The first watch also contained a subdial with 3 tiny Mickeys chasing one another around the dial. Ingersoll-Waterbury manufactured the very first Mickey Mouse wristwatch and sold it at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. They also created a matching pocket watch. The Ingersoll trademark appears on the watch dials. Ingersoll, now known as Timex, held the rights to make Mickey Mouse watches from 1933 up until 1971, so if your watch is pre-1971, odds are it’s an Ingersoll. In the 1960s and beyond, more and more brands took up the Mickey Mouse trend. Though the watch sold for $3. 25 when it was first released in 1933, it’s worth much more now. An original 1933 Ingersoll-Waterbury Mickey Mouse watch went up for auction in 2016 and was priced between $1500 and $2500. [2] X Research source The 1934 watch looked much like the 1933 watch, although the 5 and 7 on the watch appeared either outside or inside Mickey’s feet.

The watches manufactured between 1934 and 1937 were made in round cases.

The long sides of the rectangular case bowed out slightly, but the short sides of the case were straight. Previous Mickey watches were made for boys, but now there were watches for girls, too, with thinner, metal straps.

Mickey watches from the 1930s and ’40s may be worth between $150 and $1500, depending on their condition and functionality. In 1942, Ingersoll, the original Mickey Mouse watch manufacturer, was bought by U. S. Time, but the Ingersoll trademark still appeared on the watch face. [5] X Research source After Ingersoll was bought by U. S. Time, some of the Mickey Mouse watches were gold-plated until the 1960s.

If you’ve got a vintage watch with a luminous dial and are worried about being exposed to radioactivity, you can relax: the EPA has determined luminous dials made with radium aren’t a hazard unless you take the watch apart.

In this decade, the case was changed from rectangular back to round. U. S. Time was renamed Timex in July 1969.

Lorus released a number of limited-edition watches for men and women, but the musical watch is among the rarest and most valuable.

Seiko also made a 14-karat gold Mickey Mouse watch in the 1990s in another limited run of 500.

When the celebrated watchmaker Genta debuted his “high class kitsch” Mickey Mouse watches at a Swiss trade fair in 1984, he was asked by the event organizers to remove them from his display. In protest, Genta took his watches and stormed out. [11] X Research source Genta’s Round Retro Fantasy watches feature Mickey as well as other Disney universe characters. The cartoons are usually depicted playing sports like baseball or golf.

It’s unclear if Rolex ever actually made Mickey Mouse watches or if “Mickey Mouse Rolexes” are really just Rolexes with aftermarket Mickey dials placed in the watch. [12] X Research source Genta’s Mickey watches are the most valuable of all, with some worth upwards of $30,000 due to their quality as well as their limited edition status.

While people often use “antique” and “vintage” interchangeably, the word “antique” actually only applies to items a century or older. Thus, until 2033, original Ingersoll-Waterbury Mickey Mouse watches are just “vintage. ”

If you’ve inherited the watch from someone who may have had it repaired or serviced at one point or another, see if you can get documentation of the repairs as this will help give you a fuller picture of the condition of the watch.

Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Auctionata, and Philip’s all have watch specialists in-house who can help you figure out the price of your Mickey Mouse watch.