Respectable members, I am on the process of buying this Centenary 2500 and I would like your opinions as a kind of double check. I haven't paid yet and I am nervous of doing something wrong. Here are the sellers pictures. What is a reasonnable price considering condition ? Thank you in advance. Mounir
The dial is nice even though some of the clear coat is coming off (most noticeably around the edges like from 7 to 10). The bezel's bevel is a little smooth but not awful. The movement looks pretty good. I'd say it's a fair price if it's in the neighborhood of $2100, give or take a hundred.
I'm with Dennis on the price, provided that the dial is original. A picture with the hands at "10" and "2" would be helpful. I just can't tell from the pictures provided. Everything else looks good to me. gatorcpa
I agree with the first two assessments, no red flags or major issues obvious in the provided photos. Do you have a photo of the outside of the case back?
Good call Norm. If it has the leaf engraving I'd up my assessment by $300-ish. Can't see the serial number on the movement to tell if it's from 1948 or not.
Hello again, I searched my kids at nursery. the mvt serial n° is 10760093 and the case n° is 10785613. Actually I have no picture of the back, but I beleive it to be plain with no engraving, private or centenary. I'll ask for a picture to be sure.
You were right there is no engraving. I can't figure out myself, but yellow gold is fine by me. I just received the picture of the case back.
Not too sure - hands stand out to me. These were sold with a yellow gold dial but rose gold hands and rose gold case.
It was. But it proved to be so popular that it continued to be made up until 1952 when it was replaced by the Constellation. gatorcpa
They were first made in 1946, or at least the movements were made then. Many of us have 2500s with movements from that year including me. The actual Centenary model was the one with the factory leaf engraving. I'm not sure, but maybe at a later time collectors started calling the whole series that name?
AFAIK it was not clear which 2500 models had the engraving and which did not. Rest assured whether the engraving is present or not these are all considered centenary models. While the engraving increases the value of the watch, the overall condition in my mind is more important.
It wasn't collectors, but Omega itself that used the "Centenary" name beyond 1948. This article from Mondodec has a lot of the history for both models. http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec//Omega_Constellation_Gene_Pool.pdf I know that the smaller Ref. 2499 continued to be advertised in the US as a Centenary until at least 1951. Not as certain about the larger Ref. 2500. Hope this helps, gatorcpa