I am new to the forum and was looking for some help valuing two Omega's...

Long story short, a family member is in some financial trouble and is too pride filled to except donations. They are instead willing to earn the money, by selling two of their vintage Omega's (the only caveat, is that I never sell them and keep them in the family). The problem is, I have no clue what they are worth. Can someone provide an estimate on their worth. Sorry, I do not have pictures. The relative has owned the watches since new.

The first one is a 1962 Omega Constellation. The crystal was changed approx. 20 years ago. The band is not original. The relative stated that the watch is in excellent condition, with servicing done every 10 to 15 years. No scratches, watch runs, etc.

The second one is a 1962 (they are not 100% on the year) Omega Seamaster with the black dial. The watch is all original. The watch was described as being in excellent condition, as it was stored in a safe for the past 40ish years. It was only removed to be serviced.

Any rough estimates? I trust when the relative says they are in excellent condition. Any more details needed?

Thanks,

James

 

Almost impossible to say without seeing pictures. Can you at least tell us some more details? Gold? stainless steel?, date? movement? All things being equal the Constellation would be worth more than the Seamaster but that's a very rough rule. I would have thought your relative was in a better position to provide an approximate value, since it sounds like they have years of experience with Omega.

 

You'll need some pictures for any real help.

Parts were frequently changed at a service without an owners knowledge so while someobe may genuinely believe they are all original, they may not be.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I, unfortunately, have not seen the watches in person. My relative is elderly and is unable to take a digital picture and send it to me. This is the description he provided me over the phone...

Constellation - silver case, gold face, hands are gold with a black line through them.

Seamaster - silver cace, black face, hands are gold with a black line through them.

What should I ask him to check for, which would properly identify them?

Thanks again for the help.

 

Hello and welcome!
For proper identification, advice and valuation, we need good pictures of the dial, the movement (the workings) and the inside of the caseback.
They could be worth nothing or they could be worth $1500 US each or any amount in between.
We are happy to help but we need more to go on.
Good luck!

 

Thanks for the replies.

I will try and figure out a way to get pictures.

Re: Sgt Bilko, I am also surprised that he did not provide a value. I believe he is trying to be modest and doesn't want me over paying. He did mention that the Constellation was appraised in the 1990's for around $1500.

In the end, I am going to pay him above market value, I am just curious what market value actually is

 

Without pictures I would say the constellation is from 400 to 1200 usd.
The seamaster is from 250 to 650 usd.
That's my best guess.

 

"Appraised value" is usually for insurance purpose and bears no resemblance to market value in the vintage watch market.

 

And oddly enough when you attempt to make a claim the insurers want to use the market value...

 

Thanks again for the help.

Sorry for the delay. I was able to get some pictures sent to me. I apologize for the picture quality.

Please let me know what you guys think.

 

The Constellation looks like it's gold cap, which means it has a metal case covered in a thick coat of gold but it's not solid gold. Some people are happy with gold cap and it's much harder wearing than gold plate but collectors generally prefer solid gold or stainless steel.

The pictures don't do the watches any favours and it's really hard to judge but they appear to be in original unpolished condition, which is highly desirable, however I simply can't tell the condition of the dials in these images. I'm very hesitant to put down an actual value mainly because you only have to go on eBay to see how much prices can vary.

If these were both really clean and well maintained I think you'd be looking at about £1800 in the UK from a posh dealer for the two watches but less from an individual and from what I can tell prices tend to be lower in the US. At auction prices sometimes go silly high and I've seen gold cap watches sell for more than solid gold but really clean watches occasionally sell for peanuts against all good logic, which is why I don't like selling at auction.

We don't know the movement or anything else here so I'll pick a figure from the air and suggest USD $1700 for both of them. At that price you are not stealing from your relative but not paying crazy high money either assuming they are really clean. Watch values are definitely higher than they were in the 90s and should continue to rise but that original appraisal was high as others have pointed out.

