Hi there,

I'm a newbie to vintage watches living in NYC. I have always bought new watches (including a Constellation 95 (1502.40.00) that I bought in 1999), nothing vintage or pre-owned.

I bought this 1951 Seamaster 2576-13H Bumper online for $275. Caliber is 342. I had a private watchmaker give me an estimate of $625 to give it a complete maintenance, new mainspring, and new escape wheel. The previous owner gave me a new acrylic crystal for free.

The gold-plated 1968 Seamaster is my father's. Caliber is 565. The estimate for that came out to be $625 for complete maintenance, new mainspring and crystal. I will replace the gold bracelet with a gator strap (or would you keep the bracelet and have it resized?).

I was told by some to NOT to get it serviced at Omega HQ as they'll devalue the pieces and replace hands and dials. Omega said service starts at $550+tax. I might as well go with Omega than to private watchmaker since they're slightly cheaper, will use OEM replacement parts and will ensure the watch will run properly.

The watchmaker will take 4 weeks.
Omega will take 4-6 months.

What would you do and who's your go-to watchmaker to service vintage Swiss watches? Any help is most appreciated. Thanks!

Cathy

 

Well, without knowing more about what is wrong with the watches, I'm a little hesitant to comment, but I would think twice before spending that much on maintenance for those watches. If they are running, and basically in decent condition, my gut feeling is that those quotes are pretty high. If they are not running, and a mess of rusty parts, then I could understand.

 

Like that bumper. The hands may be replacements but still, lovely watch...

 

I struggled to find an affordable watchmaker when I was in NY - you may have to send the watches somewhere to get them serviced at a reasonable price.

 

The bumper doesn't run but I think cosmetically, it's decent. Would you agree? I'm hoping when I bring in my pieces to Omega later in the week for an estimate that they'll keep the dials at my request.

The gold-plated one runs but not well. I've attached new pictures of disassembled watches. Do they help?

Getting Omega's second opinion later this week. Hopefully, it won't take them too long to give me their estimates.

Thanks Dan.

 

Thanks ahsposo! Relieved I made a good choice for my first vintage purchase

Will replacing the hands devalue the watch? The dial is salvageable? I've now included photos of the disassembled watches.

 

I hear you! Where do you get your watches serviced?

 

I’ve had decent experience with Paul’s Watch and Clock in Sacramento - they’re much cheaper than you’ve been quoted elsewhere. That said, I’m still looking for a watchmaker I trust with my nicer pieces.

Edit: “pieces” not “prices”

I’m not sure anyone on this forum would recommend sending your watches to Omega even if it is cheaper than the alternative (which it isn’t). They will hurt the collectors value of the watches. They will also probably want to send the watches to Switzerland for evaluation prior to giving a quote.

 

So the watchmaker completely disassembled the watches in order to give you those quotes? And then he reassembled them without cleaning and oiling? Or are they still disassembled in his shop waiting for you to approve the quotes?

 

I wouldn't even consider using Omega for this. It is likely to take a long time and to be very expensive. And they may insist on replacing parts that you would prefer to keep, but they probably won't tell you that in advance.

 

Part of the problem with asking for advice on this board is it's a "collector" biased board. There's a whole lot of emphasis on "correct" when what a lot of us want is a good looking watch to wear. I get confused myself sometimes. Bumpers I find a heck of a lot of fun to wear; the hammer bouncing can be felt some times.

I get almost all of my watch purchases serviced, sometimes the price is a bit high but when I think about the pleasure I get from wearing a classy old watch versus the other stuff I have to spend my money on I get no pleasure from, well, case made.

WHOA!!!! I just saw the disassembled watches! What's up with that?

The question @Dan S asks is what I want to know....

 

The watchmaker completely disassembled the watches. Since I'm not going with him based on pricing, he will return the watches to me as is tomorrow.

 

This is not right!

Something is wrong with this picture, IMO. I've never had a watchmaker hold me hostage like this.

 

Well, I had him give me an estimate. Part of his proposal, he took pictures of what he disassembled. Since I rejected his estimates on Friday evening (after talking with some folks on getting a second opinion), he will return my watches tomorrow. He's had them for a week now.

Don't think he held them hostage

 

Thank you for Paul's Watch info!

Sounds good. Looking like I won't send the watch to Omega. It's unanimous on this "collector's" forum...even though I wouldn't mind a nice looks like new watch returned to me

 

Is the watchmaker putting them back together for you or just giving you 2 heaps of parts?

 

I'm thinking (hoping) he's putting them back together. That's what I was assuming. I guess I'll know tomorrow.

 

This is a crazy situation. If he does re-assemble the watches, he will have done a substantial fraction of the amount of work required overall. I have never experienced this scenario. Hopefully he will be careful about it.

Did he give you a rough "base" price for your approval before disassembling the watches?

 

I'm hoping he re-assembles the watches (I had a 1976 Tissot he was quoting me $525 but got it down to $250 but decided to not pay $1500 for the three watches).

If he does re-assemble and is careful about it (guess I wouldn't know), I should give him a tip for the assessments or not necessary?

 

If he agreed to $250 for the Tissot, he is apparently willing to work with you on the price. Did you talk to him about the Omegas? The amount of work involved to service an Omega and a Tissot is probably pretty similar, the main difference would be any replacement parts. Mainsprings are not terribly expensive ($20?), and frankly you do not need a new crystal. The existing crystal could be easily polished. He has already disassembled them, it seems a shame to waste all that work. What if he would do all three for $850 or $900? Would you do that?