Watch your tradin'................

[knife7knut]

As you may or may not know I like to collect things.My knife collecting started when I was ten and some sixty years later I have more than a few knives.
Among other items I like to collect wristwatches.Most of the watches I own have been acquired at yard sales or trades with friends of mine.Most are inexpensive but all are usually unique in one way or another. Here are the stories of how I came by two of my favorite watches:
To most people,a Rolex is the epitome of wristwatches.I have owned a couple of them and got rid of them in short order because in my opinion they failed to live up to their reputation. I would much prefer to have an Omega Speedmaster or a Breitling Navitimer.
My first Breitling I acquired from my good knife tradin' buddy Bob.It was a Chrono-Mat with two registers and a date window.What really attracted me to it was it was made for a left handed person(to be worn on the right wrist);that is:the crown was at the 9 o'clock position rather than the more common 3 o'clock position.
I really wanted that watch but didn't have the $500 that Bob wanted for it.Bob mentioned that he would like to find a good used car as his was on it's last legs. Knowing that my brother-in-law was doing up a clean 66 Chevy sedan to re-sell I asked if he would be interested in that.He said that he would.
With a little wheedling i managed to get the car from my brother-in-law for $300 and the deal was made. That was more than 30 years ago and the Chevy is long gone.
The watch is still on my watch winder and keeps reasonably good time.It has been overhauled a couple times and there are many nicks and scratches in it from banging it against various objects.Bob still calls every once in awhile and asks when I'm going to sell him back HIS watch and I tell him I am going to will it to him and we laugh.


My second Breitling almost did not come to me due to my own stupidity:
My wife and I were driving into Ann Arbor to look at tables at a furniture store when we drove past a huge yard sale that looked promising(lots of guy stuff).I was going to turn around but she said let's stop on the way home.
Coming back with the table we were talking and once again drove past the sale. When I realized it,I was going to turn back but traffic was then pretty heavy and I decided to keep going. I only turned around at my wife's urging.
Pulled in and proceeded to look aorund.What at first looked to be promising turned out to be mostly junk.I had already walked by a box of old watches and nothing in there looked any good.As I was about to leave,I spied another watch attached to an old leather band in a Timex box.Picking it up I see it is marked Breitling. Now I know that a lot of high end watches have been faked and Breitling is no exception.Something about this one looked too good though.
I brought it up to the person taking the money and was told it was FIVE DOLLARS! Heck;even a fake Breiting is worth more than that.I gave her the money and as I was walking back to the car started to wind it to see if it worked.The sweep hand started moving so I knew the chrono part was good.Wound it fully and set the time;turning off the chronometer.Ran perfectly!
The next day I brought it to a frined of mine who was a watch repairman to have it checked out.Opening and closing it requires a special tool that I didn't have.He confirmed that it was indeed real and of 1967 vintage and as far as he could tell had never been worked on.He said if I wanted to sell it right then he'd give me a THOUSAND dollars for it! Needless to say I declined.
Last year I had to have it serviced and that came to just under $500 but even at that I'm still ahead of the game.I periodically check e-Bay to see what they are selling for and most are going for $2,000 to $2,500 dollars. Not bad for a five dollar investment.

First pic is the Chrono-Matic I traded for the Chevy.
Second pic is my five dollar yard sale find.

[Lawrence]

Great story k7k...now I know what else to watch out for when I'm digging through old boxes, looking for knives

[singin46]

You really scored on these k7k! I never find stuff that nice.

[Jody744]

I woulda sold that 2nd watch, bought 2 tim britton knives,
told the wife i got $100 for the watch, take her to dinner, and
stashed the rest!!!!!!
Awesome watches anyways

[Iron Hoarder]

Nice watches! I'd rather have 66 Chevy these days.

[tjmurphy]

I had a '66 Chevy, the cheapest body style that they made at the time. 283, three on the tree. One of the fastest cars I ever owned. I was the one that had to have the turn-buckle added after a dumb trick

[Capt. Farrel]

OMG, five Dollars for a Navitimer????? I suppose this can happen only in gods own country! This is not a steal - this was armed robbery! Congrats (belated) on the deal anyhow.

[0078]

What a great story, and a great watch to go with it.

[carrmillus]

Great story k7k...now I know what else to watch out for when I'm digging through old boxes, looking for knives

......Lawrence, being from Ontario, are you familiar with R.D. Lawrence, who wrote books on Canadian wildlife??????............... .......................

[orvet]

Great story Ray.
Thanks for sharing it with us.