I've finally got round to taking some photos of it all and I thought I'd show just how much damage you guys have done to a collecting virgin with your 'helpful advice' and 'recommended ebay watches' threads, I need to keep reminding myself - I'm doing this on a budget and I can't buy everything I want, so I've been at the low end of the market. The plan would be to slowly move up over time. Because of that, and the zero knowledge I started with I've been scared to show most of what I've bought. A lot of these are on here for the first time, so if I have a horrible fake in there, let me know but go easy.

At the start of this year, the only watch I owned was a 5-6 year old Speedmaster Broad Arrow reissue. That was it. I know now it's not the best regarded movement, but I didn't Jan 1st and I love it nonetheless. I'd worn it continuously since buying it - I've rebuilt motorcycles with, decorated, gardened, and it's never missed a beat.




The, chatting to a guy at work in May, I discovered the possibilities of vintage omegas. I quickly found desmonds blog, and that helped me target constellations - there was so much information, but it was so complicated I was paralysed with indecision. My ebay watchlist grew huge and I was too scared to buy anything. I picked up a bunch of Smiths Empires to dismantle and begin learning about watches, and signed up for a internet watchmaking course (promptly broke the practice movement) but really wanted an omega, In June, at a watch fair at Birmingham I found my first vintage watch, a pie pan constellation in stainless steel. I didn't know what I was doing, but was convinced this watch was 'right'. I even checked the movment before handing over my money, and this first 564 was a thing of beauty to me. Hilariously, I told myself that was it, I had a modern and a vintage and now I could stop.





Shortly after this, still convinced my buying was ended, I found this site. With hindsight, I have to ask myself why I was still trying to learn about vintage omegas, if I was done. I was blown away with the quality of the watches people here were buying, and then selling in the marketplace. With all that experience and skill laid in out front of me I promptly made a huge mistake, that some of you may remember.

At a Heathrow watch fair, sat at the back of a cabinet on a revolting grey strap was a 751 C-shape constellation. I thought the silver dial with gold and onyx markers was beautiful and I just knew it would look great on a red/brown strap.



It wasn't until I got home that I spotted the tiny black markers in the corners of the day/date window that suggested something was missing. The weird thing though, is that I really love this simple cheap constellation and have found myself wearing it more than any other this year.

Stung by my mistake, I went on to make another, but for all the right reasons - or at least a different set of wrong ones. Cicindela was selling a sparkle dial seamaster and I was mesmerised by the photos. Although I hadn't been learning about seamasters I knew I could buy the watch and safely take a shortcut relying on his experience - but I think this is why, although it was better than described, I couldn't bond with the watch. I have since passed it on to a friend - it's his first vintage omega and has infected him with the collecting bug (Steve's original selling photo below, hope that's ok); so I count it as a valuable learning experience and a smooth recovery. It was about this time that my 5 year old son bought me a 6 watch box - which I thought was more than enough capacity.



Having this seamaster as a baseline I now felt more confident going after auctions on ebay and in late October I quickly made my first two purchases from that dangerous minefield.

The first was a pink gold 712 ultrathin constellation (still trying to stick to what I knew marginally more about. I couldn't understand this auction. I was looking at an immaculate watch, with what I thought was a really cool dial, in a desirable ping gold, and I wound up picking it up for £500.







The movement, the caseback, it all suggests to me that this has hardly been worn at all, and the engineering of the movement, with all the space saving techniques doesn't come across at all in a photo. I think there are a couple of things (font on the dial, black stick hands) that scare people off on these, but I'm as sure as I can be that it's genuine from top to bottom. It looks sleek, smart and professional in the office under a suit.

I'd spotted this while looking for a gold cap pie pan. I wanted one of these really badly. Checking ebay at 6:00 in the morning, UK time so pretty uncivilised for the US I spotted a brand new BIN auction for £600. The watch in it looked really good, and this was around the lowest I'd seen a gold pie pan for some time, so I hit the buy button straight away. When it turned up I was chuffed - again, it was better than I expected:







It's impossible to describe how the dial catches the light and I've never seen a photo come close to showing the glorious way the facets are always bouncing light around in different directions and constantly changing shades and colours, but once you have one of these on the wrist it's easy to understand why the constellation was the watch to have in this period.

I now made my final mistake of the year, I fell asleep while browsing ebay on my smartphone and somehow managed to BIN a watch I'd never actually seen. I discovered to my horror that there is no 'Cancel this auction I was asleep' button, and I was committed to buying. It could have been a lot worse. It was a black dialled cal 490 and actually cleaned up nicely.



Once again, although I wanted a black dial, it was a connie I was after and I couldn't feel an attachment to the watch. I do struggle with sub seconds dials - although this is becoming less of an issue for me.

So I was delighted when at another fair, I was able to swap the 490 for another 712, in stainless. I've managed to take a fuzzy photo, but it's just as clean and sharp as the pink gold one, and the movement is equally clean.I have no idea if the swap was a good one, there aren't a lot of these 712's about and I haven't yet seen one sell on ebay, but the dealer wasn't sure what it was and I was, so I'm reasonably confident I got the better deal. Feedback would be appreciated though.





My last but one watch of 2012 was a little curiosity. And I mean that literally - I could have just asked a dealer to let me listen to one, but in my head that isn't the way it works. I wanted to own a hummer even if it was only for a short while. I bought this one - it still needs the crystal polished and the case has dated far worse than any other watch I own, but I take childish delight in letting people listen to a technology that would have changed the watchmaking world if only things had played out a little differently. I'm not the only child - doming, my five year old often asks if I'll put it on the old strap I modified to fit his tiny wrists and he wanders around the house listening to it every now and again. I also took the movement out of this (it was already missing the movement clamp) and cleaned the muck and loose loom off the dial. Having an intact watch at the end of this was a big win for me.





