I found a vintage Omega Constilation today being offered under consignment. The watch is 1959 era and is 550 series. The number is 17753742. It does NOT have the original band on it nor is there the box and papers. They are asking $980 for it.......Is that a good price? It really is beautiful for the age. Give me some ideas on what to do about the price. I added a couple pictures of the actual watch

Thanks

Jeff

 

This is a 14381 and looks fairly clean. The dial has been refinished to quite a reasonable standard. Apart from discrepancies in the uppercase lettering, another way to tell that it is a redial is the complete absence of any luminous material in the small recesses at the base of the non-quarter hour markers.

Some poeple would pay 980 for a 'refurbished' and somewhat over-polished piece because it looks shiny and newish, but, for me, I would rather wait for a nice sharp example with original dial to surface and pay the extra 300+

Cheers

Desmond

 

Yes a definite re-dial as it doesn't even pass the MOY test - it seems a bit pricey for what it is. I agree with Desmond, wait for an original one

Cheers

 

I saw a Connie with a dial exactly like this out in Northern California a couple of months ago. It was on consignment at a small jewelry/watch store. Don't know if it is the same watch or not. The condition was really most excellent except for the refin dial. They came down in price from where you said almost enough to get me to buy it...but in the end not quite enough.

JohnCote

 

so im trying to learn this stuff....what does it mean to redial....is that a bad thing? how can you tell its been done?

 

Well, the eyes here are pretty fantastic, way more experienced than mine on the subject, but... they are talking about dial having been refinished when they say redial. As most here are Omega collectors, the received wisdom here is that refinishing a dial is a bad thing and reduces the value. Which it does to 'proper' collectors.
Having said that, the other side of the fence are people who just want to wear a beautiful watch and are less concerned with authenticity and for them, redone dials–when done properly–are of little concern.
The thing is–as you can tell from the comments–most dials are poorly done when they are refinished and significant details are bastardised or entirely omitted (you'll see reference to the MOY test by Desmond, a regular contributor, here: http://omega-constellation-collecto...02/its-all-about-moy-except-when-it-isnt.html), a check to see if the words are correctly aligned as they would have been at the factory...) and hence the lowering of values.
Keep visiting this forum to learn more, but I think the basic point here is that the watch is probably worth less than $980, although the movement looks good, the dial has some (relatively, but still....) minor issues which will, ultimately, affect the resale value if you chose to sell it on down the line.

 

With the refinished dial and the bezel polished so much that the center bevel is almost gone, I'd say it's a $600 watch tops. I don't think any collector here would buy it, but it does meet the "ooooo, shiny" minimum for eBay.

In contrast, here's member Ludi's watch:





You could slice tomatoes with a bezel that crisp.