In a sense it doesn't matter too much if you pay over the odds for a really clean original watch because you just hold onto it for longer until it rises in value but in this case you have promised to keep it in the family anyway. Bear in mind that both watches may well need servicing and possibly repair work so you generally factor that in when purchasing a vintage watch.

Since this is a family matter if you are willing pay a bit more to help out a relative I guess that's fine if you are willing to do so. It would be good to get some other opinions though. If I was being a hard nosed collector I'd be looking to pay less but this is a slightly unique situation.

 

One other thing to point out is that Omegas from this period are really fine watches that I would rate more highly than Rolex in terms of quality, so if they are clean and original it would be something really nice to keep in the family. The only reason Rolex tend to sell for more is down to vagaries of fashion, which owes an awful lot to recent marketing.

 

Of the two, I regard the Seamaster as the more attractive watch. The Constellation is gold capped, which is the least attractive option and the case looks quite polished (look at how there is nearly no definition in the dog-leg lug shape). The Seamaster, on the other hand, is a black dial with crosshair, which is very popular. The price? I don't know, I paid roughly USD 600 for a similar Seamaster with a white dial, so probably that + give or take another USD100.

 

Who would polish gold cap? surely it would wear through too quickly. I think the lighting here might be confusing the appearance. This is my Constellation from 1966, which clearly has better defined edges but not all case designs are identical.

 

I know, right? Here's my Constellation gold cap, the exact same reference as the one the OP is asking about:



This picture was taken with a 6 year old camera phone, so not the most high tech apparatus available, and it still shows more definition than the one in the OP. I agree that better pictures are needed, but I would be surprised if the showed an unpolished specimen.

 

Thanks guys. I agree that the pictures are not the best quality, but they are the best I am going to get. It was hard enough coaching my relative to take the pictures, upload them and send them to me.

Just a couple questions.....

So a non polished watch is worth more money? I am a little confused from the responses....are some saying the constellation looks unpolished and others are saying it is polished?

Do you think the snake skin band is original? I have done a bunch of google searches and have not found any constellations with a band like that?

After researching about the omega's, I have actually become pretty interested in them. I am planning on wearing the ones above. Would you advise against changing the bands? I favour the brown or black leather bands more.

Anymore input on the watches? Anything look unoriginal? or anything I should be aware of as a nooby owner?

Thanks again. It is much appreciated.

 

Don't worry too much about those details on the watch. They won't make a difference since you're gonna keep it in the family anyway. I'd just take the top ends from Hoi's estmate or Sg_Bilko's number and add a bit more to help out.

Both watches are nice to wear, just get them serviced by an experienced watchmaker before you do. The bands are not Omega, but it's up to you to keep them or change to something you like.

 

It's really hard to tell much from these images. Some people polish watches but from a collectors point of view we like watches to be as original as possible. Polishing reduces the value of the watch significantly because it blunts the edges and the polished look is generally short lived because they pick up small surface marks just from regular use.

My Constellation you see in the earlier image is now 49 years old and in original unpolished condition. NB Some (most) watchmakers will polish a watch automatically when servicing unless you specify not to do so and polishing gold cap would be especially crazy because it could easily wear through to the metal undercoat.

Don't worry about the leather strap not being original. Nobody expects that on a watch that is nearly 60 years old. Omega straps are nice and I have a few but I do tend to think they are very overpriced so most of the time I just fit a nice leather strap and then add an Omega buckle, which is a nice touch. Yours probably has that buckle already. On gold watches I tend to think that dark blue contrasts nicely, whereas I like brown on stainless steel because black can little austere but it's totally subjective.

 

You can compare to the picture attached to know if your watch was polished or not.
Your dial is called dome style with a crown that works fine but collectors don't like it too much. They like the 10 sided crown with small logo which is quite hard to find.
The second hand looks like a generic not omega original (that hole looks a bit too big?)
I can tell you more if I cam see the movement inside.
Regards.