Took a walk on the other side this weekend.

Well the other side of the counter anyway. A buddy of mine is retired and sells watches, coins, paper money, gold etc at antique and watch shows. His watches are fantastic!! Lots of good stuff, Brietling Chrono from 70's an Omega Mark III, solid gold Accutron...etc. etc., wish I could afford them all!! Anyway, he invited me to help him at a show....I was actually selling watches!! I did some buying too....a few real beauties, A '70's Tissot SeaStar, a Seiko High Beat in a cool square case, a Mido Daydate (original sticker still on the back), an Eligin BW Raymond Railroad for my collection. I also picked a nearly flawless 35 year old Timex Electric Dynabeat from a guy looking for beer money...(sorry if it was some one on this list). Anyway I had a great time and learned a lot about selling, people, watches and gambling at the casino (oh shit that's a whole 'nother story!!). Here's some pictures at the show, I'll post up the watches in few days when I get a chance to clean them up a bit...the only one I have ready is the Timex. The junky watches in the case on the counter are mine, he let me have a case to sell some stuff...I did sell a few things but blew all the money on more watches....

Holy COW Gary, that looked like some REAL fun ! There is SO
much cool stuff in those pictures, and the watches look AMAZING
by the way. Those pocket watches are just out of this world !!!
I'm glad you had fun, thanks for the photos, and congratulations
on getting a few watches for yourself too !

that looks like fun! i'd be looking at all the pocket watches for size 10

Looks like you had an interesting weekend. Any unexpected insights from the other side of the counter?

Cool stuff!! Now that the weather is breaking I'm looking forward to some of the local flea markets for some vintage hunting.

OK I just stuck a strap under the Tissot and Seiko....but here's a shot of what I picked up.....

merichar wrote:

Looks like you had an interesting weekend. Any unexpected insights from the other side of the counter?

Yeah! the biggest is this is no picnic....we had to pack up all our crap, drive a couple hours to get there, unload, set-up....then you are on your feet all day, tear down every night, stay in a motel, etc.....then when it's all done you have to tear down, pack up....drive home unpack...put stuff away again....I still have stuff all over the floor. I always thought these vendors were having a fun little vacation. It's really a lot of work!!

Your friend had some very cool pocket watches! Looks like quite a learning experience! You did quite well for yourself Bro! Send that Elgin my way!

There are some sweet time pieces there but $65 for a $10 bill. I want to go where they sell like that. I know it is collectable probably but if you think about it I will pay for a collectable watch but think it is crazy to view currency as worth anything other than face value.

Gary, those are really cool. I enjoyed reading your story and wish I'd have been able to do that with you too.

Man that must have been a BLAST!

Would love that opportunity just to see peoples interest and reactions!

sixtysix wrote:

OK I just stuck a strap under the Tissot and Seiko....but here's a shot of what I picked up.....

Yowza Gary ! ..This is a REAL special group here ! Kind of hard to pick
a favorite they are SO good ! That Timex is INCREDIBLE, what a case on that one,
AMAZING !!! The Mido is GREAT also ! The markers are EXCELLENT !..I REALLY like
that Elgin, it's got a TERRIFIC case, and those numbers and hands are THE best !
..With the Seiko, that is one I've not seen before. The case shape, as well as
classy style on that one is EXCEPTIONAL imho !..Then the Tissot wraps everything
up with an out of this world COOL case, along with elegant dial !!!..These are all
STUNNING sir ! Congratulations on getting them and of course..enjoy them !

Dale - I was just learning what people will pay for collectible bills, if the serial number has only two numbers like 400004044 or something like that it's a 'binary' and people will pay $15 for a $5 bill!! If the serial number is the same forward and backward it's a 'Radar' say like 12345654321 and people will pay extra for that too. Some of the bills were error bills and had something missing, or even if it had an asterick (star) in the serial number, there are people who collect those too!! I seems crazy to me.....

AT - Thanks man!! I think I got a good haul...now I gotta go sell some to balence the books.....

Poli - It would have been cool to have a few WIS's stop by or help out, even to show you some cool time pieces!!

Duff - One of those pocket watches is a $7000 minute repeater in 18K gold, I wish I could show you the inside of it!!!!! I'll keep you in mind on the Elgin, but it's only the second one I have ever seen with this dial, so for now it's in the Railroad collection.

Everyone else - It was a cool experience, I've been invited back to do it again, just not sure when I can. Thanks for the comments!!,

Dale wrote:

think it is crazy to view currency as worth anything other than face value.

I just wish our currency today was WORTH face value.

I miss going to coin, stamp and collectible shows. In KC there was one every few weeks. Here
they exist but the fun factor is missing. I used to deal and knew most of the Sellers. The big shows had some nice
pocket watches and jewelry sold at weight but wrist watches were few and far between.

You are right about it being a lot of work.