono24 are all in very good condition so some restoration must have been done.

This. Though some of the Chrono24 ones may just be in that kinda condition from new. While today Rolex are Mad Money™ even back then they weren't a cheap watch(mid range competing with high quality Swiss offerings like Omega, Longines etc), likely somebody's "good watch" and treated accordingly. Depends on the model too. EG dress watches are often in better condition than tool watches, as the latter were not so much the fashion thing as today and were often used for their intended purpose, EG divers watches. Though against that the market for vintage watches was effectively nil until the mid 90's and only really heated up in the 2000's and such watches were usually seen as either family pieces with no consideration of monetary value stuck in the back of a drawer only pulled out for high days or holy days, or just seen as "old watches" left in the drawer. Consider the condition of Gorteen's one as an example of the latter.

IMHO in it's present "original" state knock at least a third off the going rate. Again IMHO I'd reckon 15-18,000 would be more the value in its current state. And remember those are dealer prices and Chrono24 prices at that. If a watch model is 4000 elsewhere, it's usually closer to 5000 on Chrono24. Can be quite the gulf between them and auction prices. Though it depends on the auction. You'd get more in a heavily advertised "vintage Rolex" auction than a more regular auction. The bigger auctions tend to attract more of the big money who will often outbid each other as a willie measuring exercise.

Replacing the crystal with a genuine Rolex one will help the value. Ditto with repairing the bracelet. Well above the cost of doing so. Someone looking to buy it as is, would be also looking to do that, clean it up and sell it on at a premium.

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.chrono24.com/rolex/ref-1019.htm#grefĹ

I'm off for a root in the shed...

fineso.mom

I know nothing about watches and have little interest,though I think the mechanisms are beautiful to look at...but Im hooked on this thread. Delighted for you OP. Any chance you remember what you paid for it? Was it sold as a real rolex? Was there any back story?

Gorteen

fineso.mom wrote: »

I know nothing about watches and have little interest,though I think the mechanisms are beautiful to look at...but Im hooked on this thread. Delighted for you OP. Any chance you remember what you paid for it? Was it sold as a real rolex? Was there any back story?

I bought it in a car boot sale. It was in a box of bits and bobs. My attention was on an old Prismatic compass which looked to be in really good condition, so that's why I bought the box of contents which included compass, a few small tools etc and the watch. The watch was at the bottom of the box and because it was looking a bit rough and I assumed that if it was genuine it would be really heavy (which it isn't) so I was of the opinion that it was probably fake. I gave it a rub of some of the wife's jewellery cleaner and wore it for about 10 years until the bracelet broke. I threw it into a toolbox in the shed and forgot about it until I found it again recently.

The box of contents was bought for somewhere around the £20 mark :eek:

Mitch Buchannon

Gorteen wrote: »

Update!

The watch is genuine Rolex.
It is model 1019
I misread the serial number. It has 7 digits, not 6. Year of manufacture 1967
Caliber 1580 (I think this is the mechanism

I’m delighted for you Gorteen. Who did you contact in the end to get clarification on what you had ?

Big decisions to be made now... keep or sell.
It’s certainly not the first bargain Rolex I’ve heard of being bought at a car boot sale. There was a guy on TZ that picked up a Rolex GMT master for £20. There are some amazing bargains to be had if your very lucky .

Anyway.. I’d love if you would keep us posted on how you intend proceed with this.

Gorteen

Mitch Buchannon wrote: »

I’m delighted for you Gorteen. Who did you contact in the end to get clarification on what you had ?

Big decisions to be made now... keep or sell.
It’s certainly not the first bargain Rolex I’ve heard of being bought at a car boot sale. There was a guy on TZ that picked up a Rolex GMT master for £20. There are some amazing bargains to be had if your very lucky .

Anyway.. I’d love if you would keep us posted on how you intend proceed with this.

http://thevintagewatch.net/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4IejwfnX3QIV4bXtCh0pdwC1EAMYASAAEgJcKPD_BwE

IrishPlayer

Great find, thanks for posting. Really great to read stories like this as it makes you wonder what could be out there. Went to my first flea market in Blackrock on Sunday after going to a coin fair in the Talbot Hotel, didn't expect to find anything like this, but really great experience talking to the people and routing through all the stuff as i could of spent hours there. I was looking to go the big market in Dublin but it hasn't been on in months as they are looking for a new site.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do with the watch.

