Thrifter Pays $25 For A Goodwill Mystery Jar Of Old Timepieces To Go Up Against A $49.99 Nixon, And The Jar Pays Itself Off

Is it smarter to hand pick one watch at a thrift store, or take a chance on a sealed jar of mystery watches? The creator behind Diary of a Thrifter decided to settle it with a head to head challenge.

“I’m a treasure hunter,” she says. “Today, I just paid $25 for this mystery jar of old watches at Goodwill, and I’m wondering if someone with millions of dollars just donated something incredibly valuable without even knowing it.”

Her rival in the challenge: a Nixon watch she paid $49.99 for at Savers Value Village, still with the stickers on it.

A $49.99 Nixon That Is New Worth $230

The Nixon is in excellent condition, she says, and when she looked it up she was shocked at how much it was worth. Brand new, the watch is worth $230.

Because hers is used and has no original box, she assumes it would sell for a bit less, and she asks viewers to guess a resale value in the comments.

The question of the video is simple. Will a $25 jar of unsorted watches beat a $49.99 single watch when it is time to resell?

Pricing The Jar One Watch At A Time

She takes the watches out one by one, checks whether each is wearable and looks up what similar ones are selling for. The nice thing about watches, she says, is that you can find a value fairly easily online.

The first results were mixed. A vintage Seiko look-alike turned up at $172 on eBay and another similar listing at $728, though she doubts hers is that. A watch with no number lines on the face left her unwilling to put any price on it.

A Menichi tone silver tone analog watch gave her the first real number, $10.99, and she notes the jar is not paid for yet. Some pieces were plainly junk, including half a watch and a damaged one with a busted crystal.

A Spidey Watch Worth $17 And A Police Auction Winner At $2.74

Many of the watches were bargain-bin material. A TCK quartz watch with a stainless steel bracelet looked like one that sold at a police auction for a winning bid of $2.74.

A Spider-Man learning watch by VTech that still works seemed to go for about $17 in nice condition. She notes that worst case, she could donate it.

A rose gold watch that looked like a fashion piece trying to copy a Peugeot was similar to one at $108 on Amazon, though she does not think it is anything special.

“If It Works, We’ve Paid The Jar Off With This Watch”

The turning point came with a Timex Ironman triathlon watch. A seller in Europe listed a similar one for £54, and she says that if it works, “we’ve paid the jar off with this watch.”

She decides to call it worth $25, even though she thinks it is probably closer to $50 to $70. “Okay. Jar is officially paid for.”

That is the payoff in the headline. The $25 jar earned back its price with a single piece, and there were plenty more watches left to go through.

The Little Finds That Add Up

She keeps digging for something worth $300 or more, and while she does not find that, the smaller pieces add up. A Japanese quartz ladies watch had a $60 asking price on Etsy, though she points out an asking price is not the same as a sale price.

A Cardinal watch showed a range of $15 to $50 on a similar listing. A watch marked Arrow with an enlarging date lens was worth maybe $10. A smart health watch that looked grubby could be bought on Mercari for $5.

A Waltham with a worn look that suggested someone loved it was similar to one at $15 on eBay. A Timex with a steel back could bring about $30 as a parts watch, or about $100 if repaired and working, and sellers call it a cocktail watch.

A Wittnauer Lorient two-tone watch had an eBay listing at $59, so roughly $60 if it works and closes nicely. A vintage Timex Indiglo ladies watch had a sold listing at $17, and a Sonata ran about $15 to $20.

The Heavy BMW Watch With A Price Range From $176 To $800

The mystery piece was a big, heavy BMW watch with three dials. Searching gave her wild prices, from $176 for a working one with a strap up to $500 and even $800 for others.

Whether it is authentic or a copy, she says it has a nice heft and she is keeping it. She asks viewers to help her decide if it is a treasure or trash.

A Harvey Bernard watch, her favorite so far, seemed to have plenty of listings on Poshmark and eBay between $15 and $45, which was less than she expected.

Her Picks And The Question For Viewers

At the end she lines up her favorites, including the rose gold, the BMW, a sports watch and several old school pieces from the 1980s that she would wear. Then she asks the question: would you have taken the $25 junk jar or bought the $49.99 Nixon that could be worth over $200?

She says she will be wearing the Nixon herself, and she asks viewers to vote in the comments.

How To Price Thrift Store Watches Yourself

Her method is worth copying. Look at the back of the watch for a name, a model number or a country of origin, then search for sold listings, not only asking prices.

Always check whether the watch runs. A watch that works can be worth several times more than the same watch as a parts piece, as the Timex example shows. Since thrift stores sell watches as is, a dead battery is a common reason for a low price, and a new battery is a cheap thing to try.

Finally, be realistic. Many watches in a jar are fashion pieces worth a few dollars. The money is in the one or two that surprise you, and sometimes just one decent watch is enough to pay for the whole jar.

Vinyl and Velvet