4/30/20 Report - More On Metal Detecting Watches and Researching Watch Finds.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasruebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Rolex Watch Found by JamminJack

Yesterday I talked a bit about finding watches.  JamminJack sent this photo of a Rolex he found.  He said he was surprised that it wasn't a knock-off.  It has a pearl face and diamond hour markers.

I'm glad he mentioned knock-offs.  Like everything else of value these days, there are plenty of counterfeits out there.

I once found a Malibu Polo Club watch that I was going to wear, so I took it to a repair shop to have a few links removed from the band.  I didn't know anything about the brand and never imagined that it was anything that anybody would counterfeit, but the dealer wouldn't work on it because it was a knock-off.

There are a lot of knock-offs, but there are tons of genuine watches that are worth a lot.  Certain Patek Phillipe watches are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, for example.  There are watches that I never heard of that are worth a lot, and I recently discovered that I should have paid more attention to some of those.

I have the following price guide on watches, but as happens with priced guides, the prices quickly become out of date.  Nonetheless, having over 1000 pages, this book provides tons of useful information, including tables of serial numbers, technical details and lots of history.  Being a 1997 edition, the prices are next to useless, but even if they are way off, you can still tell if you have something that might be valuable enough to get checked out.  It would be a pity to discard a watch worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

At least if you find a watch you don't know anything about, there is a chance that you can find enough information to give you some idea.

Ladies Gucci Watch With Interchangeable Color Plastic Ring.

You might be surprised by the values of some watches.  Back in the late 1990s, I found several of the ladies Gucci watches like the one shown above.  Evidently a lot of them were lost.  I think maybe because the band was so rigid and the clasp not very good, but I never paid much attention to them because they seemed to be so common, however a quick check of eBay shows they can be worth over $100 in used condition.

Men's Gucci Watch Find.

I haven't even bothered to check out this Gucci watch yet, but I just saw a bunch of Gucci watches selling for close to $1000 so I guess I should get it checked out.

Back to the subject of knock-offs - there are a lot of web sites and videos that will tell you how to determine if a Rolex is real or fake.  One thing to check is the date bubble.  It should magnify 2.5 times.  Many fakes do not have a bubble or do not magnify the right amount.

Here is a web site that gives a number of clues on how to identify a real or counterfeit Rolex.

https://www.jewelry-secrets.com/Blog/how-to-spot-a-fake-rolex-watch/

In the old days, most of us probably used an acid test kit to test our finds.  Today it is easier, and you can get more detailed information, if you just take metal items to a pawn shop or jeweler that has an XRF analyzer.  Times have changed.

It is easier to take watches to an expert too, rather than trying to do all the research yourself.   That is what I do.   There is an authorized Rolex dealer in Vero, for example.  So any Rolex, or any other watch that I suspect might be good, I take to a watch dealer or someone who should know.  Watches aren't the easiest thing to research.

Rolex watches have a serial number and you can look up the serial number to get an idea of when the watch was manufactured.  You might think that you can find the original owner by using the serial number, but Rolex won't give that information.  I tried that  more than once.

You can check TheWatchRegister.com, but that database only shows watches that were registered by the owner, so a lot of the time you will not find the serial number you are looking for.

Concerning detecting watches - I previously did some videos on how the position of a watch can affect the signal you get from your metal detector.  I used the Ace 250 on those videos.

Using an Equinox metal detector, the results were similar, but with the Equinox you can also consult the conductivity numbers.  I think I did similar tests using an Aquanaut detector oot, but don't know if I posted it.

Here are the links to the three videos showing how the position of a watch affects the metal detector signal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqZ9XJiKy7o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtIVumXmtyU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYGswg64oWE

If you want to find watches, it is worth practicing, as I mentioned yesterday.  I always thought I found so many watches because other people were using discrimination and missing them.  You don't want to miss watches, because they can be some of your more valuable finds.  That has certainly been true for me.


It might be also be worth reminding you about something else I wrote about in the past.  When you are trying to find the rightful owner of a find, make sure to not tell them everything.  If there is a personal inscription, for example, keep it secret so you can ask any one who claims to be the owner about the inscription.  You want to make sure you have the correct person.

I say that because I've had people try to claim finds that did not belong to them.  It happens way too often.  I did a post on that before and also did a post describing precautions to take when hunting a specific item for a person.

When searching for an specific item, make sure to get an exact description with positive identifying details before conducting the search.  If you find something better than what you were searching for the person might try to claim it.  It has happened.

In South Florida you will have more problems with people than on the Treasure Coast.  In crowded areas there will sometimes be people who follow you around trying to see anything and everything that comes up in your scoop.  In the past I described some of my favorite techniques for dealing with that too.


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The Treasure Coast surf will be decreasing from the current two to three feet.  You can expect a calm surf in the not too distant future.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/4/17 Report - Historical Newspaper Worth Big Money. Hurricane Season Has Started. Watch Finds. Pre-Colombian Gold Pendants.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

That was the headline on January 6, 1777.  The story read as follows.

CROSSING THE DELAWARE AND THE BATTLE OF TRENTON – Great News from New-York … His Excellency General Washington … in Person at the Head of Three Thousand of our Troops, crossed the Delaware, attacked the Enemy at Trenton … and after a brisk Action of Thirty-five Minutes, entirely routed them. Salem: E[zekiel] Russell, January 6, 1777.

