I feel like I'm going cross-eyed from looking at so many watches ... I would have given up already if it weren't for you guys , so thank you

Here's one that I like ... how does it look to you guys ?

( I posted a watch earlier asking for advice ... looking for Christmas gift for my 16 year old son ...thanks again )

 

While I think it's very nice that you want to buy a nice watch for your son, 16, imho, is too young for a watch that old and, comparatively, delicate. As others have stated in your other thread, this is a small watch, approx. 34mm. There are so many choices, for the same money, of watches of comparable quality that it boggles my mind that you would keep focusing on old Seamasters that will become increasingly more difficult to maintain.
Regarding this watch: note what looks like rust on the stem and did you see the engraving on the back? If your son's name is Len and yours is Bettie, then it might be the buy of a lifetime.

 

I'd also be very wary of the bumper calibres, for example, the 354 that you have above. Just to give an indication, the 354 is category 4b for an Omega service but, a 1960s 565 calibre is category 3. This means an Omega service would be about twice for a 354 over a 565. It's because the 354 parts availability is not good and you'll likely pay more for a service at an independent Watchmaker as well.

Try for a 1960s calibre 565 Seamaster as there are plenty about and in many styles. Oddly, I don't see one in the Private sales forum at the moment but they are usually there....

Regards, Chris

 

If you persist in this notion of giving a 16 year old an antique or vintage watch, you had better plan on cultivating a friendship with a watch repair shop who specializes in antique and vintage watches! I repair watches for a living, and if you were to see what I see, several times a week, you'd have a perspective on why I say this. Modern watches have (in large part) become a disposable service item! Regularly, I see watches of vintage that have survived in beautiful condition, up until an heir became the owner. A watch that has survived for decades, in beautiful condition, is often destroyed in as little as a year or two! Best of luck!

 

OTOH, I gave my daughter an inexpensive Swiss chrono from the 50s, and then a vintage Rolex DJ, when she was 17 and graduating high school, and she has babied and loved and enjoyed both of them like a true WIS for the past 6 years. Each kid is different. GLWTS.

 

Take a look at kickstarter watches, the Nezumi voiture is nice at a reasonable price, so is the COURG. A swatch system 51 can also be a good start, considering its a good looking young and terribly innovative watch.

However I am of the opinion that 16 yo may be a tad young for a vintage beauty.

 

A friend bought a lovely ladie's 14-karat gold Bulova wrist watch at a garage sale. He brought to me for a service before he gave it to his teen grand daughter. I advised him against giving such a watch to a teen. He advised me that he knew she would love it, baby it, and cherish it. I did it! He gave it! Since then, it has been back to me twice for repairs to damage! He now knows I was correct!

 

I would suggest going for a modern vintage looking watch to get him started? Otherwise part of the experience of watch collecting is the purchasing so maybe your present could be the funds to buy the watch and join him on the watch buying adventure? I know how picky I am with watches and doubt anybody could pick me something I would want to wear/use. Also you will be paying for any maintenance I imagine until he starts to work himself?

Otherwise it is a lovely idea, wish my dad had the same out look!

Jack

 

Thanks .... i checked out the three watches that you recommended and ordered the Nezumi voiture . I am going to save it and have it on hand for a gift for one of my boys when the time is right ...... And I had no idea that the swatch watches were still around ... I had several of those when they first came out! The COURG looked cool but not what I am looking for right now. Thanks for the recommendations.... I have learned a lot in the past few days and I have decided to wait and let him pick his own first vintage watch .... and in the meantime, I may try to pick up a few for myself .... Ilike the men's vintage watches on ladies ... so why not?

 

Thanks Jack .... you gave me a wonderful idea .... I am going to get several watch boxes and make a print of several cool vintage watches that I like , cut them out and put each one in a box and wrap them .....I will also hide $ in each box ..... so he will open each box, see the vintage watch image, but there won't be a real watch in the box .... at the end, he will be baffled ..... then I will tell him that there is a little money in each box and it is to be used to pick out the watch that he would like ..... that way he can take his time to read and learn and discover exactly what he likes .... then he can have the fun of trying to find the watch at a price that he can afford .....

 

The engraving is the best part about this watch to me ..... I love it .... it's it a lost art. .... it is beautiful . But I will try to control myself and stick to collecting sterling silver serving pieces with gorgeous engraving that give the pieces a history or a story .... and romance .... LOL. I can just picture Len and Bettie in 1955 .... such a cool watch!!

And I agree with you guys now .... my 16 yr old son is too young for a nice vintage watch

 

When he picks one, have it engraved from you to him, if it's not already engraved?

Your mention of Swatch suggested you might not realize this, but not only is Swatch still around, but they own half the Swiss watch industry, including Omega.

 

What a great idea. Thanks kkt

And you are correct, I had NO idea about Swatch !! Dang I am learning a lot about watches ... I would have NEVER suspected that about Swatch! Thanks for sharing all of this great stuff with me

 

Well @tripletmom, this is for you!

This German sterling silverware set was my grandparents'. I added the gravy ladle and six matching dessert forks as Christmas presents to myself last year. They came from eBay in Germany (from which my grandparents emigrated) and I figured I'd better get them as who knows if I ever would have been able to buy them again had I passed them up. It's Franz Bähner's pattern 18000 from the early 30s. As for its history, it went with them when they fled Nazi Germany... to fascist Italy... and thence to the USA on the second-to-last ocean liner out in 1939.

This was the night before Thanksgiving after I set the table. Note how the gravy ladle is so much mirror-like.


I spent 3 months in 2012 polishing the set after one of my sisters gave it to me. It took 3 pounds of silver polish. The soup ladle was the hardest piece to polish by far. I wonder if any of you know what small piece in the upper right is. The dessert forks here are a different pattern.



I also have my great-great-grandparents' tea and coffee set that, to the best of my knowledge, was a wedding present to them in 1875 from the brides' uncle in Mainz. My grandparents gave it to my parents as a wedding present, and I spent my childhood polishing it. Then in 2003 my father sold it at auction, but I was at that auction and kept my paddle up till I won it. It was made by a firm called Koch & Bergfeld and sorry for the flash.

 

What a fabulous story! And what GORGEOUS pieces you have!! Thanks for sharing them here
I love that you bought the silver that you polished as a child at auction ... you sound like me

I find myself buying back my childhood on eBay ocassionally

And yes, the item in the right top corner is a food pusher. It was used by children to push food onto their forks ... children aren't taught table manners like they were back in those days

 

Thanks! I use the silver every day, along with their porcelain. I'm a firm believer in not saving nice stuff for special occasions.

I'm pleased you recognized the pusher!

 

That looks like a baby pusher/food pusher...

https://www.antiquecupboard.com/PatternsByPiece.asp?piecename=Baby+Food+Pusher