A little Seiko love from ol' Craigslist!
Aug 20, 2014 0:03:58 GMT -8
donciccio, mariod, and 5 more like this
Post by cobrajet25 on Aug 20, 2014 0:03:58 GMT -8
My sister-in-law's Honda Odyssey finally died, and she was looking for a new vehicle. Since I am the family "car guy", I was recruited to help her find one. Last night, my sister-in-law found on Craigslist what looked to be a nice ride up in Redmond, about an hour north of where I live in Olympia. Redmond is home to Microsoft, so there is a LOT of money there. Perfect place to look for a nice used BMW. We had two Bimmers we planned to look at today...one in Seattle, one in Redmond.
Anyway, at the same time last night I am searching Craigslist for Seikos and I see an ad for "DIVE GEAR". The guy said he was a diver back in the 1980s, but couldn't dive anymore due to health and was getting rid of some stuff. There were tanks, masks, etc. All the stuff you'd expect. Near the end of the ad, almost as a afterthought, he wrote, "I also have an old Seiko dive watch with it's boxes and papers, hardly worn". No pic, though.
He was ALSO in Redmond... I emailed him once last night and once today, but never got a response.
Sis and I went and looked at the vehicle in Seattle first. She didn't like it. Then it was off to Redmond to see the second, which she bought. I checked my email again to see if I had heard back about the watch, but...ZIP. Since I was about to leave town, I decided to check the ad again from my phone. Lo and behold, a phone number had appeared! I called immediately. Turns out, he was just up the road a few miles from where we bought the car!
His name was Rolf, and he was a cool guy. Loved watches and guns. As I stood in his kitchen, he turned around and presented THIS:
Wow! I was thinking maybe it would be a 6309 or a 7548. If I was really lucky, maybe a 300m/600m 7549 or something. An Arnie never entered my mind. He said he bought the watch in '85 or '86, used it a couple times, then back in the box it went. For THIRTY YEARS.
I tried haggling with him, but to no avail. He was firm on $250.
It's the most I have ever paid for an Arnie (and it had a dead battery so I didn't even know if it worked), but with the price these are fetching nowadays I couldn't walk away.
It's like I was meant to find it. I mean, me being up in that town, on that day? It just couldn't be a coincidence.
I also gave a few bucks for a digital A639 Seiko he had, a vintage Lucerne diver minus bezel, and one of the wildest lookin' Timex Electronic divers I have ever seen. He said he got the Timex from his sister for graduation in 1974. Plus, I got an absolutely encyclopedic book on Rolex, and what literally IS a watch encyclopedia featuring this history of nearly all brands.
I have to say it was a successful day!
Anyway, at the same time last night I am searching Craigslist for Seikos and I see an ad for "DIVE GEAR". The guy said he was a diver back in the 1980s, but couldn't dive anymore due to health and was getting rid of some stuff. There were tanks, masks, etc. All the stuff you'd expect. Near the end of the ad, almost as a afterthought, he wrote, "I also have an old Seiko dive watch with it's boxes and papers, hardly worn". No pic, though.
He was ALSO in Redmond... I emailed him once last night and once today, but never got a response.
Sis and I went and looked at the vehicle in Seattle first. She didn't like it. Then it was off to Redmond to see the second, which she bought. I checked my email again to see if I had heard back about the watch, but...ZIP. Since I was about to leave town, I decided to check the ad again from my phone. Lo and behold, a phone number had appeared! I called immediately. Turns out, he was just up the road a few miles from where we bought the car!
His name was Rolf, and he was a cool guy. Loved watches and guns. As I stood in his kitchen, he turned around and presented THIS:
Wow! I was thinking maybe it would be a 6309 or a 7548. If I was really lucky, maybe a 300m/600m 7549 or something. An Arnie never entered my mind. He said he bought the watch in '85 or '86, used it a couple times, then back in the box it went. For THIRTY YEARS.
I tried haggling with him, but to no avail. He was firm on $250.
It's the most I have ever paid for an Arnie (and it had a dead battery so I didn't even know if it worked), but with the price these are fetching nowadays I couldn't walk away.It's like I was meant to find it. I mean, me being up in that town, on that day? It just couldn't be a coincidence.
I also gave a few bucks for a digital A639 Seiko he had, a vintage Lucerne diver minus bezel, and one of the wildest lookin' Timex Electronic divers I have ever seen. He said he got the Timex from his sister for graduation in 1974. Plus, I got an absolutely encyclopedic book on Rolex, and what literally IS a watch encyclopedia featuring this history of nearly all brands.
I have to say it was a successful day!
Yep. Wasn't expecting that!
