Charlatans on ebay

[LittleWatchShop]

Ebay post, Esslinger online.

[KarlvonKoln]

And the two would be nigh indistinguishable.  I suppose there will always be customers with money who will insist you install only genuine Rolex parts, and most will likely understand that it will not be cheap.  But still, it is a bit of an ethical dilemma trying to justify charging more than one absolutely must.  I am not a wealthy man, and I certainly won't become so by repairing watches, but I certainly wouldn't want a reputation for gaining my fortune by overcharging lay people.  
That said, I have to also wonder what the seller originally paid for it.  It may be that he thinks he can recoup some of his loss.  

[thor447]

I ran across this one yesterday.

[LittleWatchShop]

The amazing thing is that the vintage GS crystal is NOT genuine ROLEX as the seller is intimating.

[thor447]

1 hour ago, LittleWatchShop said:

The amazing thing is that the vintage GS crystal is NOT genuine ROLEX as the seller is intimating.

Hopefully it stays there unsold.

[JohnR725]

3 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

The amazing thing is that the vintage GS crystal is NOT genuine ROLEX as the seller is intimating

Yes but they're giving you a big discount you should be happy.

Then how do you know it's not Rolex? The reason I ask is bestfit for instance Used to have Rolex parts for sale and other than the balance staffs they were actually Rolex parts purchased for Rolex. The same as at one time the Omega parts for all real Omega parts. I know somebody who is visiting bestfit and apparently in the morning there were packaging up Omega parts from a gun and an afternoon there packaging up their own parts. So it's conceivable that the crystal company at one time purchased crystals from Rolex when Rolex would sell things to the rest of the world.

Although I do find the price rather amusing because I'm sure that price is considerably higher than what it once was listed as. Maybe they're tacking on a warehouse storage fee for keeping that crystal safe all of these years.

[KarlvonKoln]

9 hours ago, thor447 said:

I ran across this one yesterday.

This is the same kind of problem I have semi-regularly.  I once was tasked with finding a genuine Tag Heuer Carrera case back (how the original got lost I was never told).  I recorded the lowest prices I found for the "like new" ones that would fit the case, which were all over $100, some WELL over $100, and presented the estimates for the customer's approval.  Well, the customer decided to buy a new Tag instead, saying it wasn't worth it for that price, to him anyway.  Prices like those above mean that people like me cannot get parts, because such repairs often revolve solely around what the customer will be willing to pay, and how much they value their watch.  
If you're all about keeping quality watches running well and being used for decades, the struggle to get good parts is a major hindrance. Perhaps many online auction sellers believe they are asking a fair price for these parts, but for someone in my position, there are times it has the feel of price-gouging.

[LittleWatchShop]

6 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

Then how do you know it's not Rolex?

SWAG

I am a capitalist, so I guess charging what the market will bear for a case back or something unique is just part of the game, but, if in fact the crystal shown in the OP is just a plain old GS crystal, then the seller is being deceitful IMHO.  I can buy the same crystal all day long for less than 10% of that price.

[spectre6000]

Back 20 years ago, I worked selling, repairing, and occasionally making guitars and basses. Luthiery (making/repairing stringed instruments) and watchmaking have the "behind the curtain" going for them to some degree, though it feels a little more pronounced on the luthiery side. Anyway, with guitars, we call the effect "mojo". A Fender Stratocaster is a pretty ho-hum guitar. Don't get me wrong, in proper fettle and in the right hands, a Strat earns its keep and is a singular thing. But if you're buying new (or used), you really don't get what you pay for. Or, said another way, there are many other routes to that same tone/feel for less money, or better for the same. You pay a fair amount for the mojo, and that is a significant demerit.

Anything Rolex is dunked in mojo like a teenage boy in Axe Body Spray. With guitars, the mojo aspiration is in a creative direction, but with (some) watches, the aspirational direction is measured in dollars. Thereby, mojo pretty much directly translates to dollar signs to where the more paid the better. Overpaying is practically a plus. I understand it, but I don't get it. Rolex does absolutely nothing for me, and if I won one at the fair, unless it were just right stylistically (I'm not aware of many Rolexes that are), I'd immediately sell it. The mojo stank is just too strong.

[LittleWatchShop]

59 minutes ago, spectre6000 said:

A Fender Stratocaster is a pretty ho-hum guitar. Don't get me wrong, in proper fettle and in the right hands, a Strat earns its keep and is a singular thing.

Years ago...maybe 15 or so, I was on ebay late one evening and there was a pristine Custom Shop Strat with Fender White Lace pickups.  It was/is kindof a candy apple red with gold trim.  I have lots of guitars...my first real electric was a Fender Mustang--daphne blue which I got for my birthday in 1967.  Always wanted a Strat, so I bid on it.  I bid $1000 and was sure someone would outbid me, but no, I got it.  A little shocked.

It arrived in literally "from the factory" condition in a Strat case and all. 

It can happen.

[SpringMangler]

Things are only worth what people are prepared to pay. 

Back in the early 90's I was buying musical instruments for peanuts that were out of fashion. A Mini Moog for £45, Prophet V and Oberheim OBX-a at £120 for both, an ARP 2600 for £300 plus lots of others such as Wurlitzer and Rhodes pianos for next to nothing. This was the equivalent of buying a Rolex sub during the quartz crisis for £30.

15 years later the youngsters had discovered the joys of these old instruments and their scarcity coupled with the popularity had propelled the prices into the stratosphere. Mini Moog - £4.5k, ARP 2600 £7k and so on. This also resulted in instruments that we wouldn't have touched with a bargepole back in the day realising stupid prices.

A lot of hobby products have gone up significantly in price since lockdown with watches and watchmaking tools being no exception. I see people selling absolute tat on eBay but getting the money. 'Vintage' is the buzzword along with 'patina' that turns out to be more mould than Louis Pasteur's laboratory. 

I do wonder how long our hobby is sustainable with the ever increasing price of spares, donor watches and the ever increasing scarcity of certain parts.