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<span>STORY: :: London, England / June 10, 2026</span><span>With 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.</span><span>TALISMAN: “Some of these things have sentimental value and some do not.”</span><span>New York-based retiree, Mitchell Talisman, turned to melting some of his late mother and father’s gold items for cash.</span><span>:: New York / June 4, 2026</span><span>TALISMAN: “I had become aware that precious metals were getting interesting in terms of the price appreciation.”</span><span>Gold prices have almost doubled since 2024 to around $4,200 an ounce.</span><span>The prices of some gold Swatch and Rolex watches are up 4-6 percent on average from a year ago.</span><span>But Talisman didn’t want to be bothered selling old watches in his possession:</span><span>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.”</span><span>Some classic watches are being melted down as the value of their metal content outstrips their resale worth.</span><span>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.</span><span>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.”</span>
