The value of a gold watch is determined by two factors . . .

1. The collectible value of the watch, which is determined by the prestige of the company that made it.

2. The metallic value of the watch’s case.

In today’s post, we’ll look at each of these factors.

Gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other metals are all selling for certain trading prices that can change day by day. If you have a Troy Ounce of gold, for example, you can check on our home page and see that you should be able to sell it for $1809.20.

When your great uncle Charles retired after working for Firestone for about 50 years, he got a gold watch. And then when you saw him last Christmas, he said to you, “Can you find out whether this thing is really made of gold, and let me know what it is worth?”

Why look at online auction sites? Simply because they offer you the fastest way to examine hundreds and hundreds of different items that are for sale. You don’t have to travel to antique malls, estate sales, or live auctions. Just fire up your computer and start looking. 

We’re going to crawl out on a limb today and state our opinion that karat gold jewelry scrap is probably the biggest and best source of recyclable gold. Why do we think that? Because you don’t have to go panning in the Yukon to find jewelry scrap or (in most cases) hike around fields with a metal detector. Karat jewelry gold scrap is a lot easier to find than that, as the following stories illustrate.