Pocketwatch 101℠ – Learn about Vintage and Antique Pocket Watches
"How Much Is My Vintage Pocket Watch Worth?"
How to Determine the Value of Your Vintage or Antique Watch
If you've arrived on this page, it's probably because you're looking for an easy way to determine the value of your antique watch. "What's my watch worth?" seems like such a simple question, and I wish we could offer you an Antique Watch Price Guide where all you had to do was type in your watch's serial number and up comes the watch's complete description and value, but it's just not that simple!
Unfortunately, there is no quick and easy way to determine the value of an old watch unless you are a watch expert, and even then it can be tricky! Vintage watches are a unique and relatively complex mechanical antique that can span a range of several hundred years of production, with millions of watches produced and thousands of variations... all of which can affect the value of the watch.
Whether you are a buyer or seller of vintage watches, knowing what you're looking at and having a good understanding of the factors which affect the fair-market value of a watch could make hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars difference in the price you pay or receive. While we are primarily concerned with evaluating vintage pocket watches, these same general rules apply to any antique watch, including vintage wristwatches. We hope that the information we've provided helps you learn more about your watch, and helps you become a more informed buyer or seller of vintage watches.
10 Keys to Understanding Vintage Pocket Watch Value:
Identification:
If you don't know what your watch is, there's no possible way to know what it's worth. If you're buying or selling a car, it's not enough just to know that it's an old Ford. You would need to know the year, model, engine size and type, whether it's an automatic or manual transmission, how many miles it has on it, what kind of condition it's in, what special features it had that made it more or less collectible, etc. The same is true for vintage watches. In order to accurately determine value, you must first determine who made the watch (the manufacturer), and as much information as possible about the model, grade, age, size, quality and unique features of your watch. Click here for our article on watch identification.