A gentleman must have run into hard times in 1885 and had to pawn his watch. This is from The St Paul Daily Globe, Saturday Morning, September 12, 1885.
Listed among the gents watches
I'm not sure if there are earlier indications of the cost of an IWC, this one at US$140.
Cheers from the cellar
"Those were the days"
Kenneth.
Not really. $80 in 1885 would be equivalent to about $1,750 today. $140 would be about $3,050.
What would it be worth today???
Interesting posting, Cellar! It is always a pleasure to see you here! I miss your weekly contributions and I hope you are doing well!!!
First I found this extremely interesting. It's the first I've seen for values of Jones watches. Thanks, cellar, for the contribution.
On values back then, it's really hard to calculate. One source said the following:
Current data is only available till 2012. In 2012, the relative worth of $80.00 from 1885 is:
$1,990.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$1,830.00 using the GDP deflator
$10,800.00 using the unskilled wage index
$17,200.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$18,500.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$97,900.00 using the relative share of GDP
On values today, the market is thin and irregular. I once bought once for under $1000 and have one, virtually new, that one expert estimated at $10,000. I'd say that most I see are in the $2000-5000 range.
Greg, fantastic find and certainly a different angle to the great history of IWC!
Groeten,
Bob
This is a very interesting story in which an IWC helps the owner survive through hard times, but is not the only one.
About 100 years later the Portuguese residents of Benguela, Angola, fled the city (1975) because of the civil war. They used their IWCs, Ingenieurs, Aquatimers and Yacht Clubs, among other easily tradeable goods, to finance their return to, and settling in Portugal. No pawn brokers, nor ebay.
These watches keep showing up for sale in Portugal, and are now all over.
The prices shown are in Angolan Ecudos, are outrageously high.