Believe me if one wants to find the kind of deals that dreams are made of, ya gotta get out and hunt in person. Your only competition in making the deal then is primarily whoever is standing nearby. Not the entire population of Ebay and online hunters. How else could I have gotten that Bulova today

 

I wouldn't buy the watch if the owner opened it. Too many chances for junk to drift inside. Think about how much stuff falls on the dial of your watch when you are trying to take closeup macro photos. I literally have to wipe the dial every 30 seconds to have a pristine, perfect photo, and I live in a clean house. Imagine now if that was the movement open to the air.

If the seller has an industrial clean room, then I'm fine with them opening the watch.

 

.... with both your boots on the ground, you don't know whats inside a watch if you don't open it.... of course if you are buying a 1675 for 450 USD it is not from any relevance

 

Lemme tell ya I'm doin alright buyin-wise. You stick to your method .

 

.... nothing speaks against your 1675 deal

 

Early on I asked an ebay seller for a movement picture of a dive watch and he got very offended and angry and blocked me. I thought that was unreasonable at the time, but getting a little more perspective on this thread.

 

Frankly, a reaction like that from a seller would be sufficient for me to look elsewhere.

 

Haha, no. I blocked you for asking for a photo of the back of the dial, timing in six positions, and for making a lowball offer.

 

I wouldn’t buy a car if I couldn’t take a look at the engine.

 

People sometimes forget what a small world it is, in a specialised area such as this.

 

You can't block someone on eBay (or can you), how did that happen, lol

I do wish you could block people on eBay, as a seller, I hate being extorted, and lately eBay became really toxic, on top of high fees, low auction results and buyers try to abuse the system

 

You can block people on eBay (at least in the US), but I was just kidding of course.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/blocking-buyer-ebay?id=4082

 

They can always message you though, you can't block messages, or does this also block messages too

Can't even imagine someone just leaving bids just to harass, I think this one is more aimed towards that

In any case, from a buyers viewpoint, keep in mind that a seller on eBay is likely at the end of the rope, with extreme fees and malicious buyers just abusing the system at every turn - so there's usually very little room for patience left even if you are experienced

I personally never said one unkind word to a potential buyer, even during abuse, yet it gets to me and the solution is just not to list on eBay

 

I get it .. but opening the hood doesn’t have the same potential to damage the watch.

 

Yes, this one requires a press to re-install the case back, and the proper tools to open it without inflicting damage. On this one I wouldn't expect movement photos.

In the end, the photos aren't going to tell you if it needs a service, so unless the seller is providing documentation of a service from a known to be good service provider, count on having one done in the price you are willing to pay. If you end up not having to get it done, consider that a bonus.

 

Learning all the time.

I didn't know this, otherwise I wouldn't have requested movement shots.

Is the problem with refitting the case back because any malalignment when pressing it in would score/damage the interface between the case back and the case, or because of the force required?

 

It requires force - if you can press the case back on with your fingers, it's not going to be very secure...

 

Carrying on with this analogy, a compression test tells you more than a visual. In a watch, that'd be a watch timer test. Still, it's one bit of evidence in a larger picture. Nice to have, but not a deal breaker.

A visual of the engine will tell you about prior maintenance, similar to a visual of the movement. But it won't tell you if it's worn out internally.

Not related to the engine illustration, other different perspectives suggested in this thread might be due to buying as a dealer as opposed to a collector.

Another comment is the perspective of buyer vs seller. As a buyer, i like as much info as possible, which means a movement picture is a bonus. But sometimes i feel the need to be a seller, in which case I can understand why it isn't reasonable to open a watch for a buyer. Again, for me it's a valuable piece of information but as asked by the OP, I wouldn't exclude every watch without a movement photo.

Last thing is that I love movement shots, although seldom get one before buying. I always ask for movement shots during service because I don't want to open it myself. Only a few watchmakers grumble but most are happy to take shots.

Happy hunting to the OP.

 

Yes agree. I did just that but was a bit surprised by the reaction. I think he thought I was questioning his integrity.