eBay and How to Make Tons of Money With Ruined Watches

Ok so this will be a rant....Just a fair warning.  It is about how honest watch collectors and sellers can be given a bad name due to a bunch of Eastern European watch manglers.  I don't care if any of the countries mentioned may have a poor economy and this is a way for them to try and make living.  There is trying to make a living through honest work and then there is just plain being a crook.

One can simply search eBay and see what I mean when I say fakes come out of these countries.  Just look up "Historic Pocket Watch".  This seems to be a favorite phrase used by them.  So many amazingly rare and museum pieces seem to be flooding the market from these countries.  It is like every Russian Czar, German Royal, Nazi General, and even US Presidents sent watches to this part of the world. You see WWII "Award" watches seem to be one of the favorite items coming from there today.

These are a few of the things you can see on there.  The prices are real end prices, and the watches are pure BS.

So this one went for $4,400...Yeah that is right $4,400!!!!  This was a good watch that someone wanted to create this fantasy dial for.  Slap a picture of a German Naval officer with it and bingo you are in the big money.  Lets assume you bought a good running, or a broken Longines you get to run, for $100.  $5 picture, heck let say you go all out and pay $20 out of being desperate.  Redial it for $50.  You spent a big $170 to make up this fantasy piece and then sell it.  But make sure you start at $10,000....yep they got a bargain at $4,400.

Well I guess they did not have time to remove all of the rust from the winding gears.  The regulator is also more on the advance side, I guess they only cleaned it a bit.

Ok these next 2 should be fun.

Apparently the Luftwaffe and the 3rd Panzer Division used the exact same style of dial.  They also liked to engrave words over an engine turned case back.  In one case back there are all German marks, which I could believe.  The other, Swiss and German silver marks??? At least in this case the watches sold for $315 and $400.  Still too much for two pics of fantasy junk.

No one is safe either when it comes to getting their face on a dial.  Watch out Mickey Mouse..here comes Gandhi. 

   

Any collector with even half a brain knows this is not a legitimate dial.  Now that would be a collector and I doubt who paid $893 thought they got a good deal from the mark down from $1,900 was a collector.  This is not the first time I have seen this style dial on another fantasy piece. Notice that blue tone that was on an earlier one?

Both Otto Von Bismark and President McKinley went for the same dial.  Must have shared the same good tastes.

You can get Bismark for $895 right now but poor McKinley only went for $200.  I guess he was not as popular.  Maybe he had a lot of anti-Eastern European policies.

Heck even Russian Royalty liked this dial....

When going through these watches and other items you begin to think there is a very unhealthy obsession with death, well based on the bulk volume of skulls on jewelry and watches that is.  

So....sure there are some good and half way good watches in that part of the world, be sure that there are many there that sell far worse than a fake Rolex.  At least eBay stops the sale of fake Rolex and Patek, they do nothing to stop fantasy pieces like these from screwing over unknowing buyers.  BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!

Another Weekend Find - Tissot PRC200 GTS Automatic Chronograph

Well it has been a few weeks again and last weekend was a good score weekend.  Well it was a good one in my books.  I picked up 3 pocket watches, 1 vintage wrist watch, and then there was this one.  It was at my last stop on Saturday, in an antique mall none the less that I found this modern beauty.

I may love vintage more but some deals are too good to pass up on a good modern vintage.  I have my other post about the Omega Aqua Terra Chrono and now this is the 2nd automatic chronograph I have added to my collection.  We are almost on 2 ends of the spectrum when it comes to Swiss made auto chrono movements.

The watch was sitting in a case up front and apparently there was a flea market earlier in the day so most dealers had 20% off all their items.  This one was not excluded from that sale.  Once I had a closer look there was only seconds that passed for the decision to be made.  After looking at the tag, there were extras with the watch an box.  A Tissot travel case and what appears to be an unused watch winder.

The watch is a Tissot PRC200 GTS.  The full number is a T0554271705700.  I guess makers are needing extremely long item numbers these days or that breaks down to something like T055.4271.  But that is for the experts to figure out, I just like the watch  and am happy to add it to the collection.

These watches are not cheap by my thinking but then I don't spend $1000 on a new watch.  I know there are those out there that spend way way more but I am a self sufficient collector.  While no where near the cost of my Omega the watch does have a certain level of quality. The box is nice, not a solid wood with felt lining but still nice.

It has plenty of room for all the books and cards that comes with a new watch.  There are a few in the bottom on the back as well as the cards and such on each side on the inside.  The watch does have a pillow but I don't see how it would fit on it better.  Seems small for any band.

The dial is nice, clean and attractive.  I tend to like the little bits of red against the black background.  The sapphire crystal has no imperfections from the previous owner.  The case does have a few dings and fine scratches but nothing distracting.  It is an all stainless case with a Tissot marked rubber band.

The movement though is something different.  The decoration of the rotor looks more like something from a Swatch.  But then these movements were used in a automatic Swatch chronograph as well.  It is more utilitarian looking then the Omega 3313C in the Aqua Terra.  This movement is an ETA C01.211.  It has 15 Jewels and interestingly a plastic looking escapement wheel and pallet fork.

The movement is based on a Lemania 5100 and has a beat of 28,800bph.  So far it has given me me no issues unlike what some people have seen with this movement.  It seems that some have an issue resetting correctly so far, this one is great.