The hidden fortune in old watches

It’s not so long ago that old watches used to turn-up at car boot fairs, charity shops and jumble sales (remember those?), usually in the form of unremarkable models set aside to be ‘got rid of’ after the grim reaper had called time on their original owners.

Back then ‘watch collecting’ had yet to benefit from the turbo-boost of the internet and remained an esoteric hobby enjoyed by scholarly types who had put the work in to discover the varied histories of all the best brands in the old-fashioned way: by reading books.

To everyone else, one second-hand watch was very much like another, regardless of the signature on the dial –unless, of course, it was a Rolex. Most people recognised those as being worth something, but less familiar makes were just unwanted objects made all the less desirable by the presence of the grime and dead skin cells left behind by their now-deceased custodians.

But