Help! FAP 6426 Caseback Damage Issues

I happened upon a Rolex Oyster Precision at an antique market in the spring, really liked the simplicity of it and I've been on the lookout for an interesting example ever since (the one at the market wasn't running and pricing was a bit rich).

I've also been on the lookout for a watch with military connections for a couple of years - I've come close to buying some single pusher Lemania chronos but hadn't pulled the trigger.

When I found the ref. 6426 pictured above, which was issued to the Fuerza Aerea del Peru (peruvian Air Force) and got it at only a small premium over what standard examples go for, I had to grab it!

It's being shipped from Europe but I'll post additional pics once I get it!

Congrats! Hope you will receive it very soon, in good condition!

I've had tremendous luck to this point in this hobby. I've always tried to research each and every vintage purchase on forums, requesting a ton of photos, etc. and have managed to buy well. Unfortunately, I think my luck may have finally run out and I might be paying the infamous 'noob tax' on this one.

I saw the watch above in an auction in France. I wasn't really all-in on buying it but I had been on the lookout for a Rolex Precision for a month or two, so I kept an eye on the auction. I saw it was below the estimate, and so I bid and got it at a premium over a standard ref. 6426, but not a totally absurd number (€1,800). I figured that I was taking a slight chance, but the FAP connection and the reasonable condition of the watch in the one photo lead me to believe there wasn't a lot of downside risk.

Unfortunately I didn't ask for caseback photos as I had convinced myself I wasn't going to buy, just watch (always a bad move not to know oneself). The red flag should have been the fact that there wasn't any posted given that the FAP provenance was the key to getting a premium over a standard 6426 and the FAP writing on the caseback was therefore quite important. That said, most watches in the sale didn't have multiple photos, so I gambled.

It's arrived today and the caseback is VERY chewed up - somebody absolutely mangled it attempting to get it open. To the point where I'm quite surprised nothing was noted in the listing. The vast majority of the "FUERZA AREA DEL PERU" text is intact (the F is missing and there is a deep scratch through the RU of Peru), however, the caseback freely spins when i move it with my finger and there are chunks of metal missing.

Absolutely my fault for not getting a caseback photo before bidding, but i'm quite surprised that none of this, given the significant condition issues, were disclosed by the auction house in the listing text when there was no caseback photo.

The watch runs, has been keeping good time for the last 6 hours and is otherwise in reasonable/good condition.

What should I do? Should I take this up with the auction house (do I have any recourse?) - buyer beware and all that.... Should I make this a restoration project and send it to someone like ABC or LA Watchwerks to have some laser welding repair work done - despite the added difficulty of needing to preseve the caseback FAP writing....?

I feel like a bit of knob on this one (luckily it wasn't more money!) - any and all suggestions on next steps would be heartily appreciated (and sorry for the essay!).

Yes. A fully acknowledged (poor) gamble per my post above....

wow, looks like someone was using lathe chuck jaws to try to open this. Sorry and I have no advice on next step.

Um...I would rip the auction house a new arsehole.

Seriously, there was a reason it wasn't noted or pictured, unless Stevie Wonder does their cataloging.

I would leave it "as-is"...nothing you can do to clean that up...throw good money after bad.

Good news is that it appears to be a FAP and the damage is on the caseback. Wear it. Cool watch

Yah thanks for the advice @watchknut - first time I've been really nailed by a vintage watch. Had to happen at some point and at least it's on something relatively cheap. I definitely had a bit of a pit in my stomach when I took a gamble but barring an outright counterfeit this is worse than I could've reasonably expected.

I've gone back to the auction - we'll see where that goes.

Cool watch but I've absolutely got a sour taste in my mouth.

+1

Personally, I would go after the auction house relentlessly…and publically… through Fora

Irrespective of the FAP connection, it is completely unacceptable, & very unprofessional, not to disclose that damage

This is not a case of buyers remorse, but of outright artifice

Care to name them ?

I went back and found the description.

For full disclosure, here's a photo of it - the auction house is listed.



The English description says nothing about damage at all.

As a Canadian, I speak a tiny bit of French. The French word for damage would be "dommage" or potentially "degats" - neither are there. I'm by no means fluent but I can get the general gist of something like this.

As this item was coming up, I ran the French description through google translate to make sure my grade 12 French wasn't failing me - nothing seemed to suggest severe damage.

The word "accidents" in brackets was potentially the auction house's way of stating that there was caseback damage, although this word has the same meaning in French as in English and follows a misspelling of the word "Aerea" - not clear and not informative. To me, it didnt suggest that somebody took a hammer and chisel to the case back.

Should I have foreseen caseback damage based on (accidents)? Perhaps - but I would suggest more along the line of a deep scratch or scuff or two. Not the abomination that I received.

The photo in the initial post was the only photo that was included for the lot.

It looks good on the wrist! It is a shame about the caseback damage. They should have been honest and mentioned the bad damage.

Better on the back then the front!

But yeah I would be pretty annoyed at the auction house, but I wouldn't be sure what the best outcome would be. Best case scenario they return the money, but then you return the watch you've been searching for.

Best of luck, and if you keep it, it looks good on the wrist.

Pretty bad....and the seller is completely responsible for not disclosing this. If you do decide to keep it after reaching some settlement with the seller....this isn't something LA Watchworks can't handle in restoring.

Thought I'd provide an update on this.

I emailed the auction house expressing my displeasure and their initial response was "c'est n'est pas possible" - in essence, they stated that the word "(accidents)" in the catalogue, and the fact that no "full condition report" was requested meant they were washing their hands of the issue.

I pressed back stating that I bid via Invaluable, and none of the damage was pictured or described in English (or in French) and that their handling of this was unprofessional in my view.

They've come back and offered to refund the shipping and commission (which amounts to 450€) - I think this is likely the best I'm going to get.

So, I'll be shipping this down to LA Watchworks for them to work their magic as best they can on that caseback abomination, with ~$500 to fund this expedition.

Thanks for the comments - it's a nice looking watch (from the front) and hopefully it can be at least somewhat restored whilst preserving the caseback writing.

That is great news!

To be honest, I'd just save the money and leave it as is...OR buy another caseback and have the engraving matched.

Even when LAWW restores it...it will still be restored.

+ 1 on leaving it alone as is. I speak from experience. I restored a caseback once as you contemplate. It does not look like the original and I regret doing it. I should have just let it alone.

@cristos71 - definitely a learning experience.

This is a hobby where you're taking a big gamble if you take your eye of the prize for a second and it takes a couple of these to really underline that. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesnt.

Glad it was this one for me, not something really gutting.