1950s Rolex Oyster: help for newbie with potential purchase

janice&fred · Jan 19, 2020

Canuck
You didn’t come to this thread in order to be helpful.

I was the one who stepped up to the plate and gave the OP an accurate assessment and market value, devoid of emotion and exaggerated descriptors. I wasn't about to call someone's watch a "turkey" or make the guy feel bad for being interested in it. again...if you are still confused simply refer to your original and subsequent posts. if you find it's so difficult to be polite and reasonably accurate/ helpful to newbies posting questions then perhaps you should try and sit some of these types of threads out? thumping your chest over your supposed experience with watches merely makes you look even more ridiculous considering your assessment of this watch.

dennisthemenace · Jan 19, 2020

janice&fred
are you like this every day?

//
24/7.

kip595 · Jan 19, 2020

Impgreene
Thank you, I think I will do that ………..

Finally question, is it safe to assume that if I buy something from a proper auction (e.g. Bonhams on 18 Feb) that the watch will be roughly fairly valued for the quality i.e. am I relatively safe buying at auction, or is that too a bit of a minefield for a Newbie?

Thanks again for all the help.

Phew! What a thread.

Re: Auctions, I second what https://omegaforums.net/members/dan-s.42180/ said above; although all of my own experience w/buying at them has been art and auto, not timepieces. Some houses will go out of their way to provide extra details and background info for certain pieces, but these are usually the more desirable lots, i.e. the "show" lots meant to bring in people to the action, especially for live on the floor auctions. For an art world example, extensive records and docs might be easily made available to a registered bidder interested in a large oil on canvas painted by Monet in his prime, while a small pencil sketch study done by someone like Edward Hopper, just as famous to many art folks, might only get a little info and a "yes we promise it's genuine you'll get a certificate and such" type of greeting. Then of course there is the emotional issue; a 2k watch could become a 7k watch if there happen to be two bidders there determined to get that exact year, design, and etc, regardless of the typical high street value. And don't forget your auction fees! They can sneak up on you.

It can be a great learning experience, but I wouldn't recommend an auction as your first buy for vintage like this. Then again, I could be 100% wrong and you could end up getting a killer value, but that's just the nature of auctions.

Just my two cents, and good luck! 👍

dx009 · Jan 19, 2020

The watch is nice, at least from the outside and the photos aren't that good, but the 2,000 GBP price is WAY too high... I've seen fully boxed sets that cost less (and the condition was better).

gatorcpa · Jan 19, 2020

Impgreene
Thanks for the help above, let me pester the seller and see if he can help on the case reference number and serial numbers - suspect he isn't going to want to open the case back given the damage to the teeth there already, but I will ask and revert.

Seller doesn’t need to open case back. Should be engraved between lugs, although it might be worn off if the watch was on a bracelet for a long period of time.

IMO, watch is not worth $2,600 regardless of condition.
gatorcpa

Canuck · Jan 19, 2020

The consensus seems to be that the manual wind Rolex Precision with the chewed up case back is not worthy of consideration. ::rimshot::

Impgreene · Jan 20, 2020

Thank you all.

As an update the seller just put it up on eBay (presumably as my purchase fell through) - link below - price (with the new strap + box) is now up to £2,100 !!

Note the 'cash' or 'bank transfer' only comments (which aren't permissible on eBay anyway I don't think), and 'collect in person' only - essentially he wants an 'off-eBay' and 'off-Paypal' transaction (i.e. no recourse).

Thank you all for your help, I think I avoided a close on here - will watch the sales section on this forum for a while instead!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...363655?hash=item3b4091be07:g:tEkAAOSwa9dcxg-Q

redpcar · Jan 20, 2020

No. Not "up to 2100". He listed it as a buy it now for 2100. This is what he is asking. No takers. ☕

Impgreene · Jan 20, 2020

My fault, should have made it clearer, "Up to" in the sense of "Gone up in price to", was originally £2,000 he was asking, now £2,100.

