Looking forward to the cheap cameras. But wait, can you please define cheap. Would a $5.99 Jaeger-LeCoultre falls under this category, if I try to draw a parallel with cameras.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/35000-dollar-lecoultre-deep-sea-alarm-thrift-store-012615
Cheap means a camera that did not cost a lot of money and in Sam's and my case could be sold for many-fold the purchased price. My Busch Pressman I secured for $24.99 at the Housing Works across the street from Puck Fair. Add on the NYC sales tax and it is still less than $28.00. On EBAY.con a clean Busch Pressman like mine have BIN's of $250.00. Even beat up users sell for about half that or $125.00.
BTW my cheap Rolex I call cheap because its the version that features "No-Date." It just so happenes that Rolex added Superlative Certified Cronometer on the dial for an extra cluttered look that many watch collectors find objectionable. My simple Rolex suddenly became a collector's item for its simple elegant dial. KAA-Ching.
My 8-Day Panerai GMT is a limited addition, and on top of that in the fourth year of limited production they changed the day/night indicator for the second time zone making my watch more desirable and collectable. KAA-Ching.
Watches can be great stores of value.
BTW the way I got my Rolex was through some special zero APR offer: 2 years of monthly payments with no interest. It happened in 2004 when the AOL Time Warner skyscraper first opened. I discovered a Tournou shop and I went in. A very young salesman asked if I needed any help, and I asked if they had a stainless steel Rolex Submariner which generally is a hard watch to find because it is a "Cheap Rolex" that has the same movement as the pricey gold version. Because Rolex likes to print $25,000 bills instead of $5K bills fewer stainless steel versions are made to limit supply. It was a lark they had one in stock and only likely because it was a grand opening.
The Submariner was kept in the back and was retrieved for me to try on. I could feel a transformation, and suddenly I felt powerful and rich. It was a moment that I didn't want to go away, then this salesman told me about the special promotional offer. My heart raced and it seemed I would be able to buy a watch that I normally could not afford.
"I'll take it," I said.
Next thing you know I see the store manager walking towards me with my salesman in tow. I knew there was some problem and my heart skipped.
"There's been a mistake," the manager said, "The Zero APR promotion does not apply to Rolex's."
My heart sank, but before I could say anything the Manager said, "But if you want the Rolex instead of another watch we'll make an exception. We just want you to be a happy customer."
"I'll take the Rolex." I said, but I highly suspect that the manager expected me to have good maners and excuse myself from the situation. I surely was the happy customer, but he was not so happy because I kinda mugged the manager for his watch that he really did not want to give up. No doubt about it my behavior was like a tough street thug.
Anyways my new Rolex brought out the bankster in me. From the whole experience I learned how ruthless and aggressive I could be for my own benefit. I learned a lot about finance, and how to exploit leverage to extract value. I learned about hard assets as a store of value, and when George W. Bush was elected President for the first time in 2004 (2000 was via a Supreme Court decision) I was so pissed and angry because I knew bad thigs yet to come were about to happen and that I has to get out the aggression outb or depression would set in.
I used a lot of zero APR credit card offers to fund a margin account to daytrade oil and biotech stocks against hedge funds using all the forced selling they created to my advantage. KAA-Ching. I knew that the majority of Americans voted for this fool and that I had no choice but just worry about my own future, knowing that everything going on in our economy was unsustainable.
Anyways my "Cheap Rolex" made me a lot of money.
Cal
