As time goes on, the value of a product can go up or down. This price primarily depends on the economy, the rarity of the product or model, how many of those products were produced, and how big the demand was and now is for this piece. Regardless of what the item is, it’s always an incredible feeling when something you own, that is decades old, now has a value worth several times higher than what you had originally bought it for.
Even if we don’t believe an item we own is worth very much money, it’s always fun to get an old item appraised by a professional to get an estimate of its current value. That’s exactly what an army veteran did, and boy, did he receive some shocking news!
In a video clip, the veteran brings his six-decade-old watch, it’s original packaging, and the official sales receipt to the Antique Roadshow in Tuscon, Arizona out of sheer curiosity to see how much it would be worth today. The veteran originally purchased the GMT Master Model Rolex in 1960 for $120 while he was stationed overseas in Germany nearly 60 years ago.
Prior to appraising the watch, the appraiser asks the veteran if he had heard of Rolex at the time he bought it. “I never heard or seen one before. I just took [my sergeant’s] word that it was a great watch, and it is,” he responds.
In the beginning, the appraiser is giving us and the veteran a poker face. However, he has some good news: “It’s got some very special things about it. It is the first model GMT Master that Rolex ever made.”
Luckily for him, the value of this old watch did not stay the same or decline with time, its price skyrocketed! The appraiser then tells him that his $120 watch is now worth a whopping $35,000 to $45,000. The veteran is completely shocked. The appraiser continues to say that because the man still has the watch’s original packaging and receipt, it is actually worth $65,000 to $75,000 on the market!
Not only did the value of the man’s watch increase by over 50,000%, but the veteran also mentions that at the time he originally bought the watch, he was making under $100 a month in the military. So, a watch that cost more than what he could afford with a month’s salary in the military is now higher than the highest army rank’s monthly salary today!
And to think that if he didn’t save the packaging or original paperwork, his watch would be worth almost half of what it would have been. So, lesson learned: always save the original packaging and receipt when you make a big purchase just in case you decide to sell it later on.
Check out the veteran’s reaction to finding out the current worth of his beloved watch in the video below!
