An notification from Chrono24 has recently got my attention for what appears to be a nice full set from 1966. http://www.chrono24.de/omega/1967-vintage-omega-speedmaster-full-set--originalpapiere--id6315024.htm A rather nice and attractive 105.012 according to the sales post. Unable to buy at the moment, I've contacted the seller for an eventual trade and - in the meantime - asked some of my connections if they know about the seller and if there might be any risk behind this rather attractive offering. To my highest surprise, I've got a feedback "I would chop off my hands before doing a deal with him" from one of my friends who's nickname will be kept confidential for obvious reasons... Interesting feedback, we decided to make some due diligence and search around. And guess what? - Bullshit Bingo. Sold back in 2016 : https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen...105012-full-set-oesterreichpapiere-174632983/ Selling now in 2017 : https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen...er-full-set-originalpapiere-145012-204327358/ Same papers, same serial number, totally different watches. Maybe even same box - look at the dark spot in the lower left angle inside the box... The seller quickly replied to my request, very open for any kind of arrangement : watches against watch, watches + money agains watch, what ever is fair for both. He has most probably forgot to mention that his sales offer isn't fair with me per default Whatever, I ran away and hope you guys will avoid this "professional" seller in the future. Some due diligence is never bad invested time.
Compliments, good job. Very tricky. From a superficial look to both ads, it seems they changed the dial and hands. Virtually impossible to spot from the watch itself. Find funny that the price is lower now than then. Besides this, I saw this watch and liked it.
Bravo for weeding out another muppet, finding good dealers is becoming harder and harder, buying within the community or with endorsement from the community is becoming increasingly important to me. When I sell watches (which I haven't done for a little while now) I always try and offer them within the community first. Too many sharks out there now and too many scammers or people flogging the 'best' when in actual fact they are touting tarted up crap........ as an old friend of mine from the north east of england would say.......... you can't polish a turd
What the heck..hard to figure out what's going on there..faked papers from one original or faked serial bridges or watches with no relation to the papers?? Did you get to see the movement with serial?
I believe the watch is the same: same bezel,same case and same movement. The change appears to me "only" in the dial and hands. The papers look legit for the watch but online it is erroneously advertised as 145.012 which contribute to generate confusion. Remains the question on why they replaced the dial and hands. Maybe because hands were replacement and the dial came to match. Is in the decription any hints? (I don't get german) It is true that the watch is not "all original" in the strict sense but still to be honest I saw much worse things and this one is still all "correct".
The man behind "Vintage Portfolio" has quite the reputation on these boards. One of the sellers I'll always warn people against... Go have a search on "Ev3rclear" and have a look.
Just goes to show that the accolade of 'Trusted Seller' on Chrono24 is pretty worthless. A few background checks and previous satisfied customers is the way to go. Buy the seller !!
Just goes to show that the old adage, if it seems to good to be true then it probably is to good to be true is as prevalent today as it ever was.
I just saw some likes on a post in an old thread and was wondering where it came from, guess this was it. (the thread was https://omegaforums.net/threads/mod...-account-soliciting-advice.23878/#post-262343) Your friend gave you very sound advice. This is why its so important to check around and ask people you know and trust before spending money or selling things, the community as a whole knows a great deal more than its individual members alone. While this guy was one of the two worst we've had to deal with he's one of a huge number of them floating around and we have to deal with them very frequently so always be safe and if in doubt either ask or keep your money in your pockets, walking away is never a loss.
Can also confirm this guy is no good. My friend was dealing with him over a rose gold grand luxe he had for sale. The price was 5k I believe and my friend wired the money only to be told the watch was no longer available. He did get a refund after a bunch of issues but the watch was then again back for sale for double the price... Be very careful with that seller. I wouldnt do business with them.
I was in a Facebook group he owned for vintage Omegas. I'd been thinking about leaving it since I saw stuff I wasn't interested in. Poof! Left. Ahhh, that's better.
Honestly I feel a little embarrassed about a post I wrote some time ago. After I bought from Maximilian a Seamaster Deville for my wife, searching informations on this model, I did not find it on Omega's website archive and I started to read everywhere about re-dialing and fake Omega watches. Since I'm not a watch expert or collector - just an enthusiast with low budget- I started to have some doubts about it. You can read all the story here: https://omegaforums.net/threads/hel...r-de-ville-genuine-or-fake-refurbished.55979/ Thanks to a lot of great people on this forum I learned a lot about this watch (and what to look when you buy a vintage watch) and I found it on Omega's website; user TNTwatch also helped me to see that some Omega had different fonts etc... and that it would be easily original. At the end I let see my wife's watch to a repairer and he stated that it is original and not re-dialed: I want to excuse me with Maximilian, because I made "Much Ado About Nothing" I'm very happy about this watch I bought and the price was not bad, considering he is a dealer and not a private seller on Chrono24. I saw he has some watches (even high in price) where he clearly says "refurbished", "re-dialed" etc... so I think he has no motivations to sell a watch with a serial number that is the same of another he sold before: if he was in bad faith he should easily change a number or two... anyway you could ask to see some photos of the serial numbers of the watch itself. My 2 cents
Maximilian is obviously reading this forum. I've got another email from him this afternoon : Okay I could have asked but this doesn't change anything to our problem here : the listing wasn't stating anything in that sense before the shit hits the fan. Period. Half an hour later got another one : It actually doesn't change much to me in regards to the watch or the seller actually but since I've started this story, I believe it's fair to share all the bits. Every seller has supporters and haters, I'm really neutral here. My first and only experience, will not develop it further. So it works... always worth to do the due diligence.
@kov You might have missed it, but this is again Ev3rclear..still active, but more outside of here https://omegaforums.net/threads/mod...-account-soliciting-advice.23878/#post-262343
I have certainly missed it and I am definitely not in any kind of crusade against Maximilian. After I posted my thoughts above he contacted me several times to try to recover in my mind using any kind of excuses and explanations. Since that, to be honest I've simply ignored his existence. I truly hope he won't manage to disgust inexperienced collectors by selling them crap at the price of gold, still, I will certainly not run after him nor try prevent him from doing his bad business...
Well, facts are facts and this guy hasn't changed his behaviour. I won't run after but create awareness where I see fit.