Many watch collectors are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on their beloved wrist watches. It is not even difficult to spend more than $100,000 for an off-the-shelf watch today, and some watches can be priced much higher. In an era where many people are more interested in digital and fitness watches, what about all of the millions of old-fashioned pocket watches that were made in decades past? Will these hold any value in the coming generations?

Collectors Dashboard evaluates the collectibles sector as an alternative asset class. Not every single collectible should be considered a solid investment. Some collectibles being purchased, even those with prices in the tens of thousands of dollars, may simply be for the joy or vanity of owning an item without any care for future resale value. Still, collectibles cost enough that the money could have just as easily been justified over time had it been invested into stocks, bonds, mutual funds or even property.

Most adults can remember an older family member having a pocket watch that would be worn on a vest or inside of a suit coat. The watch was usually gold (plate), but they could have been silver or steel. If you’re of a certain age you remember the daily use of it and the tuning that went into all its moving parts.

In 2021, both Hamilton and Rolex have vintage pocket watch examples that vary in price among collectors. The early half of the twentieth century was generally seen as the climax of a pocket watch as a fashion accessory, but many older adults still used pocket watches up until the 1970s or 1980s.

The auction giant eBay is true central clearing house for auctions and offers on all watch makes and models. Collectors Dashboard has tracked some of the recent pocket watch sales by price and by brand:

• June 6, 2021 Tiffany & Co. Geneve Chronometer Pocket Watch 51mm 18k gold sold for $6,900.00
• April 16, 2021 Waltham 14k solid gold pocket watch 1896 Hunter Case size 16 sold for $3,599.00
• April 25, 2021 Antique 18k gold large watch case cover hand painted enamel flowers & pearls sold for $3,250.00
• March 13, 2021 1920s Illinois Springfield 21 Jewel Bunn special railroad pocket watch sold for $2,200.00
• May 15, 2021 9ct gold pocket watch & 10ct gold albert watch chain fancy links rare 108g boxed sold for $1,838.58
• May 27, 2021 Edwardian 18ct gold pocket watch, 1905 Belfast Campbell and Company sold for $1,414.30

The website chrono24.com is another must see for watch collectors. This also includes pocket watches, and their listings of Patek Philippe and others can still come with astronomical price tags:

• Patek Philippe Platinum Pocket watch diamond markers with platinum chain rare collectible, listed for $10,500.00
• Vacheron Constantin Vantage minute repeater, listed for $21,000.00
• A. Lange & Sohne pocket watch, listed for $28,890.00
• Patek Philippe 980g-001 White Gold Pocket Watch (New), listed for $54,020.00
• E. Howard & Co. 1883 E. Howard & Co. Antique 18 size pocket watch, listed for $8,207.00

Finally, Etsy also offers well-known brands of pocket watches. They even have well known names like Rolex and Omega, as follows:

• Omega pocket watch 5.2 cm diameter with free shipping included, listed for $315.98
• 1920s 9ct Gold Rolex Star Pocket watch antique Full Hunter Pocket watch, genuine unicorn (working, very rare), listed for $1,475.19

The Chrono24.com site lists advice for seasoned watch collectors and those just learning what’s valuable and what’s not. Not every pocket watch found at an estate sale or garage sale is worth the trouble of restoration. Commercial dealers of pocket watches provide warranties for the watches they sell and therefore command higher prices.

Perhaps what’s most valuable to the collector is the appraisal service offered. An appraisal service offered by the site is the most valuable offering because they compare it to 475,000 other listing to help you set the most realistic price to be successful.

According to the website watchrepair.cc there were roughly 300 million pocket watches were produced for both men and women between 1880 and 1960. That vast population came from nearly 1,300 different movement models. This website offers flat rate restoration prices for brands like: Elgin, Hamilton, Hampden, Howard, Illinois, South Bend, Waltham, and Columbus. Here are some of the prices that pocket watch owners can expect to pay for repair, inspection and servicing:

• Minor repairs of detail parts start at $30.00, replacing and installing minute and hour hands is $60.00 and the minimum fee for specialized labor or inspection is $50.00.
• Full overhauls for non-running early American type watches pre-1880 is $580.00 American Railroad grade watches is $385.00.
• Swiss and American (mid-century) type watches to overhaul are $355.00 and $480.00 for the same types pre-1915. Service comes with a case cleaning and free professional polish.

As with most collectibles that cost a lot of money, the sky is the limit when it comes to record-breaking prices. Pocket watches of historical significance can easily get into the $100,000 level and can go up much more. The record-breaker for the most expensive pocket sold in an auction was the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication via Sotheby’s in 2014. It sold for just under $24 million in Geneva, Switzerland. According to Sotheby’s the watch was started in 1925 and was not completed until 1932.

If you are going through your family heirlooms and old boxes of jewelry and stumble across a pocket watch that you and your own parents forgot about, be sure to at least give a look to the brand and do a quick search on any of these websites. Chances are high that the watch is of little value, but if it is made of gold or if it has one of the top brands mentioned in this article then you might be sitting on more than a pretty penny.