Wibbs

IrishPlayer wrote: »

Great find, thanks for posting. Really great to read stories like this as it makes you wonder what could be out there.

I'd reckon you have to be much more lucky these days IP. The internet and a quick google search can tell sellers a lot in a matter of minutes. It was more likely even ten years ago, especially with watches. Nowadays anything with such a recognisable name as Rolex is unlikely to filter through. Unless people think it's a fake or it's an oddball model.

I have seen watches with not nearly so recognisable names to non watch nerds pop up from time to time. A few years back on the Military Watch forum there was an IWC pilots watch bought on ebay for under a hundred quid. Sale value on that would be around 5-8 grand.

There was a chap on here who found a gold watch while out walking his dog in Dublin. Handed it in to the Guards. It was never claimed so he ended up with it. A 1950's Patek Phillippe. A very nice watch. 8-10 grands worth?

I stumbled upon this thread by accident and I know absolutely nothing about watches or timepieces but I'm loving this! I hope you get a million grand, OP!

Steve F

Sorry couldn't resist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiIIkQO95z4

Congrats

btkm8unsl0w5r4

I am so delighted with this thread, thread of the year. A rare find seeing as everyone know rolex is valuable. More power to you OP, you will have to spend a bit of dosh on experts but a nice windfall. Sell the watch cause a Milgauss ( I am a big fan and have a commoner gardener new one) is a real collectors piece, and not a watch for "general" rolex fan consumption. You need to put that in front of people who would be willing to pay the big bucks.

ThunderCat

I know nothing about watches, saw this in "trending" on the main page, and I am commenting to be able to say I was there when this wonderful thing was happening. Well done OP, best of luck with whatever you choose. Haven't seen it mentioned yet but you should stick it on the house insurance for a start. Or if there is a watch specific equivalent.

shmeee

ThunderCat wrote: »

I know nothing about watches, saw this in "trending" on the main page, and I am commenting to be able to say I was there when this wonderful thing was happening. Well done OP, best of luck with whatever you choose. Haven't seen it mentioned yet but you should stick it on the house insurance for a start. Or if there is a watch specific equivalent.

Same as. This brought a smile to my face on a gloomy Wednesday at work.

Cracking find OP, hope you make a fortune!!!!

Mr Magnolia

Ah that's brilliant news. The best of luck with it whatever you decide. Looking forward to seeing a few pictures when cleaned up.





Reminds my of this classic from '96

Suckit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li0mRLcGbU8

andekwarhola

Have to echo the other posts.

I've nothing more expensive than a Garmin and haven't a clue about all this but really enjoying the thread. A reminder perhaps why there will probably always be a corner of the Irish net for boards.

Good luck OP!

TheBoyConor

Congratulations OP.

What a find and what a surprise you must now be having.

It is just a shame that you wore it for 10 years and it ended up a bit wrecked.

Have you got the other end of the bracelet or is half of it missing?

cnocbui

This has got me wondering if an old Tudor I have is worth anything.

bren2002

cnocbui wrote: »

This has got me wondering if an old Tudor I have is worth anything.

Are you joking?

Suckit

I'm pretty sure I've an old casio watch that has a stopwatch, timer and can play 'love me tender' as the alarm, in a drawer somewhere. Might dig it out and fire an email to one of the valuers mentioned.

cnocbui

bren2002 wrote: »

Are you joking?

I don't actually know what you mean, as there seem to be two possible ways to view that.

Yes I have an old Tudor dating from the 1950's. Since Tudor ar made by Rolex...

bren2002

cnocbui wrote: »

I don't actually know what you mean, as there seem to be two possible ways to view that.

Yes I have an old Tudor dating from the 1950's. Since Tudor ar made by Rolex...

That's it, Tudor are a rolex subbrand. It won't be as valuable as a rolex but I doubt it's less than 750 maybe even a 1k base.

Renegade Mechanic

Whew, nice one OP. Delighted for ye. Don't spend it all in the one shop

Gorteen

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Congratulations OP.

What a find and what a surprise you must now be having.

It is just a shame that you wore it for 10 years and it ended up a bit wrecked.

Have you got the other end of the bracelet or is half of it missing?

