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There was a time that you couldn't give one of those away. I bought one in the early 80s and they were not a popular watch. They did not have a Rolex movement in them and the movement they had was a manual wind one, which nobody liked. I had many other watches at the time and seldom wore mine.
Rolex eventually discontinued the watch. After some time had passed, collectors in Europe (predominantly Italy) started taking an interest in them. Values started to rise and when they doubled I decided to sell mine. I sold the box with the watch, but kept the papers for some reason. I felt pretty good about myself, as I had paid about $1750 for the watch and sold it for $3500. Eventually, Rolex brought out a new version of the watch and there was a renewed interest in these. It seemed that the increasing values of the older watches convinced people that they should buy one of the newer ones. The older ones doubled in value again and as each year passed, there was more interest in the new were ones and they became harder and harder to get.
The older watches now command stupid prices and if you want a stainless steel version of the newer ones, be prepared to wait a very long time. I recently decided that I didn't need to have ownership papers in my safe for a watch I had sold 30 years ago. I sold them on eBay for about $750. What the new owner will do with them, I have no clue, as they were filled out in my name and the serial number of my watch was punched into the certificate in a way that can't be altered.
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