A few weeks ago I got a new Certina from an eBay purchase and I thought it could be a good example of what to look for when scouring the web for a good deal.

Here's the text:

Now, a fairly straightforward text with a few facts and not a lot of details such as "original crown" etc. which tells me that the seller is probably not too clued up on vintage watches and what drives prices.

That "gold plated" is a concern. Gold plated Certina DS seem to suffer from some production defect making the thin gold layer flake off and I have never seen a good example. However, look at this photo of the rear:



It shows that the gold plating isn't visible on the rear of the lugs meaning that it is a gold capped model, not plated. Certina does excellent gold cap, so interest is piqued now.

What else can we see? Well apart from a gold plated, generic bracelet which tend to mean that the watch hasn't been tarted up for sale and is also likely to have had few owners, the caseback is in outstanding condition. The Matt surface on the back gets worn reasonably fast and is lost after only a little polishing. Plus points.

I'll show all the other photos here:













Now, knowing what to look for will help you immensely and when I look for Certina DS', I know that key points are

- Clean dial.
- Original crown.
- Intact lume.
- A sharp case

The case is obviously good on this specimen and the crown is the correct, earlier type and not the akward later service crown. What's more, the crown appears to be in good condition asserting that this is a watch that has seen little (ab)use.

The lume is fantastic - all lume dots are present and everywhere I look it has aged beautifully.

The dial is more tricky. As the angles on nearly all photos are pretty weird and lighting sub-par, it is very difficult to say with any certainty how it will appear once in hand. And look at the text - it seems very faint, nearly as if it was washed out. Could it have aged poorly? Could the dial have been washed?

Looking at the condition of all the other parts, my guess was that poor camera skills were to blame, but I admit that the dial condition was the one factor I was unsure of until I held the watch in my hands...

Now to pricing. The price wasn't out of line for a good DS, but I felt that it could be better. You have to look at where the advert is from and this one came from an Eastern European country where haggling is common and nearly mandatory. The same could be said about dealing with people from Southern Europe; an asking price is meant to be challenged

My first offer was met with a counter-offer which I countered back. I didn't hear from the seller after the last offer and I went to bed after some hours... When I woke up, the offer had been accepted. I was fairly confident in this as the advert wasn't that attractive and because the seller's location was sure to put a lot of potential buyers off. I see this sort of misguided xenophobia over and over again; in my experience honest people are fairly evenly spread across the globe and I feel no more anxious about dealing with a guy from Serbia than a guy from Norway.

I was away with work for a week and could pick up the parcel from a local post office when I got back. Shipping had been swift and the packaging was superb. As was the watch.








I have never held a better preserved DS, nor seen one advertised that matches this one. The dial is so clean that it is nearly impossible to photograph it properly and when manipulating the crown it feels like a new watch still with its slightly stiff action from the tight seal. Apart from a stupid scratch on the caseback, it is in excellent condition.

Lessons from this purchase are:

- Know what you are looking for and what you are looking at. I knew that DS' do not tend to have washed out dial text and that this watch had a gold capping, not plating.
- Know how a watch ages. Is the plating coming off the crown? How does the caseback normally hold up?
- Stretch bands are either a sign of originality or a sign of impending doom.
- Know how to spot a seller that is less informed than you.
- Look past the stereotypes and bad reputations of some countries and have trust in other people - and have trust in your own assessment.
- When bargaining, country stereotypes are allowed


I know that this is a pretty humble watch and that in monetary terms it wasn't the deal of the century, but I thought it would make an interesting read and hopefully someone will use my experiences to land their own prize

 

Well said. Sharp turtle!

It might help if you shared pricing info, even if only to say "I offered 20% less, seller countered with 5% less, I countered that with 12% less."

 

Love it. The advice and the outcome

 

Beautiful watch, well done.

 

If I recall percentage calculus correct, it'll be something like this:

First offer: 23% off.

Counter offer: 13% discount.

Final and accepted offer: 17% off.

I always try to imagine the combined price of item + shipping in my head and I like it to be nice, even figure that appeals to me, if that makes any sense. I think the sellers often see it the same way.

 

Nice read. Thank you!

Take a look at the 1965 Certina DS catalogue on pascals side! In my opinion it‘s the 5827 112 dial B

(www.vintagecertinas.ch)

Cheers

 

Spectacular. I am not normally a fan of gold watches but that thing gleams like a jewel-love the sunburst dial- they really don’t do them like that anymore.
And I appreciate your input on the “risky” countries. I have had some great scores from Mexico- people in the US think “shit hole country” (not my words but those of an unfortunate fellow that shall go unnamed- rymes with Bump), and forget that wealth and good taste are all over the globe.

 

I wish you would stop posting things like this.

Do you know how many newbies (and even oldies) are going to learn from your detailed write ups?

Do you know they will become more skilled at finding gold amongst the dross?

Do you know the competition increases 10 fold after one of your posts?

Do you know I wish I had spotted it?

 

I'm just glad you and I aren't hunting for the same stuff.

 

It’s kind of like when I see an email from Hondinkee or Fratello with a vintage watch write-up- well, shit- there goes the market on those.

 

I mean, I kinda just want that caseback because turtles are awesome... oh, excellent write up too

 

Oh, I meant that I haven't seen an advert for a vintage DS in the same condition, not that I hadn't seen a period advert (which I hadn't either until now!). Very interesting to see them use the phrase "Golden Armour" for their gold cap models. I thought it had only been used as a model name. It looks as if the hands on that one are stick hands, but they appear to be slimmer than the ones I associate with DS hands? Also, do the indices have black paint on them, or is it a trick of the illustration?

...Now I have to find a croc band like shown in the advert!

If this means that I will be spending fewer money on eBay, all is good!

 

Unflattering photos and locations that many others would find dubious is how I found many a small treasure that otherwise went completely ignored. Excellent find!

 

It did make an excellent read, absolutely ! Thanks for sharing and teaching. We need more of such threads, nowadays.

And, congrats Troels - what a beautiful watch at the end

 

Really interesting summary and what a lovely Certina. Thanks

 

This is like:
Part 1 - Learn how to fish - the theory
Part 2 - Fishing advice - putting theory into practice

The first part of this post should interwoven with ‘Part 1’

Nice one Troels

 

Thanks for the tutorial. I am still learning about Certinas...I didn't even knew what a certina turtle was...definately a cool thing I will be looking at....

 

Nice! I quite like the bracelet too.

 

Chapeau, Sir. And thank you for a very useful post.

Super watch.

 

Troels,

You are a gem, thanks for sharing yet other great watch with us all. This time including a super writeup.

Bra jobbat