# Watchbands



## goldsilverpro (Aug 4, 2007)

Interesting lot. Looks like the guy is making his money on shipping. Does anyone know what GF watchbands are worth? I have no idea. The refineries charge about $15/pound to refine them so, they may run pretty good. I think the GF is on stainless, instead of copper. I've heard that they are easier to process than normal GF on copper. Several different people told me to cook them in 10% sulfuric. I think the sulfuric undermines the gold and then the llayer of GF comes off. ?????

Ebay watchbands


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## catfish (Aug 4, 2007)

Yes I have did several gold filled watch bands. I always ask a question from the seller to weigh them and I usuall take 25 to 30 percent, depending on the size of the band, that would be actual gold filled. I then do the math on how much gold I will get and bid accordingly. You are right, you have to get them cheap inorder to break even or make money due the shipping costs. Too much garbage metal.

Catfish


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## lazersteve (Aug 4, 2007)

I'm just starting to put together some real numbers for womens GF watchbands. I'll share the data when I get the gold yields. Of course the variation in watch styles is so diverse it won't mean much even with hard numbers. I've been watching the same auctions. The 7# bag has sold once last week already, I wonder what's up with that?

Steve


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 4, 2007)

Steve,

If you would, try the near boiling or boiling 10% sulfuric on one watchband, just to see whether or not the gold layer separates from the stainless. I have no idea how long it takes or, if it works at all.


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## Harold_V (Aug 4, 2007)

I ran watch bands of every description and discovered that they are very labor intensive unless you simply strip them. Many of them are almost totally stainless components, although some are copper based alloys. On those that are copper based, you can usually dismantle them and discard the stainless, but unless your time is worth very little, I don't recommend that process. The square telescoping type found on women's watches tends to be such ----with stainless springs. 

I stripped them in a cyanide bath, using a block of titanium placed on top of a plastic basket filled with bands. The titanium was not in contact with the cyanide, just the deep pile of bands. It's a relatively slow process because you have to dissolve copper and silver along with the gold, but it runs unattended with the exception of the occasional dumping of the basket and refilling in order to insure that there are no spots that are not stripped because of intimate contact with other pieces. 

In my case, the cathode was a sheet of 1/8" stainless. The stripped values were then scraped from the cathode by hand, with a singe edge razor. The material stripped from the cathode was processed in nitric acid, then AR. I found them to be a good source of gold, but you must buy them very cheaply. 

Harold


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## banjags (Mar 4, 2008)

Sorry to resurrect an old post. 

What would a profitable price point be to purchase GF watch bands at? Say they were 1/20 10K


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