Did I miss out on a good buy?

[onlyomega94]

This Connie was sold yesterday at a local auction house.

It's a cal 561, gold capped, ref. 14393 10 SC with serial no. 1818XXXX. I contemplated for hours if it was a redial as it appears in very good condition and I could not find any telltale signs of that - other than the condition being (too)
pristine. From my research this reference should correctly not say "officially certified" and should (correctly) not have crossed t's. Also, the serial seems to match the reference and crown seems original to reference. The watch was serviced in 2019 (receipt included).

It sold for 1.000 euros including fees. Not necessarily a bargain but if the dial is original quite an okay price (IMO). Did I miss out on a good buy?

Ps: I am aware of the odd dust on the case but it seems to be just dirt.

Edited: Sep 22, 2020

 

[Dan S]

Shockingly good photos for a local auction house.

 

[onlyomega94]

Dan S

Shockingly good photos for a local auction house.

They are part of a chain so things have been professionalised quite a bit.

 

[Maskelyne]

Yes, it seems to be dirt. But the damage on the gold cap is not pretty, not so big though.

 

[RonJ]

Beautiful watch but it looks like the previous owner hid the watch in a can of ground coffee beans.

.

 

[onlyomega94]

RonJ-in-VA

Beautiful watch but it looks like the previous owner hid the watch in a can of ground coffee beans.

.

Haha!

 

[apsm100]

Strange it has been serviced but has all that muck on it. I wouldn't feel bad missing out on that watch at 1000eur. It is nice but not a massive deal, especially considering its a gold cap.
Any movement photos?

 

[onlyomega94]

apsm100

Strange it has been serviced but has all that muck on it. I wouldn't feel bad missing out on that watch at 1000eur. It is nice but not a massive deal, especially considering its a gold cap.
Any movement photos?

My thoughts exactly!

And unfortunately no movement photos. Also one of the reasons I passed. There was, however, a photo of the service receipt (not that it is any match for movement photos).

It says service, new crystal and new crown.

 

[onlyomega94]

Just noticed that the "made" in swiss made looks kinda sketchy. Maybe a redial after all (but a good one)?

 

[Sherbie]

onlyomega94

Just noticed that the "made" in swiss made looks kinda sketchy. Maybe a redial after all (but a good one)?

I think its good. I have one very similar to this - a few hundred away wrt serial number

this era always has very flat ( squashed) S, and an elongated bottom stroke on the E

 

[arkman]

I think you might have missed out. Serial number dates it to 1961 which is consistent with the reference. It is recently serviced, condition is solid and crystal appears original. While there are people on the forum more expert than myself regarding the dial, it looks good to my eyes.

 

[onlyomega94]

arkman

I think you might have missed out. Serial number dates it to 1961 which is consistent with the reference. It is recently serviced, condition is solid and crystal appears original. While there are people on the forum more expert than myself regarding the dial, it looks good to my eyes.

Thanks for the input (although I kind of hope you are not right in me missing out). It just has me baffled how the dial can be in such condition whilst the metal lettering has quite some corrosion.


Maybe @gatorcpa would be kind enough to share his opinion.

 

[Sherbie]

Gold can and will tarnish over the years and decades

nothing unusual here. Its just that the gold dial furniture and hands havent been cleaned - and its very nice to see this IMO

 

[Tony C.]

Sherbie

Gold can and will tarnish over the years and decades

Depends on the purity, but lower grades do for sure.

 

[Caliber561]

Honestly, I think the OP missed out. If this watch were sold on eBay, it probably would've hammered for at least 1250, not including fees. These mid-production 14393 dials are pretty rare in this condition, imo.

 

[Dgercp]

To my eye, the horizontal cross line looks thicker (darker) than the vertical line, at least on some of the shots?

 

[Caliber561]

Dgercp

To my eye, the horizontal cross line looks thicker (darker) than the vertical line, at least on some of the shots?

Pretty sure that's just an optical illusion resulting from the viewing angle rather than an actual discrepancy between crosshair line thickness.

 

[Dero13]

I'm skeptical of the cross hairs. I can't remember seeing an original one where the crosshairs end before the hour markers. Is this a known variant?

 

[Peemacgee]

Dero13

I'm skeptical of the cross hairs. I can't remember seeing an original one where the crosshairs end before the hour markers. Is this a known variant?

IIRC
cross hairs on dome dials run through to the edge of the dial
Cross hairs on pie pans run as far as the hour markers. (Essentially, to the edge of the central plane of the pie pan dial)
However, baton hour markers overlap the edge of the pie pan edge, whereas the Arabic numerals don’t, therefore, the cross hairs stop at the hour marker painted block.

 

[onlyomega94]

I just realised now that the auction house wrote 1818XXXX in the listing as to not give away the serial number but then included a photo of the service receipt with the full number visible, haha.

Thanks for all the replies btw. Right now my bet is that the dial has not been redone. Still happy to be proven wrong.