The watch below is from one of those rare birds - an honest dealer. That said, I'm out of my comfort zone with these. The crown's an obvious replacement and I'm edging towards the case having been polished as it seems too much for "honest wear" but I'm still itching after it. I find it a very attractive watch. So, would you all like to weigh in with thoughts as to "worn"; "polished", or "damn, which shore did that thing wash up on?".

 

I think it looks great the way it is now!

 

Yes, it looks great but it probably had a polish. The lug holes look a bit off but that could be the angle of the photographs. You probably noticed it. Either way, it isn’t bad enough to bother me. I really like it.

 

That's what had me looking along with the differing thicknesses on the ends of each lug. Thing is, the "asking" is on the high side. It's not incredibly unreasonable but it's certainly more than I'm used to paying for other pieces from this era.

 

Would he send you a better shot of the side of the watch so you could view both lug holes and see how deep the spring bar ends fit? I think it’s a safe assumption that a watch of that age with a replacement crown probably had a polish at some point. Not a deal killer to me.

 

Best I have:

I'm sure he'd photograph more and send but will probably have to wait til Monday. I'm looking hard at the last of those three photos and how there's more meat around the spring bar hole than with the other three lugs. I just wish I knew for sure what the bevels on those lugs should look like.

 

I really like that watch....

 

IMO, you cannot judge polishing/wear from the position of lug holes, at least not when they are of the type that go through the entire lug. From what I have seen, it is pretty common for them to be misaligned and/or very close to the "edge" of the lug, so to speak. The spring bar will fail before the steel of the lug anyway.

If by bevels you mean a flat surface polished or machined where the horisontal and vertical surface of the lug meet, I don't think you'd find any on an unpolished watch.

 

Really? I've always looked at the relative position of the holes in drilled lugs as an indication of whether or not any metal has been removed. Now, I'm thinking (almost entirely) of Rolex cases ... are you talking about Omegas: certain dates particularly or all drilled lugs?

 

Omega stopped doing drilled lugs a long time ago, can't recall seeing any later than the 50's... The ones I think of are of the 40's, typically. I have next to no knowledge about Rolex, but I guess that if you looked at their production from the same period, it could well be the same
Now, if the steel around the lug hole is paper thin, I agree that something was amiss!