US man buys rare watch for £4, sells it for £23k
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Zach Norris had gone into the shop in the state capital Phoenix looking for a golf bag trolley, but recognised the timepiece during his visit.
A watch collector, Norris knew that just 900 of the Jaeger-LeCoultre watches had ever been made.
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Hide AdEstablished in 1833 in the Swiss town of Le Sentier by Antoine LeCoultre, the firm was responsible for a number of breakthroughs in watch technology, including the push button system eliminating the need for a key to wind it up and invented the ‘millionometer’ to accurately measure up one micrometre - one-millionth of a metre.
He focused on high quality timepieces, and was awarded a gold medal for his work at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Norris put the Jaeger-LeCoultre watch up for sale on a collectors’ website, with a San Francisco resident paying $35,000 for it (£22,656).
He told local TV that anyone could strike gold in second hand shops, adding: “Research everything. Just take your phone in there and if you see something that looks goofy, you haven’t seen it before, Google it. You never know.”
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Hide AdNorris added that he was planning a wedding using the money from the sale of the watch but revealed that he had donated part of the money to the store.
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