This newspaper telling of Washington's victory is the only one known to survive and is being auctioned by Christies.  The auction estimate is $40,000 to $60,000.

Here is the link to the fine manuscript and book auction.

http://www.christies.com/salelanding/index.aspx?intsaleid=26932&sitecoreguid={e70a5466-f441-4913-ba5f-035cc211c735}&sectionname=auctions_nav&saletitle=

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Hurricane season has begun.  As you know, most cobs and shipwreck artifacts that are found on Treasure Coast beaches are found after storms.  Last year Matthew aimed at us but hit farther north.  Some cobs and shipwreck items were found after Matthew, but nothing like some of the bigger treasure storms such as the famed Thanksgiving Storm of the last century.

Not all hurricanes come during the peak part of the season, which is August to October.  Some tropical storms don't wait for hurricane season to start.  That happened this year and the previous two years.  Arlene, which had no impact on us, formed earlier this year.  Alex formed in January of 2016 and Ana formed in May of 2015.

They are forecasting that this season will be more active than average.

The last hurricane having a category 3 or greater rating to make landfall in the U. S. was Wilma in 2015.

It take a hurricane to make the beaches productive.  It has nothing to do with storm strength.  Some strong hurricanes do not produce a lot of finds, while some storms do.  What I'd like to see more than anything, is a storm that sits off-shore and sending us a steady stream of northeast winds and high seas.

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I've talked about the fact that there aren't as many coins being found on the beaches these days. People aren't using cash as much as in the past.

I've always found a lot of watches. There don't seem to be quite as many any more, but still they are common finds - more than I would expect.

I don't know why people wear watches these days.  You can tell the time from your cell phone.  Those big watches seem to be in style.  People are now also wearing watches that do things other than tell the time, like the Apple watch and Fitbit.

I always found a good number of watches in the water - a lot of them worked, but a lot of them were ruined.  My first Rolex find was drowned.

I was always surprised by how many watches were lost on the beach.  You might not think something so big would get lost in the sand, but they do.

A lot of the lost watches are inexpensive, but some are nice or interesting, and some are valuable. The one that I actually wore the most, as I don't often wear a watch, was a German watch I found.  I wore it until the battery ran down.

Gucci watches were common finds for me - both men's and women's but more women's.  I found a good number of those ladies watches that have the different color plastic fashion pieces that can be changed.  On the ones I found, more than half did not have the color pieces.

Dive watches were fairly common finds in the water.  There was one place where I used to find a lot of dive equipment, including dive watches, knives and weights.  It was where they took people for dive classes.   I started discovering dive equipment at that location and wondered why, and then later I learned about the classes they conducted there.

I don't often target watches, but one good place to find a watch is in a dip in front of the beach, especially if it is filled with course shelly sand.

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These Pre-Columbian gold pendants, 1000-1500 AD, were appraised at $20,000 to $28,000 several years ago.

Here is that link.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/17/myrtle-beach-sc/appraisals/pre-columbian-pendants-1000-1500-ad--201202A17/

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Overall I have no changes in beach conditions to report.  Even a passing storm can cause a spot of the beach to erode and open up a treasure window.  You have to be alert and quick to catch those types of fleeting opportunities.

We'll soon be keeping track of tropical storms.  No one knows how that will turn out this year.  It might be a big detecting year or it might not.  Only time will tell.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/4/12 Report - Gucci Watch, Indian Head & Unidentified Shipwreck



Wrttitten by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.




Gucci Watch Found

The wind is from the west this morning and the seas are still flat.  It is beautiful weather for water hunting except for the sandy shallow-water conditions.  While there isn't much chance of finding old things, people are still losing things everyday. 

The few dips there are in front of the beaches mostly have a layer of shells on top.  Those shelly shallow water dips aren't much good, but they do collect watches.

The poor economic conditions in Europe are causing an increase in the price of gold and silver again.  Gold recently went back up over $1600 per ounce.  Of course, the dollar has been doing well too lately because it is not as bad as some of the other currencies.

To the right is one watch find.  In my experience, it seems that Gucci watches are unusually common finds. 

I don't know why they are lost so often, but I suspect it is because of the type of catch that is used and the rigid band. 

The Gucci watches with the changeable color face bands are very common finds, as are dive watches.  

I can understand how people lose watches in the water, but you would think those lost on land would be found before a detectorist comes along.  It isn't like a small gold ring that would quickly become buried in the sand.

Even when conditions are poor on the beaches, it is possible to make a few old finds.  One way is to look for places where sand or earth is being moved, as I mentioned yesterday. 

Here is a beat up Indian Head penny.  It doesn't look like it circulated much, but it got mangled somehow.  The other side is really nice.

1905 Penny

An unidentified 19th century shipwreck was recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico during a NOAA expedition.   The following web site tells more and shows some really nice underwater photos of the wreck, including the remains of a lot of the copper hull sheathing that shows the shape of the bow even though most of the wooden structure is gone.

Notice all of the nails, and the remains of the lead Roman Numerals.   Also a lot of bottles, dishes, muskets and the remains of a sword handle.

Here is the link.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/pictures/120531-shipwreck-gulf-mexico-19th-century-nation-science/#/queen-annes-revenge-blackbeard-ship-sword-found_31158_600x450.jpg


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net