Hey forum,

First and foremost, I want to underline that I know absolutely nothing about watches. My dad had a seamaster 600 when he was alive and I've always thought it's one of the most beautiful watches I've seen. Unfortunately, I don't know what happened with his watch so I've decided to purchase one.

I don't think I'll become a collector or so, I just really love the Seamaster 600.

There's a small store in the town I live, next to our office that sell vintage omegas and they're currently offering this watch:
https://www.marcelswatch.com/en/product/vintage-omega-seamaster-geneve-600-1967/

For the price of some 1700USD.

Would you say this is a reasonable price in relation to the specifications and how it looks? I will have a warranty of 12 months, but I have no idea if I am paying too much or should just keep looking. Or even if there's room for discussion on that price.

Any help or suggestions on the above would me much appreciated!

Thanks,
Vol

 

$1700 for a Seamaster (geneve) 600 is a rip-off.

I'd expect one of these in similar cosmetic condition, but unserviced, to be a $500 item - tops - on eBay.

I think this is a great reason to get a vintage watch

 

Thanks for your input! I must admit that I have search several times on ebay too, but most watches I find are not in that cosmetic condition. I am quite picky and want it to be "mint" condition (well, as mint as it can be if it's 45 years old...)

 

The watch you've linked to has been heavily polished and has a badly fitting replacement crown, so not really mint in that sense of the word.

If you have $1700 to burn on a watch and are happy with how this one presents, go ahead and buy it, it will most likely be a wonderful watch you enjoy for years. However, if you care about value/money to any degree, you will want to move on to a better piece that is cheaper.

The Seamaster 600 is an extremely common Omega while the Seamaster 600 Genève is more uncommon, but the only difference is a line of text on the dial. Does that warrant any premium in price? Not to any notable degree, I would say. Is there a massive premium on perfect specimens compared to polished, fairly worn examples? Again, not to any large degree. This is a type of watch that appeals to a larger degree to the segment of buyers who are looking for a single, nice vintage watch to wear on special occasions than to the collector segment who value "true" perfect condition highly, so a well presented, highly polished watch will attract buyers just as well as having a truly unspoiled specimen. The "Omega Enthusiast Effect"

 

Gotcha! I guess I am one of those that like them "polished" then I'm not sitting on a pile of money so I am absolutely interested in getting much "bang for the buck" of course. With polished you mean the whole watch, even the glass too? As looking at this watch in particular I love that the glass looks almost new (no scratches) and that the dial is white and not turning yellow.
Perhaps this is achievable with a "cheaper" more worn watch too, by just leaving it to a service center and ask them to polish the glass and the dial? Is there anywhere I can read about costs around "polishing" a Seamaster, and even see before/after pictures of the results?

As mentioned, I'm a newbie at this so I don't know what can be done or can't be done
I know my preferences though in terms of how I want the watch to look.

Again, thanks for helping me around this. Very thankful.

 

That's fair, we all have different preferences in this hobby. Most on OF are collectors who appreciate well preserved watches more than restored ones, so advice tends to be skewed that way.

I'll be happy to offer some advice later, off to work now - from home, naturally

 

These 600's come up a lot at auctions (also ebay auctions) and you can buy them for less then EUR 500. I think I had 15 of them all bought under EUR 500. And I had a couple of mint ones (even with original box and papers). It's really a matter of patience and a bit of experience. But if you want one watch in your whole life and it will be a 600.. well.. maybe it's not really important to spend a couple of hundred more then marketprice. Anyway, good luck!

 

Cool, any suggestions apart from Ebay where I should start looking for them? I should mention that I want the "silver one" and the one that has date, so that narrows it down a wee bit I guess.

Johan

 

Ebay is the best. But you can also look at sites like the salesroom, barnebys, etc. Also local auctions in your country. I buy also from auction houses abroad. Watchrecon is good as well. Local selling sites similar like Marktplaats in the Netherlands. Lots of things out there. Enjoy the hunt!

 

Your name came to mind when writing about these

 

Cool, I'll look around. I assume you'd not be interested in selling one of your pieces?

 

Haha. Sorry. No. I've sold most of them. But when I see a good one I'll let you know!

 

Thanks!

 

Nearly spat my coffee out when I hit that link and it converted it to Aus dollars.

you could buy a mint one for $800 max.

There is plenty of mint 50yo watches about.

W

 

I started with just getting one watch but it did not work out for me... I just bought another a few hours ago on this forum.

My preferences started similar to yours (nicely polished, clean dial etc...) so understand where you are coming from to go with marcelswatch.

However, I would encourage you to watch the private sales here instead and wait for a clean white dial 600 or similar using this link,

https://omegaforums.net/search/12615974/?q=Seamaster 600&o=date

And then start by polishing the crystal (glass) to new (it’s easy to polish using $11 CAD poly paste) - which would not significantly (in my opinion for a 600) lower the value. If you confirm you have an original crystal, consider buying a new one and keeping the original for resale.

Wear it for a bit and then take it to a good local watch maker and if you still want, ask for for a light polish.

 

Regarding buying here, pretty much matching 600 white dial in great shape for $650,

https://omegaforums.net/threads/excellent-1965-seamaster-600-stainless-steel-no-lume-dial-ref-136-011.105163/

 

That does look nice. Would you say those scratches in the glass are removable by polishing the glass?

Vol

 

That price is obscene.

I bought a similar one, with a beads of rice bracelet for my brother for just over £300 not too long ago.

A £2 tube of poly watch is all you need to get most crystals looking new. You can’t polish the dial.

 

Gotcha. So I assume best option would be to focus on finding one with a flawless dial and not care so much about scratches on the body/glass - because that can be easily fixed?

 

Don't worry about the crystal. Scratches can be polished out and even if it's cracked, a new one is about 40 quid.

Definitely focus on a scratch free dial, but also avoid redials.

Personally i do look at scratches on the case but even more I look at the extent of the polishing. Consider that when new an omega case had lovely clean lines, sharp edges (for the most part) and clear distinctions between brushed and polished surfaces. When a watch is polished and over polished it loses these and can end up looking like a melted candle.