General Chat

My parents left two 9 carat gold Longine watches to my husband and myself, they date from 1970. We would like to sell them - we'd never wear them, nor do they fit.
We've tried jewellers who deal in second hand watches, but they only offer scrap value, as they say the design is rather dated (though to me they seem classic in design) .
It does seem a shame to let them go as scrap value, totalling £700. Has anyone got any advice to offer?

Have a look to see if there are any similar ones on ebay

Have you a decent auction house near you, if so ask them what they might fetch

Thats a good price most they sell secondhand is £350--£495 from a dealer or secondhand jewellers shop,,,,,,a stripped watch casing with no strap or glass only weighs a max on 3 grms,,gold today is down to £11-60 per gram....

Thankyou for your replies, they are much appreciated. I have looked at sites like ebay, but haven't seen anything very similar. I might try an auction house at Ely, but the commission would probably wipe out any extra profit.
We are going to London at the end of May, and have one or two places to try there.
But, after all, we'll probably have to go with what's offered.
Poor folks, they thought they were worth a fortune - kept them hidden behind the cold water tank!

They probably were worth a fortune back then

The woman's watch was bought for £92 in Dec 1970. They had them valued for insurance purposes once or twice, that's where they got the idea from. Might keep them a while longer, out of respect.

Look out for Specialist Dealers in Watches,usually in the Covent Garden Jewelry area.Or try Christies Etc. you can always ring and ask.**M**.

Merlin has made an excellent suggestion

It would also help when phoning auction houses that you know the model no. or design name of the watches.

If you have any one man band jewellers, who sell second hand items, that are nearby, and you know others who have used them, take them there. They are ore likely to know of any specialist dealers, who may be interested in the watches. Last year I took a gold watch to be valued, and was offered a scrap price, the watch didn't work, and the scrap price was a good one, but the gold dealer liked the watch, and offered to tell me of a jeweller who would have mended it. The watch wasn't of sentimental value, so I took the scrap price, and I expect the dealer got it mended, but I was happy with that, but he was very fair I thought, he was a one man band.

I also have some jade to sell, and I took that into a local jewellers, who sells second hand jewellery, he gave me good advice too, and has a jade specialist coming to value my items, because jade is hard to grade, and needs to be authenticated.

What I'm saying is, sometimes it's better to go with the smaller business, who are more specialist.

Merlin, where is the a jewellery area in Covent Garden, don't think I know that ?

Did Merlin mean Hatton Garden perhaps? That area is/was reknowned for Jewelers especially those who dealt with gems.

That's what I thought Merlin meant Det, I know Covent Garden really well, and have never heard of a jewellery area there, but of course that's not to say there isn't one :-D

Yes I think he did mean Hatton Garden.

But I would first of all contact via phone a good auction house for advice. Then go to a local jewellers if you wish, but you do need to be armed with information and a rough idea of the value of the watches,

1: Scrap Value
2: Value as working watches
3: Value as watches which can be repaired and sold on.

Never take into account any 'sentimental value' we all think our precious items are worth far more than they are (you only have to look at the faces of those on the Antiques Roadshow as they put on a brave smile and say 'Oh so much'!!)

Also if you do know the model names for your watches then you should be able to google using the name ie Longine 'name of model' etc. and this could be of help.

The more knowledge you have about the items you want to sell the better chance you have of getting good price.

Sad thing is that unless the watch is rare and therefore likely to appeal to collectors, it's value as a watch is likely to be far less than it's scrap value. Same applies to jewellery too.

You can seeing what is happening at auctions. Bidding is keen until it reaches the scrap price for the day when it stops dead in its tracks. The reserve is usually fixed at around that figure too. I recall Anita Manning describing the process once on Flog It.

Good luck - it's certainly worth a few phone calls to see what you can get.

Look at us lot, all specialist jewellers, giving our advice :-D :-D :-D

Thankyou all for your helpful advice. We have been to two independant jewellry dealers in Norwich, who both gave us the same advice - £700 the pair for scrap value, and thought the watches wouldn't appeal to todays buyers (mechanical and a dated style). Both said we would be unlikely to get more than scrap value at auction, but that we could try London dealers. There are a couple of places we could try there, one in the Strand. We have the original sale bill for the ladies watch, and both are in perfect condition and in original boxes.
Only hope the price of gold doesn't go down in the near future! :-)

a ladies 9ct cased watch with a 9ct strap Longines is £370 .

any jeweller who sells on will have a service done which cost about £35,and any crystal replaced,

what about ..................


a) if you have children, keep the watches for them ......... they might be interested in grandparents' watches for sentimental value

b) having the watch bands altered to fit you, and wear them


We have two pocket watches, one gold one belonging to my father dates back to 1925, the other silver one to OH's father and dates to about 1931.

We'll never wear them ..................... but we will not get rid of them!

Our daughter is looking forward to having them, and, knowing her, will probably do something like putting them on display ............... and keep them for her son.

Sylvia - I have plenty of heirloom rings and other jewellery from my great grandmother, grandmother and mother, which will be in time passed to my daughter and daughter.
The watches don't really have any sentimental value, My parents never really wore them, and treated them as investment pieces.
Thankyou.