The post that keeps on giving.
My first time with this material - a real eye opener! Trying to soak all that experience up.
Many thanks.

 

Extremely beneficial

 

Occasionally happens to me to re-read this post, always so useful and well written.
Thanks one more time, @ConElPueblo

 

thank you so much! it was a thought provoking read!

 

Great lesson learned! Thanks!

 

Great job on these...should be required reading for every new member.

 

Knowing Troels should be required around here!

 

Indeed, a gentleman AND a scholar.

 

As a newbie, this was very informative, so thank you. I started to look at eBay for my first vintage watch, but everything I see looks sketchy. Now I have turned to estate sales, but that seems to be hit and miss. Any recommendations on where to buy authentic vintage watches?

 

https://omegaforums.net/forums/private-watch-sales/
A good place to start.
Send a private message to a seller that has what you like, introduce yourself.

Check the WRUW thread to see what you like.

If you don't want to learn and do homework, contact me directly for the sale of a lifetime.


""You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time and some of the people some of the time and that's enough to earn a good living."

 

I’m only a little further down this road.
Ideally, buy from someone you know who’ll let you try it on, give you a receipt and a guarantee, information about the watch, a sight of or photos of the movement.
Second option would be to buy from a store or dealer, with the above.
Third option (IMO) is to go on a reputable website which gives some financial guarantees. Check that the watch is advertised as 'running well', ‘accurate’, ‘good condition’ (this list is not exhaustive) so that you can return it if faulty or inaccurately described. I’m not keen on 'no returns'.
For the last reason, I prefer to buy from/bid for in the UK, where I live and on the premise that if it goes wrong and the website can’t or won’t help, I can think about turning up and returning it personally.
I also prefer to buy when I have seen a photo of the movement although at the price levels I’ve set myself, this isn’t a deal breaker.
Above all, I only buy to wear so I always ask myself, will I wear it?
I hope this helps.

 

Okay, I cry uncle! Srsly, l’m reading and watching videos on the tube. I know I love the 60’s Seamaster cosmic and 40/50’s sub second with syringe hands. It’s a matter of finding reputable sellers which makes it a bit frustrating. Maybe I’m learning the joy of the hunt?

 

I've started my journey to find my first (and only!) Speedy, and this sort of information is brilliant... I've been hunting everywhere, and I'm petrified of making a huge, costly mistake, but I'm crosschecking and crosschecking again with all the information I can find.... Thank you for this post

 

Thank you for writing this up. Very helpful resource.

 

Thanks for the writeup! I've been wanting to get a vintage watch next but hesitant to do so as I don't want to end up with a bad, fake and or frankenwatch. Always good to learn something new and even better when it's laid out nicely in one place.

 

Probably one of the more significant buying tools I have read since i started collecting (just wish i had seen this before I had bought close to a hundred watches). I do know that re-dialing and/or polishing is a no-no, and I am conscious of those factors when I pull the trigger on a piece. One question on re-dialing: I have watched the process done on a youtube video at a very high level in a factory, and wonder if having the original maker redial you watch is an exception. And, is this a service Omega offers?

So I would have to say that I very much liked that post

 

I cannot speak about redialing the original dial but I do know Omega does provide service dials. Omega will usually return every single replaced part nowadays on request so it isn't looked down upon unlike RSC. In exceptional cases where they have leftover/NOS dials, Omega might use them as well.

 

Thank you. I have seen some Omegas on the market that have dreadful dials, but decent cases and nice movements, so was wondering if a factory re-dial was an option

 

This helps me a lot on the search of my first vintage! Spotting a re dial isn't easy tho, especially online, while photos can be a lot difference from how the watch really looks.

 

I rarely visit this thread, so sorry to those who've asked me about something here and are waiting for my answer

Omega does do redials, but they won't do them themselves. Remember that watches were assembled by Omega, but dials, hands, cases and sometimes movements as well (chronographs) came from other factories, few of them what we'd call "inhouse" today - this approach to specialised production facilities was what made the Swiss watch industry become the worlds leading.

This means that Omega has had no control over their subcontractors and they therefore don't have any "correct" dies/templates to produce a dial from, as the originals would have been thrown out years ago. Any redials offered by Omega as a part of a service will be a third party job. Service dials for some watches exist while NOS dials are pretty much unheard of. Old stock would have been cleared out years ago.