Hi guys!

Since I have an avatar and a couple of posts, I was hoping you could help me with a value question

I'm a little at a loss regarding what a sensible figure would be to sell this at. I got it from my uncle. No seriously, I did! My uncle used to be a pawnbroker, and knowing how much I liked Omegas, he sold this one to me a couple of years ago for the going scrap gold price. I don't have any emotional attachment to this piece, and want to get rid of it to fund the acquisition of a vintage Omega that I'd actually enjoy wearing.

Don't get me wrong: this is not an attempt to bypass the rules and create a pseudo-sales thread. Don't know quite how I can prove this, but I'll at least promise not to respond to purchase requests via personal messages. While I do want to sell this eventually, I'm not in a rush and I'm quite happy to wait for my 200 posts.

It's an Omega De Ville with a 625 hand-wound movement whose 37XXXXXX serial dates it to around 1973. The reference appears on the (fixed) bracelet clasp as 711.8380.F. In the case back, it says 8380 also, but followed by 086. Neither reference appears in the Omega vintage database, however the 711.2026 (https://www.omegawatches.com/planet...ache=1&cHash=757b49fc5fb53da534b051cc6820a3b1) looks pretty darn close - except it's in stainless steel.

In one interpretation of the Omega reference codes, a 711.X would be a "ladies' bracelet watch" (7), with "manual winding without second" (1) and "non-water resistant". It's of course entirely possible that it's a ladies watch, but it must've been for one big lady: the attached bracelet is too large for me and cannot be made smaller. The bracelet is marked with 18K gold marks and is solid. The caseback is marked with 18K marks also, but it is not yellow in color. White gold, then? The thing has a semi-recessed crown with a sapphire.

I can't find it anywhere on (past) eBay sales or on chrono24 etc. I *did* find an image in a 1977 Omega brochure of a watch with the same reference as appears on my bracelet (711.8380) but there are some differences, notably bracelet style, yellow gold case, dial without hour markers. Back then, its price was 896 British pounds, or the price of no less that five 145.0022 Moonwatches in the same catalogue (at 175 pounds a pop...those were the days). So should I assume it's now worth 20,000 dollars, or does anyone have a more sensible figure for me?

Thanks guys!

 

Hatti Jacques was big in the 70s - in every sense

 

Will it add to, or reduce the value if this was her watch?

 

happy to answer since you have an an avatar and an uncle ...

trying to do the best I can (which is not much, but take it as a datapoint) ...

those type of watches are everything today's market does NOT want:

- gold
- small
- not sporty
- pipe-smoking grandfather/grandmother-ly
- not sharkfishing-timberhauling-and-bad-ass-motorcycle (on a layaway plan) facebook photos on his personal homescreen (of a dentist or small-case lawyer) compatible

a reasonable range I might have seen the likes go on watchrecon would be $500-1k

 

I'd drop the threshold a little lower than 1k, and even in that case, it would either be a collector or some (crazy) guy that is buying this for his wife.

 

Thanks for your input!

Yikes. I was kinda hoping for a little more because of the great state and apparent rarity. I really don't wanna argue with you guys - my knowledge about these types of watches is non-existent - but the $500 quote is well below its current gold value. I take from your comments that it's unlikely to net me more than scrap gold, but I'm pretty confident it shouldn't go for less...

 

If you were to buy this new retail it would cost an arm and a leg
But unfortunately as noted above ladies watches and 70s watches of this style don't have a great collectors appeal
So even though it is an Omega it's really just an old gold watch - and the value is in the precious metal

sad but true I'm afraid that such a well made thing is likely to be melted for scrap

 

Looks like an Apple Watch

 

It does a bit, doesn't it? Maybe I'll advertise it as an Apple Watch Nano prototype

I actually don't hate it. I'd wear it myself if it weren't for that big ole bracelet. On the other hand, if it's really only worth scrap gold, I might look into having a jeweler reduce the length.

 

pink yugo cars are also rare...
you need to understand that RARE (=low supply) doesnt mean $hit, UNLESS you have High Demand at the SAME time. that is the detonator!

 

Don't worry, I have a basic grasp of economic principles. As I said in my post, I'm not arguing with the assessment of low demand (I have little insight in this market and bow to the collective expertise of the boards). My point was rather that I have a hard time believing that this would go for less than scrap, as some of the estimates seem to imply. Nevertheless, thanks for your response!

 

nice enough watch - use it!

 

I think I will for the time being. It's not my favorite watch, but I'd hate for someone to melt this down. I just love watches too much for that.

 

If you could prove it belonged to her, I'm sure a "Carry On" fan would pay handsomely.

In all seriousness, there were quite a few gentlemen's watches that had a 62x movement with an oversize dial.

 

It is nice and quite honestly if I were to show it to my wife and she liked it I'd make ya an offer but this is one of those things. My wife's grandfather was a big deal in his local American Legion hut and managed the bar so the family inherited boxes of special American Legion whiskey decanters. My father-in-law now hoards those because he is absolutely convinced he's sitting on a pile of money nevermind that you can go to eBay see examples of pretty much all of them priced all over the place with a common theme. Zero bids.

Vintage watches is a heavily male pursuit and for the most part the women who pursue it tend to ignore women's models as well because there is virtually no market and because there were so many male oriented models up to around the mid 70's to early 80's that are very nicely sized for women. Also some women just don't give a rip about convention and don't mind wearing a large watch if it is a piece they like.

So sadly these pieces get melted every time gold prices go up.

 

Don't lose your hopes. If I was you I'd just list it on the bay at around 600-700 with make an offer option and hope someone offers you over 500 for it. It will sell at some point. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

 

No don't do that !

If you have some digital kitchen scales then weigh it. You can scrap 18k at 29-30 USD based on today's rates, and I would bet my life that has a lot more than 25g of gold in it. If you do list it on ebay at 600-700 it will sell in less than 1 minute.

The biggest shame about models like these is the integrated bracelet. If there was any way to separate the case then you could scrap the bracelet for probably 80% of the total value of the watch, and keep the head which would actually look OK on a nice leather strap.

 

Thanks, but that doesn't seem like my best bet. There's well over 50 grams of 18K in there (65 grams minus 6 for the glass and 4 for movement, dial and hands), and the guy around the corner is paying the equivalent of $28 per gram for marked scrap 18K. That's $1400 already.

Now I'm not gonna do that because I'd hate to see it melted down, but I'm also not about to let someone else make $900 on my watch by selling it for scrap after all

[EDIT] Off topic, but I was really surprised that movement, dial and hands weighed less than 4 grams. Amazing engineering!

 

Ah, I thought it weighs less, forgot it has a gold bracelet as well. Nonetheless it's gonna be difficult to find an owner, but you can do it. You just need a bit of patience, good photos, good info and research on it counts as well.

I am confused about the case back though. It has an 18k stamp but it looks stainless steel. Usually full gold watches will have a gold caseback as well.

 

If you do ever scrap it... don't let the guy tell you the glass weighs six grams. That is garbage, should be 2-3 grams at most. If they say it's more, then break it out with a hammer so there can be no arguments. When you get 30 dollars a gram it's worth being right !