One thing I tell my clients who are vintage collectors - always add in the price of a service when buying a watch. I have had to service a lot of "freshly serviced" watches from eBay and other sellers, so take any claims of recent servicing with a big grain of salt.

If it turns out you don't have to service the watch, then consider it a bonus.

Cheers, Al

 

My piece of advice.
Do not surrender to - what I have named - "grail emptiness". The feeling of meaninglessness and anxiety that can hit you when you have reached one of your goals. The emptiness and sometimes disorientation has its explanation.

Take comfort in the knowledge that collecting is not solely about the possession of things. It is as much, or more and for some, maybe to the full extent - about the quest. The research, the hunt, the journey, meetings, contacts - and the dreaming.

You are not alone in your grail emptiness. I would say we all suffer from it in different ways and forms. I tackle it by finding a new grail to covet and long for. Sometimes I alternate between hobbies to find new inspiration.

I found this some time ago and I think it is well put:
“The main thing is that I discovered that half the fun of owning a watch is, like the fulfillment of all desires, about the pursuit –shopping around is fun and ownership is the beginning of something, but also the end.” Jack Forster, Contributor, Forbes Magazine

Kind regards
JE

 

I know exactly whay you mean, I'm still waiting patiently for a piece after seaching for quite some time, the search although draining at times was probably the best part. The quest and research involved and pursuing something at times unobtainable makes it all worthwhile, you do it to hold that piece of history in your hands, a brief moment in time...oh, and the connections you make with fellow collectors, enthusiasts, people in general make it so much more fullfilling than just wearing the watch...Although, that can be fun too.. (staring longingly into his black waffle constellation!...)

 

I understand why redials are detrimental to a vintage piece, they are extremely difficult to do accurately and a refinished or refurbished dial is never as good as the original. With a polishing a a case, could you please explain to me why this is such a bad idea. not that ive had it done before, but isn't it simply restoring it to it's original condition? Where a dial is never as good as the original, the same can not be said of the casing. Some wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

We've only touched on this - a collector should identify and prioritize potential purchases. The more specific your parameters, the better. Most of us have a Top xx Most Wanted list, usually somewhere between 5 and 10 watches. We know what reference number(s) and style(s) we will accept for each piece on the list, and don't deviate from that. This keeps our collection somewhat organized and following a theme. Then you can have a Target of Opportunity list where you can be a little flexible, but still acquire specimens that fit into your goals. Make less impulse purchases because they're often models that you haven't done sufficient homework on.

 

Huge Supply + Huge Demand + High Public Awareness + High Prices = Potential Bubble = Collectors start to hunt for minute differences on dials/special patinas/et al, to differentiate and continue to build legend (and their own name) = Large industry builds around faked/restored/redials too feed demand (as the rest of the watch is in “huge supply” the dial is the big thing) = Rolex Submariner/Sea-Dweller pre-saphire.
Low Supply + Low Demand + Low Public Awareness + Low Prices = Diamond in the Rough = Universal Gèneve up to the seventies.
Low Supply + High Demand + High Public Awareness + High Prices = Polished Diamond = ?.

 

Totally.

I started off running around buying all sorts, but now have that definite top 5-10 favorites.

As the other half has curtailed the spending a bit, I tend to be highly critical of any prospective buys and only pull the trigger if it's a real original example at a good price.

In the latter half of my collecting years I've done much better this way.

 

Only one redial for me. I bought it immediately after seeing it and have never seen another example anywhere, let alone offered for sale

Every watch I own past or present I ave considered selling, except this one

 

Newbie here. Great thread! I was about to embark on ebay to acquire my vintage watch collection (mid '60's-'70s automatics) and have now cleared my ebay "watch list". on closer inspection most watches on my list were mediocre and/or had "carefully restored" dials.
so now I am refocusing on quality original. Besides ebay are there any other recommended sources?
p.s. Love the recommended on ebay thread, but those end so quickly. If the resident experts could look at some current offerings and recommend a few sea-master style omegas that'd be great!
thanks again

 

yes, I agree with almost everything that was said in here. Regarding redials, I also avoid them and actually made a couple of mistakes in the past that I now regret. Not to be able to recognize a repainted dial sometimes happens due to poor quality of pictures or even when is not mentioned in the description(in most cases). Other times, the redial is extremely well done and made a long time ago and so showing some aging signs typical of originals. On the other hand, I have this 30T2 that I purchased in a very poor condition and decided to go for a redial. The result was in MHO more than satisfactory and I'm reluctant every time I think "Maybe I should let it go"...

 

Um…… uh….. it's not true to original. It is your watch, so if you're happy with it that's fine. If your showing it asking for opinions (which is suggested when you said it was your humble opinion) then I'm sorry to say I'd be very disatisfied with that work.

 

+1 on that.

 

I see. Well, I guess I'm not that exigent...