Both look good to me. The swiss is correct on the 2nd one, and my 344 has it too.

 

Only fault I can see with the first watch is the crown. Everything looks looks original, even if the case has been a touch overpolished. Hard to follow "MOY" test when there is no cross-hair. Dial looks good to me.

Second watch looks fresh to the market. Common for US models (note the "Unadjusted" on the rotor and "OXG" near the balance) to have "Swiss" rather than "Swiss Made" on the dial. Movement is pretty clean, with only a little wear on the rotor.

Both are nice watches,
gatorcpa

 

We're really not supposed to comment on watches posted in that thread, but sometimes I can't help myself.
gatorcpa

 

Achim (watchyouwant) was giving his opinion (he made that pretty clear in his post) and that's not forum policy. We want to be more liberal than other watch forums and certainly have no problem posting direct links to active ebay auctions.

IMO prices of vintage omegas are going to go up and I think this forum will play some small role in that - not primarily because we post links to active auctions but because we educate people on the virtues of vintage omegas.

 

You're not doing anything wrong as Mike indicated. While it never hurts to post pictures to illustrate your specific concerns or questions, you are perfectly free and not discouraged to post any links that your feel might be relevant to your inquiry.

As to the Recommend eBay Watches thread. It is exactly that, for watches that are fully recommended for purchase by parties confident in their recommendation and that have no vested interest in the watch. It is NOT a thread to make inquiries about a watch that you would like to know more about or get purchase advice. To that end specific inquiries should be made in a separate thread just as you have done here.

 

Regarding the price increases on items that were posted here, yea it happens, and if an item here is seen as good by a few of the well known collectors here, and recommended in that eBay thread its a good watch that is worth buying. Now at that point the price isn't overly relevant for the most part. Every week we see multiple people pay over the mark for a frankened piece of crap with a refinished dial, or a Cal 565 powered Constellation, or a 503 Constellation, or worse.

The watches that someone has recommended and a few others have critiqued and greenlighted, even if they go for a premium are good watches. If you pay over market value for it, wear it for 3-5 years and chances are you'll be ahead of the game, as its a good original piece that people have some interest in and was worth buying in the first place. That's the major benefit that thread offers really, guys that would otherwise possible end up paying for a bad watch can get a good watch, and while the increased interest caused here may mean you overpay a little, you're always better off overpaying a little for a good watch than buying a lemon.

Prices are going to increase over time, that's a given, and we may be partially responsible for that, but we'd rather have more people involved, more people buying and enjoying vintage Omegas, and more people contributing to that whole vintage Omega community over the long term.

And besides that, its fun discussing interesting watches, seeing people debate their virtues, and see where the prices are going and how elements like condition and demand are factoring in. I've actually done it myself several times, put a watch up for discussion while it was on an eBay listing and then actually buying it /myself/ after that discussion.

 

I think there's a real net benefit to it all. I was never very knowledgeable regarding vintage Omega. Following threads here (Ebay related ones in particular) has sure taught me a lot. I suspect I'm not the only one.

If we're pumping up prices of legit, proper vintage pieces a little bit and hurting the frankens/fake sales, I'm all for it.

 

Scarcity of watches and parts will no doubt influence prices in the future. However, I would offer vintage (not saying any comparison is necessarily proven equal) cars as an example. You still have people collecting and repairing autos from the early 1900's. Likewise watches 100 years old are still being collected and repaired. How will things change in the future markets, I'm not that good a psychic, but if people value an object, someone will want to find ways to make money off that desire.

 

That's the advantage of omega - still lots of parts and lots of people who can repair them. For those uncommon movements - if you are at that point - then you accumulate parts and watches/movements that can serve as parts donors.

 

In a way it sorts itself out since these are 7-10 day auctions so the old ones are pretty much auto-archived. I see one advantage to your suggestion in that once enough auctions are listed in their own thread you will end up with a more accessible auction price record.