Hi All,

I'm thinking about selling my 1961 CK2998-1, and buying something new. It's away at Omega being serviced at the moment, but I was wondering if there was any advice for the best way of selling it to maximise the amount I get for it.


Thanks.

 

First piece of advice, dont accidentally alienate your customer base by posting what others may see as an attempt to sell a watch here without reading ANY of the rules/ stickies especially pertaining to selling. (Basically you have to have a history here, and any post like this is often jumped on as a back door attempt to circumnavigate the rules, even if you are not).

As for advice, this watch is not especially nice, and as such needs to be fought over by those with less knowledge than many here - so Ebay .99 auction will get the most from it, if you can navigate the scammers.

As 2998's go, this one is not going to set any (upper) records.

Good luck with it.

 

Thanks, I'm not trying to circumnavigate rules, but appreciate that it could look like this. If I did have the same history and the same knowledge as people on this forum, I wouldn't need bother asking trivial questions.

I realise this is not going to set any records, but I'm interested why it's not especially nice in particular (humour me, I really don't know). It's away at Omega at the moment and I'm expecting anything superficial to be cleaned up.

 

Well what ever it was going to fetch, it’s going to be less after it comes back from omega after that

 

The general consensus is: do not send it to Omega for servicing. If you can get it back before they work on it, you should.

 

Please get your watch back from Omega. They often change everything what gives value to such a vintage piece, especially in the eyes of collectors.

 

Yes - do not send it to Omega.


Oh.

 

People here have the knowledge in part due to reading up on the vast amount of knowledge in the subfora. Do some searches and you will find the info you need. Right now you appear to be exact type of covert seller that @Spacefruit describes, sorry.

 

Wow a covert seller. I've been accused of some things in my time, but probably not covert selling.

I think its too late to get it back from Omega, they have had it for about 2 months. They have specific instructions not to replace any of the parts though, and I allowed it to go ahead on that basis. Whether they do or not is another thing, I tried taking it to various servicing places but they all said it needed to go back to Omega to be serviced, so I though that was the only option at the time. Probably should have joined this forum first, but naivity, I'm afraid.

 

Too late now, but just as an FYI, there's not much benefit in having a watch like that serviced if you're going to turn around and sell it. This is a pretty common misconception amongst people who aren't tuned in to the vintage collector mind-set. Collectors would generally prefer to purchase the watch in its current condition and make their own decisions about what to do with it.

 

To The OP:
Its pretty clear you are not trying to back door sell, its just you come here fresh and naive, only to reap the ire that really should go to the two dozen or so prior posters who deserve it.
Dont take it personally.
Rather, I would love to see the watch when it comes back - it would be a great learning experience for us all, because I have heard Omega are leaving watches alone to a certain extent if asked.
As long as it is not a radium dial, which (if I understand correctly) Swiss Regs wont allow in or out if applied strictly.

 

Hopefully they are just getting it "cleaned up" Terry. It will be nice to see how it turns out.

(Don't be too offended about the 'covert trader' thing. A lot of us have been through it. Look on it as a sort of "belts off and trousers down" public school initiation.

They are a lovely helpful bunch of chaps here, when you get used to the rules..

 

Yeah, i’m hopeful it comes back intact, they are under strict instructions, and I just didn’t know who to send it to except Omega. I did just want to get it serviced, rather than sell it. I stopped wearing it about 15 years ago as I thought it probably needed a service then, and couldn’t find anybody to send it to get serviced sensibly at the time. At the time Omega were being awfully stubborn about replacing everything, I obviously didn’t want that, and I couldn’t find anyone else to do it. It’s been sat in the safe ever since. But now after it’s been away a couple of months I was thinking do I really need it sat in the safe? I wear a Rolex Oyster Datejust as my day to day watch, with the Speedmaster and a few others sat in the safe.

The radium could be an issue I hadn’t thought of. It’s a 1961, so that very much could be a problem. They haven’t mentioned that to me at all which is frustrating , i’ll be very disappointed if they have messed with the dial.

 

Yeah, did. As in a few months ago... Read the rest of my post.

 

Aside from the possibility of Omega replacing parts, you are also faced with the possibility that they will polish it. Good luck with the results of that, and the sale. Share some photos of the watch when you get it back.

 

I often wonder with this situation, if parts were being replaced at Omega's say so, wouldn't they need permission to do so first? Parts like bezels, dials, sapphire crystals (not applic. here I know), casebacks etc are chargeable and AFAIK when you send a watch to Omega for service, you only really give them express permission to perform the basic service (though even this can include a polish, crystal and maybe hand swap). What I am getting at is that isn't there a stage when Omega have to contact you and say, for instance 'Your 2998 needs a new dial because of the lume deterioration, oh and a new caseback as the existing one is corroded and we can't get it to seal. Please send agreement for the additional £500/$800 or whatever we are going to charge to to swap these parts'. Or do they just go ahead, change what they feel they need to and then issue an unexpectedly large bill afterwards? If the former, do you not have a chance to say 'hell no!'

 

If this is a 2998 -1 then it looks like it has already had parts replaced to me.

 

In all cases where I've sent watches to Bienne on behalf of my clients, I received a formal estimate for the work. In that estimate they outline mandatory work, and optional work. If you accept the quote they will do anything they determine is mandatory, and you can obviously pick and choose the optional replacements. If you decline something that they see as mandatory, they will send the watch back unserviced.

Note that in the fine print they do say that the estimate can be revised if they find additional issues during the service. I think there is a risk that even if they didn't call something mandatory during the estimating process, they may end up doing so once they are into the service.

If you read even more of the fine print, it also says this:

"Our workshops reserve the right to replace the hands, crown, push buttons, and crystal of your watch by original pieces or by brand components if their choice that are comparable, aesthetically similar and maintain the same functionality."

As for them being kinder with vintage watches and not replacing things if the owner asks, there's no evidence to suggest this change of heart on their part. What happens in many cases is that someone sends a letter along with the watch asking that specific parts are not replaced, and when they aren't replaced the watch owner assumes it's because of the letter. To use a dial for example, if the lume is solid, the finish isn't; flaking, etc., and Omega decides that it's not going to end up in a warranty claim, they will leave it, so if they have left a dial on the watch it wasn't because of any letter or instructions, it was because the dial was fine. If the dial has flaking lume or finish that is coming off, they aren't going to leave it on the watch and risk it coming back under warranty just because you ask them to...