Canuck · Jan 20, 2020

redpcar
No. Not "up to 2100". He listed it as a buy it now for 2100. This is what he is asking. No takers. ☕

The seller is delusional! No two ways about it!

rkman11 · Jan 20, 2020

Impgreene
Thank you all.

As an update the seller just put it up on eBay (presumably as my purchase fell through) - link below - price (with the new strap + box) is now up to £2,100 !!

Note the 'cash' or 'bank transfer' only comments (which aren't permissible on eBay anyway I don't think), and 'collect in person' only - essentially he wants an 'off-eBay' and 'off-Paypal' transaction (i.e. no recourse).

Thank you all for your help, I think I avoided a close on here - will watch the sales section on this forum for a while instead!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...363655?hash=item3b4091be07:g:tEkAAOSwa9dcxg-Q

Well that should get taken down pretty quick as what he’s after will avoid eBay fees, and, as a business, they usually don’t like that. Also goes against your thought that he’s an honest seller - ignoring the rules, and ignoring the feedback you gave him/clearing not using that information to do more research on the piece.

I’d say you wisely avoided a bad situation. There are some fantastic and honest people on this forum. You’ll find a much better piece here soon!

redpcar · Jan 20, 2020

Just received an unsolicited private buy it now offer from ebay on this watch for 1,800 pounds. 🙄 No place for a counter offer.
This is a first for me on something I was watching.

gatorcpa · Jan 20, 2020

I've received that type of offer before. The seller makes an offer only to people who have put the item on their "watchlists".

That is legit. If you click on the item, you will see a new BIN offer that is visible only to you.
gatorcpa

X350 XJR · Jan 20, 2020

Yes, totally legit.

Larry S · Jan 20, 2020

I might also suggest this book.....short money, lots of data.

watch3s · Jan 20, 2020

Larry S
I might also suggest this book.....short money, lots of data.

thats probably the best thing some one starting out can buy, information

kip595 · Jan 20, 2020

rkman11
Well that should get taken down pretty quick as what he’s after will avoid eBay fees, and, as a business, they usually don’t like that. Also goes against your thought that he’s an honest seller - ignoring the rules, and ignoring the feedback you gave him/clearing not using that information to do more research on the piece.

I’d say you wisely avoided a bad situation. There are some fantastic and honest people on this forum. You’ll find a much better piece here soon!

Agree, doubt the 'bay will let that stay up long.

Impgreene · Jan 21, 2020

Larry S
I might also suggest this book.....short money, lots of data.

Thanks for this, will order a copy and get studying!

chrisblanch · Feb 6, 2020

@Canuck, outside forums like this, where would you look for 50's/60's manual wind Rolexes? I'll admit I thought this one looked pretty good for $1000 and almost bought the watch below for closer to $2000 recently.

Dan S · Feb 6, 2020

There is nothing wrong with watches like these, but as @Canuck indicates, it's easy to get in over your head with very old pieces like this. They can sometimes (often) be in bad shape and not every watchmaker can repair them. So quite honestly they are not the best choice for a novice, who may not be prepared for high repair costs and may not have a great relationship with an appropriate watchmaker.

However, if you really love them, and don't mind a project, then go ahead and buy one that looks good to you. Feel free to run it by the forum. But be prepared for some push-back from forum members on the price, negotiate the best you can, and steel yourself for potentially expensive repairs. With old watches, it's "you win some, you lose some". When you have owned dozens (or hundreds) of them, you become philosophical. But for a novice, it can be really unpleasant to get a repair estimate that equals or exceeds the price of the watch.

1950s Rolex Oyster: help for newbie with potential purchase

janice&fred

dennisthemenace

kip595

dx009

gatorcpa

Canuck

Impgreene

redpcar

Impgreene

Canuck

rkman11

redpcar

gatorcpa

X350 XJR

Larry S

watch3s

kip595

Impgreene

chrisblanch

Dan S

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