Final watch is something a bit different. I really like the look of 'proper' black and white Speedmasters but I cannot cope with the idea of a manual wind watch. I would forget and wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time which, as a salesperson, could wind up catastrophically expensive. I was initially looking at a triple date, but thanks to some advice from Warren refocused slightly (probably not as far as he was suggesting) and went for a reduced. I think it looks great. I think the professionals look better, but I'm happy to trade off that the modification of the design classic allows me a more usable watch. I took this off my watch to take the photo and as a result the glass is covered in rubbish - there is a small scratch I need to polish out, but the dial is mint,




So, in this year:

Stainless pie pan
Stainless c - shape
Sparkle Seamaster
Pink Gold 712
Gold cap connie
Gold cap 490
Stainless 712
F300 Geneve
Speedmaster Reduced.

Out:

Sparkle Seamaster
Gold Cap 490

I've had a huge amount of fun, I've made two misstep, both of which I've recovered from. I'll probably swap the geneve for a constellation equivalent in 2013, I want a Great White Seamaster GMT, and I've already scored a bargain black dial constellation in January. I keep telling myself I'm broke, but at the same time I know that doesn't really make any difference.... I'm pretty sure I could sell all but one of the watches at a profit, substantial in some cases - and that's incredible - never before have I had a hobby where I could liquidate and wind up getting more money out than I put in. And watches take up a lot less space than motorbikes. My biggest issue at the moment is I love all my watches and don't want to sell any of them.

You guys don't help - every day there's another parade of droolworthy watches . Right now I refuse to get sucked off brand as this will open up floodgates I cannot control. But in the most important ways you all really do help as you give us the support and information we need to make wise buying decisions and help to stay safe, and I'm very grateful.

Unless of course all of the above are redials/fakes/frankenwatches, at which point you can all share at least some of the blame.

How have I done in 2012, starting as a complete beginner?

 

I'm pretty sure we warned you to hold on to your wallet and the forum header would soon include "Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here!". Nice pickup on the ss crosshair dog leg Connie.

 

This is a really admirable collection. Seems like you haven't done badly at all! can I ask what camera you use, those macro are incredible..I'm partial to the c-shape connies too..it was my first vintage omega purchase..

 

A great collectors tale. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

The BIN while asleep is a classic. I'll have to watch out for that.

This is what keeps me going. I've only got two more collecting years on you. I wonder if there is a bursting point at some stage?

 

Cool, isn't it?

Yes, there is. You end up using the funds from 3 or 4 to buy one higher end watch. Eventually you get the exact watches you've always wanted..... and then you find out there's new ones that you have to own. It does end somewhere - in a jail term for knocking off banks to fund Pateks, or in a casket when your wife kills you for spending the kid's college funds on a Lange.

 

move to Australia - university is funded by ultra-cheap, government funded loans, only about $5k per year, which you don't have to start paying back until you earn more than $35k.

 

Or do what I did. Get one before you need to save the kids' college.

 

ive got a cheap canon slr, but i do have a 60mm macro lens for it. The issue using it is i had the lens wide open to gather as much light as possible so i got steady shots, which meant the depth of field was incredibly shallow. Basically, im rusty using it and excitement meant i rushed the shots...

 

Nice collection. I know there are people out there that dislike the movement in your Broad Arrow (and one in particular on WUS who has made a crusade of convincing people it's crap) but if they have had all the upgrades, they can be quite reliable movements. Getting it serviced properly is a big thing - someone who is familiar with these would be a good place to start, as there are a few things that are ciritical in getting good results.

Working on one now - diasassembled and waiting for some replacement parts, and upgrade parts:



Cheers, Al

 

Oh god. I might as well just send the lot to you...

 

Yes, there are 3 gears on the underside of the barrel bridge that are riveted in place, as shown here:



I argued this with someone who claimed to be an engineer on WUS (note that I was a mechanical/project engineer for 23 years before becoming a full time watchmaker) who said it was a bad design, etc. Rather than a "bad design" it's a compromise, like most engineering solutions are. This movement is very thin, and to make it as thin as they have, compromises have to be made, and this is one of them.

I have never actually seen any problems with these 3 wheels - I don't know what their failure rate is, but I suspect the concerns are very overblown. But these wheels are one of several reasons why whoever does the service needs to be familiar with this calibre. These require extensive lubrication - lubrication in amounts that most watchmakers simply don't believe should be there. When in watchmaking school we are trained by our instructors to be very clean and economical with lubricating oils and greases, because we don't want them to spread. In this case, those three wheels have small grooves around them that literally need to be flooded with Moebius 9104 (HP1300). It is an amount that if you showed it to someone that was not familiar with the requirements would call it "sloppy work done by an amateur" I'm sure.

The crown wheel is another area that requires very liberal lubrication, with 9504 grease. And let's not forget the screws in this watch - there are many different types, and many of them can "fit" into places where they don't belong. If you mix them up, you will have serious problems with the movement, so sorting them out and putting each in it's proper location is key.

My gut feeling is that a good percentage of the problems with this movement come from people working on it who are not familiar with it's special requirements.

Cheers, Al

 

Haha, Georges is always good for a 33x argument! I never participate in those because I don't have the technical knowledge but I always enjoy reading!