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2531.80 “Bond” as first Omega?

padders
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DenisChalandier DenisChalandier
Those "middle good shape" are a problem. Too good for the seller to really cut the price. Not as good for you to wear it daily. The bracelet is beat anyway.

IMO, two options.
Buy under 2000 and don't touch it if you wear it 20 days a year with an after market bracelet. But you will have the same problems to sell it yourself if you want or need later.

If you want a daily watch, you will have to pay a service and a new bracelet. Throught Omega, it could be up to 1500... For a watch as new that you will be able to keep for years.

But worth 2500 at the end. The seller wont' give you the watch for 1000.. You "loose" a bit.

Your choice.

Sometimes it's better to buy a ruin. The price to repair it is the same but the sellers are more compelling to cut the prices down.

With a modern piece like this buying a cheap battered one is false economy since when you decide you want to improve it, the cost will be many times the difference to a good one. If your budget is limited and you want something cheap, buy something else, a nice quartz 2541 for instance but a tatty Bond is nobody's friend. I wouldn't personally go near one with bracelet issues.
 
DenisChalandier
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Diver 300 are not modern anymore in a way. A few were properply serviced.

You would be surprise how a ruin can go out from Omega service. Yes, it comes at higher market price but at the end you have a like new watch.
It's personnal. I prefer a "new" ruin at 3000 than a 2000 good one which never saw a watch maker since 2005 because you will have to do it anyway at one point.

Of course my way is not working if the buyer keep the watch only 2 years. I rarely sell. I don't have the problem.
 
dstfno
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It's the only Omega I have left in my collection. I think it's a better watch than any of bulky of overly polished divers from the modern catalog.
IMG_6554.jpeg
 
Annapolis
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DenisChalandier DenisChalandier
papers do are useful. Help comforting a purchase and helps to sell the watch if needed (had value and confort lots of buyers). Buy a watch first obviously but not useless at all.

A well-worn debate, obviously, and everyone must decide for themselves. Here’s how I’d put it: it’s true that for some people, the papers add “value.” But if you end up paying more money to get a watch that has papers and that in turn enables you to sell it for more later, then that added value hasn’t done anything for you—you don’t benefit from that value. I suppose it’s smart for the original owner of the watch to retain the papers so that he or she can get a little more at the first point of resale. But after that, it becomes a pretty moot point. (And of course, the papers are inherently useful during the warranty period.) Yes, watches with papers sell for a little higher—that means you get more for them but you also have to pay more for them. And expired warranty cards—whatever their market value may be—are absolutely useless. Worthless?—can’t say that, as people do buy and sell the cards on eBay, and a thing is worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

But the very fact that the cards sell as standalone items on eBay tells you what you need to know about them. They do not add any legitimacy to a watch if someone can buy one that never came with that watch, and then sell a “full set.” (The same is true of a box.) It’s silly to the point of being sadly ridiculous.

I think some folks new to watch collecting get confused about this and are easily manipulated. Just use basic logic: how does having papers that can be bought or easily faked long after the original sale add any legitimacy (or true—not market—value) to a watch? Common sense says of course not.

With a highly collectible piece, it’s a different scenario, of course. And I’m not saying I don’t like to have those things myself. But especially for a standard-run watch that I intend to wear, who cares? I’m certainly not going to pay a penny extra for them, or weigh their presence or absence against condition issues.

 
DenisChalandier
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You only buy a watch. A lots of people don't.

Not all cards are false from a blank bought on the bay. Thanksfully.

A full set tells a story. Where and when the watch was sold, helps people that wants their birth year and helps to determine if the watch is fully original or not.
To take an exemple on a Diver. If you have a card sure to be true saying 1994. It can tell you that the dial, bezel and hands must be tritium. That there is no logo on the valve. If not, the watch is not original. You don't care ok. But many people do. I do.

And is it rational to think a card prouves it's a good watch ? Not at all. But to sell the watch right papiers helps. Like your experience with your sold bracelet.
 
bulldog77
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Here's my recent pick up. No box or papers (though did have service documentation). I'm not personally interested in being some kind of custodian of a full set and its 'story' for these kind of watches. I'm far more interested in striking the best balance condition vs price and then wearing it. I'll save that premium to put towards the next service.

