Fair price for a colleague?

[Moesin]

Hi All,

I was telling a colleague about my experience researching my inhereted Rolex so far and he surprised me by asking how much I would part with it for (i.e. showing interest in buying it). I told him that based on responses so far it looked like it was about a $2500 watch with a rare-ish box, perhaps worth a few more hundred, but that I wasn't sure. I also mentioned that I was planning on putting it up for auction on eBay. Well, after giving it some thought, I really like the idea of selling it to someone I know (we will be in the same department for another 20+ years health and armageddon pending ;) and who also happens to be a neighbor. I realize I could probably get more via an auction, but keeping it somewhat "in the family" is certainly more appealing than a few hundred extra dollars. So, if this was your inhereted watch/box and you wanted to offer it to a colleague for a very reasonable price (but not giving it away either) what would you ask?

(Photos here... scroll down for extra photos of the box)

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=25121

Again, many thanks!

[Gaijin]

Sorry, I know I am not answering your question, but inherited?

I would keep it and cherish it. You sell it and have to look at it on the wrist of somebody else everyday you might regret it.

[Moesin]

I genuinely appreciate the sentiment and wise warning, and certainly if my house wasn't already a shrine/museum to my family history I would be much more reluctant to part with one of my dad's posessions. However, the fact is that while he loved this watch, he rarely wore it... both due to the fact that in the early 80s he got totally paranoid that he would get robbed/killed for it (he was working in downtown LA and there were a lot of Urban Legends about brazen Rolex-jackings) and then so many people at his work were showing up with fake copies he revolted and opted for a $19.95 Casio "calculator watch"! As well, I explained in my New Member intro that I am way too destructive to wear it even once, as I'm SURE the first thing that will happen is a swipe across a stucco wall or some such nightmare, for which I will never forgive myself! As a collector of many historical and mechanical objects (Hammond Organs are one of my pasttimes) and knowing life is short IMHO it is better to pass things on to an appropriate owner/collector than let more stuff accumulate in the safe. My wife and I don't have children, so this is also part of my decisionmaking. If my colleague enjoys it and passes it down, that suits me just fine...just knowing it is going to a good home. Of course, with the price of Rolexes, I can't imagine one going to a "bad" home!

[Gaijin]

Fair enough. Sorry.

There should be some people more knowledgeable about price along shortly to answer your question.

[Moesin]

If one of the Rolex shaman/gurus could chime in with a ballpark figure when a spare moment arises I would be indebted. My colleague just got tenure so selling it to him at a very fair price will make a nice "gift" of sorts, especially if I lop a few hundred off whatever a fair price for this watch and box would be. Whaddya think? Based on the only past posts to mention price, would $2,500 be a good price in this context?

Also, I never found out, will we be able to retrieve the service info from Rolex by taking it into an AD, or is that much more complicated?

Thanks again to all!

[mike]

I'd say in the area of 2K. The box is interesting.