Imagine finding a Jaeger-LeCoultre hidden amongst cheap junk at a thrift store.
That’s what happened to one lucky watch collector.
He walked into Goodwill looking for a golf cart and ended up with enough money to fund his wedding.
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Zach Norris is an amateur watch collector from Arizona.
One day he inherited an Omega Seamaster, the same watch favored by Buzz Aldrin.
He then became fascinated with timepieces, watching videos about vintage watches and keeping an eye out for special pieces at second-hand sales.
On his way out of his local Goodwill recently, he decided to rootle around the shop’s watch basket.
When he saw one with the Jaeger-LeCoultre name on it, he knew he’d found a gem.
The timepiece was priced at just $5.99 and he could barely bring himself to hand it to the cashier to ring up.
“I was like, ‘You can scan it in my hand if you want to’,” he said.
“I just didn’t want to let it go.”
Norris knew his find was worth more than its price tag, but he had no idea just how much more.
He took it to a watchmaker to have it valued and left knowing he could make a life-changing amount of money from it.
The LeCoultre Deep Sea Alarm was launched in 1959 and was one of the first alarm watches made for divers.
Jaeger-LeCoultre produced less than 1,000 of this model, making it one of its most desirable pieces.
Norris weighed up his options: keep the watch as a collector’s item or sell it.
When he received an offer from Eric Ku, a celebrity in the world of watch collecting, he couldn’t refuse it.
Ku bought it for $35,000, meaning Norris made a 583,233% profit.
He’ll use the funds raised to pay for his wedding and to buy his dream watch: an Omega Speedmaster Professional.
Norris is not the only person to strike gold with a second-hand item recently.
One man found a vintage Rolex in a drawer which turned out to be worth $195,000.
While another bought an old photo for $2 that featured Billy the Kid and is now insured for $5 million.
Best you get to your local thrift store ASAP.
