Price of an Omega in the 60ties

i was wondering what was the price "out of the omega store" of a "standard omega seamaster automatic" and what is the market value of such a (the very same) watch today?

- its more a philosophical question. Im aware, that SOME (very few) models are extremely valuable today whereas others were produced in large quantities and flood the market. But in gerneral - if my granddad would have bought a standard cal 552 Seamaster...)

The other question arising is how many "liters of milk" could you purchase in the 60ties instead of an omega watch and about how many can you today?

 

The Omega SM 120 in my avatar was purchased for USD$417.25 in 1975 (I have the B&P).

Based on some random US CPI inflation calculator off the web (not the most accurate way to measure, I know), which marks the average at 3.85% per annum, current value would be USD$1880.84.

I do believe they go for a little bit more than that nowadays, though.

 

The desirable pieces (of course, tastes change over time) certainly are doing far better in the market than others that are less in demand. That creates opportunities if your tastes go against the grain. I will leave the economic analysis to others, but I can say from a personal perspective that buying vintage Omegas would be very profitable if I were to become a seller. In any event, buy and enjoy what you like.

 

Inflation rate from 1959 to 2015 (according to the same online inflation calculators lwong mentioned) is ~700%.



image from http://www.old-omegas.com/

 

What is very interesting to see is that in 1959 it would have been possible to pick up a 2913, a 2914 and a 2915 ( total $ 505 ) for less than the price of a solid gold Constellation De Luxe ( $550 ).

 

well, @gatorcpa

regarding the swiss frank i think in a different way. lest say my granddad in texas would have purchased a steel connie for 200 USD back then... we didnt care about the swiss frank. it was 200 USD. If he sells it today for 500 USD he also does not care about the swiss frank. but if we talk about 700% inflation he could have purchased 7 times more milk in the 60ties than today when trading in his standard conny. --- am i wrong here?

i think its also interesting that a steel watch was less valuable than a gold plated one. Today i believe steel are preferred. Moreover, the ration beween steel- and solid gold is about the same as today (2 steel standard connie = 1 solid gold)

 

Let's see the price list for the quartz models.

 

Indeed, that's why I concede it's not a good way to measure - merely a convenient and arbitrary one.

Also, I was referring to the seamaster big blue, which is certainly not something one would call a "standard model". 'Fraid I'm not much into the dressier watches, so it's the sole contribution I can make to this thread (as it's the only Omega I have that has an actual sales receipt from 1975, and hence can be precise about the selling price).

 

You're so close to being banned.......

 

Vintage Sports models sure....

 

Okay, well on a more serious note, yesterday I was about to create a post that to discuss the increasing value of Omega watches. Of course this would have been specific to the vintage models.

While I am a big fan of the modern Omega watches, the reality is my Skyfall, Prolprof, and POXL, I believe will most likely hold their value as I bought them used, but I would not anticipate any type of increase in these over the short term (2-10 years). I did not buy these as an investment, but because I really like the look, quality, feel, etc.

At this point I feel like I have all the modern Omega watches I need (certainly I would love to have a Good Planet and Speedy Co-Axial Titanium and SM300 CO-Axial), but really I want to explore new challenges in watch collecting and this is where I think I might start looking to acquire some vintage Omega with the idea that they WILL increase in value. Of course this means I would need to buy smart and specific models that would be increasing in value.

I will also hang on to my Gemini IV, and SM300/Watchco as these seem to be increasing in value. These are not considered vintage, but none the less increasing in value.

On another note, I purchased a vintage SM300 that was in good shape from ebay 18-20 months ago. It cost me $1250. The watch was a one owner all original, the only issue was the dial was re-lumed. I returned it. Who would have known.

 

Hindsight is 20/20. If everyone knew what the most valuable things will be in 40-50 years then we would all just buy one thing

 

I like to think I would have bought the watches I like, but I might have bought a few of the valuable ones so I could sell them and buy more of the watches I like

 

You can do it on a single-currency basis, but you need to factor in opportunity cost as well as inflation. So what you need to compare is putting your $180 into a SM300 in 1959 and putting it into an interest-bearing account in the bank, or if you really want to get depressed, the stock market. Most vintage collectables -- whether it is a Connie, a 5517 or a 250LM -- seem to go through a phase of depreciation just after purchase when they are merely second-hand and then rise in value as collector demand meets product scarcity.

hope helps

tim

 

A really interesting post

I collect only vintage, the value of Omegas 5 years ago V's the value of Omegas today is really interesting. I will focus on Quartz, so five years ago I was merrily buying up Marine Chronometer and Megaqaurtz Stardusts for between £400 and £800 (tops), when they were new they were the equivalent in todays money of £10000, although prices have fluctuated in the last couple of years because of service concerns (now rectified as Swiss Tec in the UK will be able to service these for the next 20 years at least) the prices are between £1500 and £3500 dependant on the model and quality/ condition, IMHO these are only going one way in value and that is up.

There is a grown market of investors who are buying up vintage watches (and in some cases not so vintage) as investment portfolio's, certainly a lot more wearable and interesting than a car or a painting.

The current rocketing prices around 321 Speedies are another good example, will the bubble burst on the value of 105.003's? Maybe and probably but will we ever see bargain 105.003's of any quality again or good examples selling for anything less than £3000? highly unlikely.

 

I was about to apply some knowledge gained in my macroeconomics class, but I realize you've got a better grasp on this stuff than I do. [emoji23]