STORY: :: London, England / June 10, 2026With gold prices near record highs, more and more owners of watches and bracelets made from the precious metal are opting to melt them down… versus selling them as-is.TALISMAN: “Some of these things have sentimental value and some do not.”New York-based retiree, Mitchell Talisman, turned to melting some of his late mother and father’s gold items for cash.:: New York / June 4, 2026TALISMAN: “I had become aware that precious metals were getting interesting in terms of the price appreciation.”Gold prices have almost doubled since 2024 to around $4,200 an ounce.The prices of some gold Swatch and Rolex watches are up 4-6 percent on average from a year ago.But Talisman didn’t want to be bothered selling old watches in his possession:TALISMAN: “The idea of trying to sell jewelry seemed much more complicated because authentication and how you go about the procedure, it just seemed like way more effort than I wanted to get involved in. Whereas walking down to an office building a half an hour from here and watching these things get melted in a crucible and you walk out with cash in your hand, was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.”Some classic watches are being melted down as the value of their metal content outstrips their resale worth.Watches can hold anything from a sliver of gold to more than 200 grams, meaning their scrap value can run into tens of thousands of dollars.TALISMAN: “I have some stuff that’s, again, taking up room that doesn’t really appeal to me. And whether I melt it or sell it is something I’ll determine when the time comes.”