Yes, I found the missing part of the bracelet. It's being repaired with some repair/replacement to the clasp.

Wibbs

cnocbui wrote: »

I don't actually know what you mean, as there seem to be two possible ways to view that.

Yes I have an old Tudor dating from the 1950's. Since Tudor ar made by Rolex...

I got a 50's Tudor back in the 90's. Cost me 50 punts. Years later I gave it to someone's mum as it was a bit small on my wrist. She wears it for "good wear". Last time I looked that particular model was worth about 1000 quid. That's "I need to sell it within a week on ebay" value. IMHO about the truest value. I might get more if I waited. Maybe another 200 quid.

Maybe take a few pics and fire up another thread. Jaysus the feckers are coming outa the woodwork.

Pawwed Rig

I got an old tudor aswell. It is a bit on the small side for my liking so I can't say I ever really wear it. Must get it valued at some point.

Wibbs

Suckit wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I've an old casio watch that has a stopwatch, timer and can play 'love me tender' as the alarm, in a drawer somewhere. Might dig it out and fire an email to one of the valuers mentioned.

Nada wrong with Casio. Bloody great brand and one that gave us the icon(if you're a watch nutter) that is the G-Shock.

Actually if you have an "old Casio" from the 80's that looks like this...

and on the back it says "DW-5000C", you likely have the first G-Shock model and they're worth a fair few quid these days. Major collectors market for them.

Deep Thought

cant wait to see how this turns out...well done OP

dudara

Absolutely love this story, and the fact that it’s a Milgauss is even better. I’ve always loved that design and the story behind it. I tried on a new one a few years ago, but it was too big for me. Does anyone know if the vintage models had smaller diameters?

Dial Hard

Gorteen wrote:

Yes, I found the missing part of the bracelet. It's being repaired with some repair/replacement to the clasp.

Out of curiosity, was it in that state when you bought it or did it get that way over the years languishing in your toolbox?

Gorteen

Dial Hard wrote: »

Out of curiosity, was it in that state when you bought it or did it get that way over the years languishing in your toolbox?

It was in ok condition when I found it in the box. I wore it for 10 years or more and because I assumed it wasn't real, I wasn't so careful with it. All the scratches and damage to the glass was while I wore it. The bracelet broke about 14 or 15 years ago and I remember being in the shed at the time so I just threw it into a toolbox.

mad m

You couldn't write this stuff....goodluck with it OP

blue5000

Great story Gorteen, somewhere there are at least two ppl born in 1967 drooling over this. Congrats, what really adds to it is that you wore it for 10 years and thought it was a fake:D.

Gorteen

blue5000 wrote: »

Great story Gorteen, somewhere there are at least two ppl born in 1967 drooling over this. Congrats, what really adds to it is that you wore it for 10 years and thought it was a fake:D.

It's being serviced, cleaned and repaired at the moment. If you know any guys drooling at the thoughts of this watch, let me know

I'm unlikely to keep it because it is so valuable and I wouldn't have much appreciation for such a good watch!

New Home

I'll give you 20 quid for it. :pac:

idnkph

New Home wrote:

I'll give you 20 quid for it.

I'll go to 25 lids

New Home

Damned gazumpers!

Congrats OP.
This is like a boards episode of Antiques Roadshow

Keyzer

Well done OP - best of luck if you decide to sell. Hope you get a good wad of cash.

Gorteen

Rolex is back from repair specialist. Serviced, bracelet repaired, genuine Rolex glass replaced. Working perfectly and looking good. I've been told it could sell for €20k!!!

Pic quality not the best

delly

That's a lovely number, fair play.

New Home

Will you please post a picture showing how it turned out?

Stheno

Gorteen wrote: »

Rolex is back from repair specialist. Serviced, bracelet repaired, genuine Rolex glass replaced. Working perfectly and looking good. I've been told it could sell for €20k!!!

Lovely

stephenl15

Gorteen wrote: »

Rolex is back from repair specialist. Serviced, bracelet repaired, genuine Rolex glass replaced. Working perfectly and looking good. I've been told it could sell for €20k!!!

Pic quality not the best

Wow

New Home

Am I the only one who can't see it?

Gorteen

Pic quality not the best

New Home

Thank you. And the difference is impressive!

pc7

Aw man, that’s freaking awesome!!! Delighted for you, made my weekend have been following this thread.