Good evening, everyone. I’ve lusted after the “pie pan” Connie in gold for quite a while — specifically the 168.004-62. I stumbled upon on this for sale this evening, and before I pull the trigger, I’m hoping you all can provide a little guidance. I’ll admit I am ignorant as all get-out, but I’m wondering if on my quest there are specific red flags I should be looking for.

Here’s the Connie in question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Watchexchange/comments/aij3wx/wts_omega_constellation_16800462_piepan_and/

My specific concerns with this one are: 1. The condition of the crown seems too good to be true; and 2. The movement doesn’t look clean enough to have been recently services as the seller says.

What say you? (And thanks in advance!)

 

Polished to death with a bad redial, pass at any price.

 

Thank you! I am absolutely horrible at spotting such things, so I sincerely appreciate that wisdom.

 

Bad redial.the crosshairs should go over the text.

 

Here is a newbe saved by a wise OF member @X350 XJR. Thanks

 

And bless his heart for that!

 

The horrible polishing could be easily spotted by looking at optical distortion on expected flat surfaces and edges. As for dial, text print would be the first give away.

Check out this if you haven't done so: https://omegaforums.net/threads/learn-how-to-fish.52603/

 

Learned much from this post

 

Thank you for a good demonstration of what not to buy...
I also learned a lot from actually seeing this severly overpolished watch.

 

I'm glad my ignorance could help others! You guys are seriously the best.

 

Can only confirm the above said...

When you come across your next one: Count the stars on the medallion, should be eight ones



https://omegaforums.net/threads/how-does-this-constellation-look.88605/

If there are less be careful!

 

Tip for beginners: if a watch case looks like it's melting, that's never a good sign.

 

Let me see if I'm getting the hang of this. This seller claims everything is all original.Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network The interior of the dial looks jagged, the minute markers are of varying size and thickness, "automatic" looks like it's going up a hill, "certified" is poorly written, and the case and bezel appear quite polished. How'd I do?

 

This one looks pretty ok to my eye. Textured dials like this one are rarely targets of refinishing, because it's so hard to get the text correct.

 

So I was WAY off. Man, I'm never gonna get the hang of this!

 

How willing are you to budge on this in cases of a monoque case? Granted small sample size, but I've usually found movements in monoque cases to be relatively unmolested as long as there were no signs of water intrusion on the dial.

 

Here’s what he says:

Thanks for your interest....Under a 30 x loupe...it looks like a thin strip of onyx...however-You could be right-so out of an abundance of caution-I have removed the onyx reference in the description...As you may know-this model is factory sealed and takes a special tool to open the watch....I have seen this model many times-always with a 564 chronometer movement....with a slight shake-it takes off running and runs flawlessly... I don't have a watchmaker to open it-as he recently retired..