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Thrift Vader

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Sorry, if you don't like the skepticism, but your stories seem too good to be true. They seem more believable if someone is new to this hobby. You seem like a nice guy and you know a lot about cars, especially JDM cars. However, that doesn't translate into watch knowledge, of which we can always learn more. One can read a lot about watches, but there is still something about having handled and seen watches in person to be able to spot authentic ones from fakes...and there are plenty of highly detailed replicas/fakes/frankenwatches/redials.

As for the phrases such as "the "Thrift provided. and I got what I needed." ???? I have no idea what that means.
Too good to be true, would be " bought an unbroken Patek for $100. but no, i didn't.
And why? the simple answer is, I'm not greedy.
I live on a "take what you need" basis. and have railed against the purchase of items for resale for years. my belief is money comes from hard work and communication.

@patrickBOOTH I made my choice. and got a nice watch, perhaps the best i have owned to this day.an Ebel. for $100. and the broken watch is just that. a broken watch.
that perhaps now i could afford to fix it. but would i still have it now? Doubt it.
no regrets. it's just a fun anecdote. have a good network and reputation? deals come your way. take what you need and no more? well, it feels good.

The "Thrift" is a way of living. a state of mind. when you need something? it will appear.
might seem strange in here, but the Thrift thread guys are no stranger to it.


The watch that started all this, well. . . it's all been said. real. thrashed. worthless if it wasn't what it is. but wearable for a guy in a Barbour with charisma.
 

patrickBOOTH

Stylish Dinosaur
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Ugh- I didn't. I hum'd and haw'd for so long, I ended up just putting 4k into an education savings account for my 5yr old. I have 1k to play with and I think that's the range I feel comfortable. I'm still just kicking tires- teaching a couple of new courses and grad school have been busy.
You should sell your 5 year old and get a watch.

fluorescent-pedestrian-signs-watch-for-children-graphic-l7307-lg.jpg
 

Dino944

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As someone who is new to this, and who came in with close to zero knowledge, but who does know forum space well, and has a friend and colleague who is into watches, I can say, first hand, that it's not easy, without some guidance to even get started. How do you find out who is a trusted dealer? Is there anyone in Fargo, or Moscow ID, who even knows where to started.

What do I search for when I don't know what I have, and have no one that I trust to help me navigate.

I think that maybe it was you who started me on figuring out what I had in my Daytona. Honestly, before that, I would have had zero clue how to start. And I'm a nerd, and a forum nerd at that. Do you think that some random, non-internet savvy guy in Fargo has any reasonable shot at having their watch priced properly. He would have sat on it forever, or maybe sold it at a huuuuuuuuge loss, had he not lucked onto that show. Yes, he thought that he had an expensive watch, but $400-500K is unfathomable to most people. You've been in this forever, so I think that it may be hard for you to put yourself in the place of someone like that, or even like me, a few years ago.

I mean, look at some of the newbie questions not here on this thread, but on Styleforum in general.

I agree we all have to start somewhere. It takes time to learn anything. Remember back when I got into this, everything was brick and mortar stores, and paper catalogs. You couldn't easily see what various used models were selling for without traveling from city to city, shop to shop. All of that changed with the internet. Information is widely available about watches, values, and dealers. In addition, one can ask on dedicated forums for reputable dealers with an online presence to buy and sell. Many places deal with people all over the country if not the world. You can send them pix of your watch and they will give make an offer to buy your watch...for example EWC or DavidSW and a variety of other places that have a solid reputation.

Sadly, yes there are people who are not internet savvy and who will make serious financial mistakes, but they will probably also make mistakes on mortgage rates, purchase prices of cars, and a variety of other things. It would be great if everyone could be saved from making costly mistakes, but there is no way to protect people from not doing enough research.
 

Keith T

TWAT Master.
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Congrats! FOIS right?
 

Dino944

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Too good to be true, would be " bought an unbroken Patek for $100. but no, i didn't.

Sorry but this is pointless.

Sorry to disturb your interesting discussion, here is new arrival from this week. Have a nice weekend all!

rx3mnuV.jpg

Congrats on your Speedy! Looks great and I hope you enjoy it :cheers:
 

chrfi

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It is the FOIS indeed, I've had a Speedy before and sold it, but this FOIS caught my eye and I now think it's the best Speedmaster for me. Slimmer case, pointy lugs etc make the watch wear smaller on my slim wrist. And I quite like the vintage feel on this one.
 

clee1982

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How regularly, do you think, watches are used to launder money? I see all these kids on instagram with million-dollar watch collections and I can't help but think it's an easy way for their parents to funnel cash.

I would think if the parents is laundry money then they better made sure the kid hides it..., though probably some watches are used for money laundry, just like some casino etc...
 

Keith T

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Yeah that’s a great watch. They say that there’s a Speedy for everybody ?

I wore my 3594.50 to the office every day this week...

1323789
 

clee1982

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also $350 to $400k in 50 years is like 15.1% annualized, not as "ridiculous" as people think... (yes it's big, but not like Renaissance Tech...)
 

LA Guy

Opposite Santa
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also $350 to $400k in 50 years is like 15.1% annualized, not as "ridiculous" as people think... (yes it's big, but not like Renaissance Tech...)
For a consumer good, it's absolutely ridiculous. If you don't believe me, you can buy my old water heater for $100K. If that seems high, I also have a few flip phones lying around that I'm happy to let you have for just 2K apiece.
 

clee1982

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I agree with you, but my point is different, it's more about compounding, i.e. people treat $350 to $400k from 1990 to 2020 similar to $350 to $400k from 1970 to 2020...
 

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