As someone who has only ever bought shiny new watches, I just took a plunge and bought a 1950 Omega 342. Since no shop near me seemed to have them, the purchase was made on eBay (I know, I know).

I went with a jeweler with lots of good reviews, and actually talked to their watch repair guy over the phone. He told me that this bumper had been heavily cleaned up but that the watch was original and had no new paint.

I paid about $650 for it but I do have 14 days for an unconditional return. I don't mind if I overpaid A LITTLE since I love the look of it, I just want to make sure there are no glaring issues that you can see and that I haven't been completely had somehow. Any help appreciated?

 

It's not a terrible watch, but you did overpay given the amount of polishing done to the case.

 

50% too high? Yikes. When all was said and done, the total ended up at $700, so if you think it is really only worth $450 or so that's a little steep. Does anyone think I got a halfway decent deal?

 

I could see you paying that much if the case was crisper. As it is, most of us wouldn't go over $550-ish at most. Look, you could have done way worse and got a redialed franken so if this is your first vintage Omega purchase count yourself lucky.

 

Good point, but I do have a decent Tag I can wear with my suit and not look half bad. I guess it depends on how much I love the watch when I strap it on, but something about overpaying by a decent margin makes me a little uncomfortable.

 

If JMJ Jeweler has been discussed around these forums, I haven't found them. Some Googling tells me that here are two "ocwatchcos"- a California one that is part of JMJ and some Australian one that makes franken watches.

Any thoughts on my watch, LouS?

 

Do you think I should keep it?

 

I think you got a decent watch. And given the fact the seller sells mostly redials, you are darn lucky. And I am not an advocate of returning the watch on realization the price is high. Only if the watch was misrepresented.

 

Watchco in Australia doesn't make frankens, they use NOS and/or service parts to reproduce things like SM300s and other watches that have reclaimed or NOS service movements. At no stage in their description do they state that the watch is "original" (unless it is) and describe their items very accurately. I consider a franken a watch that's been put together to deceive the buyer, therefore I think it's a bit unfair to put them in the frankenmeister basket.

Watchco are also a source of spares for vintage Omega and other high end watches and some of us have benefitted greatly from their ability to source items directly from Omega.

 

Or just sell it to me, make a few bucks, and I'll worry about the service. Might even let Lou off the hook for that UG / I-95 thing that happened this weekend.

 

And on to your watch, as you know by now it's a bit overpolished, but if it had been a daily wearer for 60 years it would probably have wear something like that.

It's got a decent dial and a good movement and if you can be sure it was serviced before you got it, then the price isn't too bad.

(A service would probably set you back $180 to $250 I expect, depending on your choice of watchmaker).

In all, not a bad choice for a first time buyer and not the worst first time vintage buy I've seen.

 

I still hold that title.

http://omegaforums.net/threads/post-your-1st-vintage-omega.4040/#post-46633

 

Sorry about the comment on watchco; if I'm wrong it was ignorance based on those posting elsewhere. Thanks for your thoughts on my watch! And yes, it was fully serviced in recent weeks.

 

Indeed you could have done much worse, especially considering the seller, they are know for some really horrible redials.

The original dial on this one is actually quite nice.

 

There, you got your first LIKE, no longer a virgin

So if you subtract the cost of the service, you're not too far behind the 8ball.