I see many gold watches on sale that have an engraving on the case - 25, 40 years service and so on with company name, labelled as a presentation watch.
My question is: Do you consider these a valuable point of interest in the history of the watch or more of an annoyance? Subquestion: If an annoyance would you consider getting engraving removed?

 

They don’t bother me as you can’t see them when wearing a watch. I don’t view them as an advantage or a problem. All things constant, I suppose I’d rather have a clean case back. But I would not remove one.

 

Removal would require some fairly intensive polishing, something which I assume most of us would dislike more than an engraving.

 

I certainly prefer to purchase without inscriptions, infact thinking about it I've not yet owned one with. However if I did purchase a watch with the case back engraved, I would not be bothered about removing it.

 

I think they are interesting. It is a terrible idea to try to buff them out because that really destroys value. Some have led to great back stories and provenance that actually increase the value.

 

Depending on other case back markings, a skilled goldsmith would be able to fill the engraving and you would never know it had been there

Personally, unless it was significant, I wouldn’t buy one with an engraving.

 

@bubba48 has an wonderful story in this thread on engravings, here:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/post-your-caseback-inscriptions-tribute-to-previous-owners.72645/

And come the holiday season I think about the inscription on the back of one of @adam78's lovely Hamiltons, and wonder who Merl and Mary were.

 

Don't bother me at all..I don't know if this increase or lower the value but I assume that the answer of this question is : Depends..who own it and who engraved it, history etc.