How important is the box and papers?

[mpaone]

I was thinking of buying an Explorer II from a friend however he may not have the orig. box and papers. How important are those items if I decide to resell some day?

Is there a set percentage of value those account for? I'm guessing for special editions they may be of greater importance.

Thanks in advance!
-Mike.

[TimeToGo]

You can always establish provenance by means of a service at an RSC. Condition will play a major part of the value. What year explorer are you looking to purchase?

Welcome to the Forum

[mpaone]

Originally Posted by TimeToGo

You can always establish provenance by means of a service at an RSC. Condition will play a major part of the value. What year explorer are you looking to purchase?

Welcome to the Forum

I was told it is a 2003 model. Looks like it's in great condition upon initial inspection but I am no watch expert.

Thanks,
-Mike.

[TimeToGo]

You can always purchase a box to match the time period. As far as a papers for this model year, may be worth a couple/few hundred dollars, for an all original package. All depends on condition of the watch..

[mpaone]

Originally Posted by TimeToGo

You can always purchase a box to match the time period. As far as a papers for this model year, may be worth a couple/few hundred dollars, for an all original package. All depends on condition of the watch..

Excellent. Thank you very much for the feedback!

-Mike.

[Tools]

Condition is always the primary consideration..

It would not make much sense to buy a marginal watch because it has a "box and papers" if it's sitting next to an excellent example without..

[nch209]

IMO, this is very subjective. If you dealing with a friend, and he is legit, no worries, and not a huge money difference down the road. That said, it would be an easier sell with box and papers, but not for much more money.

Same goes with vintage, often times these items get tossed or lost. However, when people are selling very late model pieces without paperwork and boxes, flags start to go up for me.

In your case, dealing with a friend, you should be OK, and will not have a huge difference in price down the road...

All the best
nate

[mpaone]

^^^ points well taken. :)

-Mike.

[gqllc]

I agree...very subjective. I always like the box, papers and everything else. However that would not stop me from buying a watch if it was incomplete. My GMTIIc and my Sub LV were purchased with out papers. I paid a little less and I would end up selling them for a little less. The condition reigns supreme. If you have to service the watch figure around $550 dollars or so. So if someone was selling a bnib for say $4,000 and a used 2003 model for $3500 then I would buy the bnib model. If the 2003 model was $2,500-$2,850 then I would consider that one as long as watch was in excellent condition!