Hi There is more and more dangerous things in the vintage watch world. My only advise is to check, double check and check again because sometimes everything looks fine... Then... You discover and old sales of the same Watch few years back... Just in time before it is too late... There is plenty of this type of doctored watch now but first time for me to be so close to loose a huge pile of cash...
I guess I am a little confused what was changed? I am assuming the movement was pulled out of a different case? Looks the the number on the lugs is not the same between the watches - one has 29 stamped and the other 63.
Nice that you're doing a "coming out". These stories need to be shared, so we know who can/can't be trusted
Invaluable.com ... I’ve stumbled on them before and got an uncomfortable feeling. Just searching the site agin is frustrating.
Be careful, invaluable describe the watch honestly. They clearly show the different number between case and a caseback. The problem is someone bought the watch from invaluable and then regraved the lugs and add some fake papers before selling it to someone else...
Wow, the watch even received the Hodinkee bump earlier this year, https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/bring-a-loupe-january-13-2017
I was quite sure it was this one but something is strange on movement pics...the defect ( old repair) on the lever doesn't appear.. Retouched picture?
Most likely, note how the 63 has been covered. I don't see any reason on how anyone, especially a dealer, would cover those numbers. Maybe this is prior re-engraving. Edited: Retouched indeed
It's crazy to me how this market is full of POS who will go to great lengths to deceive others. The worst is that it's partly "our fault", we constantly look for perfection in everything, whilst most of the times it's just impossible...
I honestly don’t think I have a clear pic of all the malfeasance alleged here. Clearly though there is enough dissonance on a 17k watch to warrant backing away.
The guy bought at auction a watch with a serial number. He tried to sell it as a full set to @Fost with another serial number... Obviously, there was no disclosure about this.
And that is because prices have become insane. When you look at the history of on line watch forums, old timers often speak with nostalgia about the times 10-15 years ago when watches were much cheaper and the discussions were all about learning and discovery of certain models, history, functions. Now we spend at least half the time in endless arguments about minutia, redials, case polishing and whether the counterpoise on the seconds should be oval or not— and that’s because prices and authenticity have become such a problem. Only once in a while, and mostly with Universal Geneve it seems, do we see discussions about unknown watches emerging. They are quite fascinating.