Would totally agree with not buying a 'fixer-upper' and to go for best condition you can.

PXL_20240130_134623867.PORTRAIT.jpg
 
62caster
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bulldog77 bulldog77
Here's my recent pick up. No box or papers (though did have service documentation). I'm not personally interested in being some kind of custodian of a full set and its 'story' for these kind of watches. I'm far more interested in striking the best balance condition vs price and then wearing it. I'll save that premium to put towards the next service.

Would totally agree with not buying a 'fixer-upper' and to go for best condition you can.

PXL_20240130_134623867.PORTRAIT.jpg


Can I ask what you paid?
 
Norfolk
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Do not get one to do up. Does not make any sense, unless you wear the hell out of it. I have had a GoldenEye version from new. It’s my go-to watch for the garden, gym, anything that is going to take a knock. It’s 30 years old and knackered but I love it. The tritium looks like fried eggs now.

I also have the 2531.80 which is now 15 years old
28510AE9-BC5C-42DC-BD26-3B6C89AB2ED7.jpeg
for other things where looks matter! It goes brilliantly with a suit for office meetings, travel and jeans at the pub. Mine is a treasured piece to hand down at some point. Full set etc. I do think they never improved on the original design…love the bracelet, weight, balance and readability.
Both watches sit in my bedside drawer and are grabbed when required. Budget $2600/2750 US in current environment to collect a good to great example.
01539302-C110-46ED-8A86-E26BE86799C2.jpeg
 
D909CFDA-5180-4C93-8611-BA84322EFE15.jpeg
DenisChalandier
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bulldog77 bulldog77
Here's my recent pick up. No box or papers (though did have service documentation). I'm not personally interested in being some kind of custodian of a full set and its 'story' for these kind of watches. I'm far more interested in striking the best balance condition vs price and then wearing it. I'll save that premium to put towards the next service.

Would totally agree with not buying a 'fixer-upper' and to go for best condition you can.

PXL_20240130_134623867.PORTRAIT.jpg

You made my point. Your watch was most certainly in a bad shape and properly serviced to sell it. And what you think is a non sense make the margin of your seller... Where do thing all those great diver 300 like brand new come from after 20 years ?
 
bulldog77
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When I said service documentation, I meant historical service documentation, not that it had necessarily been serviced immediately prior to sale. I don't think I made your point at all. You're purely speculating on my watch and the seller as you know nothing about either of them.

Would I buy a 49x serial with replaced luminova dial, hands, bezel? No, I wouldn't because that kind of outlier would be best kept preserved and luminova would be incongruous. But once you get near and beyond the transition from tritium, I wouldn't particularly mind. I would judge every watch on its merits or lack thereof. Mine happens to be an 80x serial from towards the end of the run. I'm not going to fret about whether this part or that might have at some point been changed at service, because it may well have to happen again in the future.

I don't place any particular added value on box and papers. Two of my other watches from the 90s/2000s Seamaster line happen to have them. One was originally sold in Japan and the other in Italy. That means very little to me.
 
R
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Buy a bond one. It’ll skyrocket in value in the future. It’ll be recognized as one of the defining omega models.
 
Turpinrr
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20231019_115256.jpg 20231019_140646.jpg 20231019_115145.jpg

Had mine serviced last year by Omega via watchfinder and it came back with a new bezel among other things.
 
Malthus101
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I've never been a fan of the broad, sword hands on these models... I really don't see the appeal. Although with time this watch has kind of grown on me.. also was never a fan of the big "wave" pattern dial... just seemd a bit "on the nose" for my tastes. Just my 2 cents...
 
Snooz
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bulldog77 bulldog77
Here's my recent pick up. No box or papers (though did have service documentation). I'm not personally interested in being some kind of custodian of a full set and its 'story' for these kind of watches. I'm far more interested in striking the best balance condition vs price and then wearing it. I'll save that premium to put towards the next service.

Would totally agree with not buying a 'fixer-upper' and to go for best condition you can.

PXL_20240130_134623867.PORTRAIT.jpg
That's a lovely example. I sold mine with the tritium 'fried egg' lume as I felt it made the watch look a bit tired and a bit scruffy. I'd definately go for the luminova dial in close to new condition like yours if I were to buy another. Condition is so important with these.
 
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