Hi
possibly a silly question... I have seen what the extract from the archives looks like.. but apart from it being another piece of supporting paperwork.. what is the point of purpose to spend 120CHF for this..

Do most owners get a copy of the extract?

Also whats the real purpose?
is it to give a bit more background on the watch like knowing which country it came from etc?
or because it might help when/if they come to sell?
or for some other reason..

I've just taken delivery of a very nice vintage speedy.. but it has service papers so thinking is there any point in having the extract?

 

It's something I'd like to have, but not worth paying for IMO. Strangely Longines (which is also under SWATCH ownership) does this for free.. They mailed me a nice card for my 1950 9L direct from Switzerland just for the asking, yet Omega wants me to pay a somewhat substantial sum.

 

yea i understand and feel the same... I got something similar a few years ago for a classic BMW I once owned but this cost £25-30

the cost for these extras is 120CHF which is about £80 which to me seems a to for a piece of paper which will sit in a file for a watch I have no doubt over...

hmmm

 

I think its main value is that it can prove that the movement and the case reference are correct to each other, and not a donor movement sourced from a parts watch. For a nice vintage piece, 120CHF is a small price to pay to add some documented provenance.

 

For particularly old watches, it's a fun way to find out a bit more about when it was produced and where it was originally delivered to.

In addition to it confirming that the movement was originally installed in that model of watch, which for Speedmasters in particular can be an important bit of knowledge.

 

Just wondering if Omega has better records.. It seems in the 50's Longines did not generally produce the cases for their watches for the USA, and Wittnauer (which was the USA partner) seems to have disposed of the records from that time.. So I got a nice letter saying my movement was produced in 1950 and shipped to Wittnauer, but there was no way to determine original reseller, or if the case/movement were an original matched set.

 

ok... get it..

so on the extract order form they have 2 fields (only 1 mandatory) the movement serial and the case number...
so the serial is pretty straight forward.
on the speedy i know the model number but is there also a separate case number?

 

Hmm, the fields I see are for serial number, case reference number, and caliber. Are you sure you're on the Extract order form, and not the chronometer certificate form?

 

For the extract, usually movement number and case reference - the number on the inside of the caseback.

On the ones I've received, they don't differentiate the sub refs.. for example, they won't confirm 105.003-65, but will confirm 105.003.

For a high dollar speedy, it's worth having IMHO. I'm still disappointed that you can't get them for 2998's though..

 

thanks yes i guess I agree... just having a moment of tightness!

 

I think if you are selling the watch, the more context you can provide, the more interesting your listing. As a buyer, I always enjoy flipping through auction catalogues and finding incredible watches that were delivered to places like Sudan and Yemen in the 1950s and 60s...it can also make the unofficial nomenclature (aka nickname) of a watch much more memorable: would you rather own a "Transitional 145.022" or a "Venezuelan Transitional 145.022"?

Christie's nailed it in their recent "Speedmaster 50" catalogue - they used delivery locations in the titles of some lots as a means of distinguishing between watches with similar references: see "American Professional" (lot 11), "Hong Kong Professional" (lot 12) and my favourite, "Orly, France Airport Professional" (lot 13).

I agree the price of an extract is a little steep but I think the extra context is probably worth it. Take this 176.0016 I have -- its day wheel is in Finnish, so of course now I would like to know whether it was actually delivered to Finland...

 

An even more important question, why aren't extracts available to US customers?

 

They are. You need to request it through an Omega Boutique or the US service center.

 

Is it true Omega forces one to buy an extract by making the vintage database so confusing to use?

 

Haha.

 

It seems like the main thing you get is the exact date a watch (or movement?) was delivered to a particular distributor/country, but not when it was ultimately sold to the consumer. I bought a vintage Omega after much research (next time I'd like to buy one from one of you!) and it was clear that the case, movement and dial all dated from the same time and were "correct". But it could still be a "franken" made up from different donor watches, no? And who cares about the exact delivery date when the serial number gives you the year, give or take a year? That said, it would be fun to have, if it didn't cost so much. For example, for ancient coins, which can be worth thousands and are often counterfeited, you can buy an elaborate authentication report from a top expert for much less.

 

I've gotten a few extracts over the years. For me, the main value is to add a layer of depth regarding the history of the watch. In one case, an extract identified a "franken", as it showed the movement had been re-cased.

Here's one of mine. For me, it was worth the price for me to find out it was originally delivered to the French Colonies.
What a traveler it has been through both time and geography!

 

I like the idea of knowing where the watch came from, and I agree it would add a layer of desirability for me if I was looking at buying a watch... but 120CHF seems a tad bit overpriced!

 

Just to confirm, NOT available for 2998s?