Selling a gold watch: gold value or watch value?
A gold watch has two amounts: what the gold is worth and what the watch fetches as a watch. The higher of the two is your price. Which one that is depends on the brand, the movement and the condition.
Two values, one offer
The gold value follows from the weight of the gold and its fineness, at today’s gold price. Every solid gold watch has that value, even if it no longer runs. The watch value is what a buyer pays for the watch as a whole: brand, model, movement, condition and papers.
With a sought-after brand the watch value is usually well above the gold value. With an unknown brand or a simple quartz movement it is often the other way round, and then the gold is the price. We work out both and make our offer on the higher.
Solid gold or gold-plated?
Look at the inside of the caseback. A solid gold case carries a fineness mark: 585 or 14K for 14 carat, 750 or 18K for 18 carat. Older and foreign cases sometimes show 0.585 or 0.750, or a national hallmark.
If it says plaqué, gold plated, gold filled, doublé, 10 microns or something like G20, it is plated or gold over a base metal core. That gold is too little to sell as gold. A case with a stainless steel back is also usually gold only at the front, or not at all.
A stamp is not proof. False stamps exist, and plated work sometimes bears a neat 585. That is why we measure the fineness ourselves, with an X-ray analysis and a second test where needed.
How much of the weight is left
A gold watch is not entirely gold. The movement, crystal, dial, crown and sometimes the caseback and spring bars are made of other materials. Only the gold part counts towards the gold value: the case and, if it is gold too, the bracelet.
With a ladies’ watch on a gold link bracelet, most of the gold is often in the bracelet. With a men’s watch on a leather strap the gold part is sometimes only a few grams. We weigh the gold part separately where we can, and otherwise deduct the weight of the movement and crystal. We explain at the table how we do it.
When the watch is worth more
- Sought-after brands – Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, Cartier and similar brands nearly always trade above the gold value
- Special movements – chronographs and complications, including vintage watches from lesser-known brands
- Originality – an original dial and crown, a case that has never been over-polished
- Completeness – box and papers count for a lot with brand-name watches
When the gold is the price
Many gold watches from the 1950s to the 1980s have a simple movement from a brand that means little today. Gold quartz ladies’ watches and watches with a damaged case often fall into this group as well. The gold is then most of the value, and that is not bad news: the gold bracelet of a ladies’ watch can be of serious weight.
Selling a gold watch bracelet without the watch is possible too. We weigh the bracelet and measure the fineness, just as with any other bracelet.
How we value
Our watchmaker Aaron in Eindhoven opens the case and assesses the movement. We measure the fineness and weigh the gold part. You then see both amounts side by side: the gold value and the watch value, and what our offer is based on.
The valuation is free and without obligation, at one of our 45 branches in the Netherlands and Belgium. If you accept the offer, we pay in cash or by bank transfer within 24 hours. Valid identification is required.
- Real or fake Rolex? Serial number, year of manufacture and the tell-tale signsWhere to find the serial and reference numbers, what they tell you about the year and the version, and which signs you can check yourself. Plus why certainty only comes once the case is open.Read on
- Selling gold at home: how to recognise a genuine valuerA buyer who rings your doorbell unannounced is not a valuer. Six signs of a trustworthy home visit, and what to do if something is not right.Read on
- Why you have to show ID when you sell goldYou cannot sell gold anonymously to an honest buyer. Which law is behind it, which documents to bring and what happens to your details.Read on
Questions about selling a gold watch: gold value or watch value
How do I know whether my watch is solid gold?
Look on the inside of the caseback for a fineness mark such as 585, 750, 14K or 18K. Words like plaqué, gold plated, gold filled or doublé point to plated work. Because stamps can also be false, we always measure the fineness ourselves at the valuation.
Is the whole watch weighed as gold?
No. Only the gold part counts: the case and any gold bracelet. We deduct the weight of the movement, crystal and other parts, and explain how we do it.
My gold watch no longer runs. Is it still worth anything?
Yes. The gold value is independent of the movement, so a stopped gold watch always has that value. With a sought-after brand, even a watch that has stopped can come out above the gold value.
Can I sell just the gold bracelet?
Yes. We weigh the bracelet and measure the fineness, just as with any other bracelet. You can keep the watch itself or have it valued separately.
Does XGOUD melt down brand-name watches?
Not if the watch is worth more as a watch. We work out both values and make our offer on the higher. Only watches whose gold value is higher go on as gold.
Is your question not listed? Ask it below, call 085 060 3009 or go to contact.
Still something unclear?
Ask it here. You will receive a personal reply by email, usually within one working day – no automated message and no phone call you did not ask for.
- An answer from a valuer, not from a template
- We keep your question so that you need not repeat anything
- No sales pitch afterwards
Sources
Where you can verify what you have just read.
- LBMAThe London gold and silver price our daily rate is built on
- WaarborgHollandThe Dutch assay office that verifies fineness and strikes hallmarks
Rather just have it looked at?
A valuation is free and without obligation, at a location near you.