Some months ago I was attacked (again) by the Omega fever. I found this



and this




and this




at an auction house.

Sadly, I lost the big prize, but got the consolation ones.

The Mark III is badly in need of a service, but I think I will get it serviced locally. It does not reset accurately anymore (being able to actually touch and operate watches at an auction house is great... until you actually won the watch and realised that it has got a three-year worth intensive use session in just one week.
Anyway, it is not the Mark III the watch that has me hesitating. It is the 125.

125 probably are the red haired stepchildren of the Omega family. They may not be easy on the eye at first sight, but neither are plo-profs, or even shoms, and they are now all the rage. The question is that at first I wasn't sure I liked it very much, but it has grown on me. So much that I am beginning to think that it may deserve a service at Bienne.

My watch has the case so badly polished that I doubt polish is the right word to describe the ordeal it must have been subjected to. Mirror-finished bezels are gone and the finish (to call it something) of the case is uniformly sandblasted, with almost round edges. Hands are also much abused (the central second hand of the chrono is actually bent), and, of course, it does not reset properly. I suppose that makes my 125 a perfect candidate for a long stay at Bienne.

A Bienne service, in any case, does not come cheap, and I have some doubts. To begin with, will they be able to restore the case to a reasonably good state, or will it be beyond restoration? Of course, they will improve it against its current state, but will they be able to redo the bezel, or that is lost forever? I don't care about them changing the hands of the watch, because the ones it has now are trully beaten up and way beyond their expiry date.

My other doubt is will 125 be ever well-esteemed? I mean, not as if they were the first COSC automatic chronos in the world, or a limited series of 2000 units with a movement never used again, but valued just as any other chunky seventies chrono of a renowned brand.

(Had the Cosmic triple date not fetched a price of 2700 euros, I would have an easier life now. Grrrr!!)

 

The selling prices of 125s have remained stable/slightly dropped over the last few years. I see many sellers asking 2000+Euro but the reality is, if patient, they are to be found in the 1350-1500 Euro range.

I bought one 5 years ago for 1380 and sold it recently in an Ebay auction for 1350, I was a little disappointed and learnt that I will not put something on Ebay anymore as a naked auction.

For that reason I would first think about do you really expect it to be a long term keeper, as after a visit to Bienne that is what it will become, unless of course you are prepared to take a very big hit later.

 

The price of an item is determined by the market. If it were a hot popular item, it might have scored a bundle of cash for you.

 

I got mine around Euro 1600 locally. It sat in my friend's shop for almost three months so demand is not that high. For instance a used Moonwatch will not last more than 2-3 weeks in his shop. I know my 125 will not be value keeper. But it wear nice and surprisingly comfortable, I like its quirky design and it attracts attention from other WIS. It was also worn by Cosmonaut in Soyuz and Mir program.

 

I got mine at slightly less than 1200 euros.

That's why I am having doubts. I know I won't get my money back if I send it to Switzerland, but I would not be losing an awful lot of money if I ever sell it.

 

I realise that, but mine was a quite nice example which sold at the bottom of the range.

My point was if I had listed it BIN/Make an offer at say 1700-1750 I possibly would have collected a little more to take it out of "loss" column and into "break even" one.

 

Well I think 1200 plus 5-600 for a service is pretty all right. You won't lose money there

 

I am looking for a 125, I too love the way it looks and it is very comfortable to wear. I think the fact it isn't the moonwatch and you enjoy wearing could be the justification to get it sorted. I think they will always sell and it sounds like you would not lose out at current prices.

 

I've had two watches that have been to Bienne and wouldn't send another there unless it was missing too many parts or they were too damaged to reuse. I can understand why people might want a watch that's like new but for me I'd rather keep the aged dial while just having the case and bracelet restored. I recently used Rocco at Watchworks in the UK, he has a lapping machine and can sort out the case so it's sharp and correct. The hands would receive some aged lume (and a bit of straightening and touching up where necessary!) and movement serviced all for not a huge amount of money. I'm actually off to see him next week with four of my watches. In the past I've used Abel Court in Belgium, who is a Heuer specialist, but his waiting time is now around nine months to a year such is the quality of his work. I have no affiliation to either Rocco or Abel, but both have done excellent work for me. Here's my Speedy Mk2 which had been polished by hand, with rounded edges, and which Rocco sorted out for me. Note the old dial and hands!

 

That's a very sharp polishing work.........

 

That case looks fantastic, wow

 

One other thing about Bienne, a friend of mine was in Switzerland earlier in the year (before we found out STS and Rocco had lapping machines here in the UK) and made his way to Bienne. He dropped off his Mk3 Speedmaster for a full service with case restoration. It's been polished by hand and doesn't look great, and Bienne was the only place to get the case restored correctly to the original specification using the lapping machine. The cost of the case work is included in the service but you have to have the full service, which is fairly expensive, you can't get the case lapped without the service. Having dropped off the watch and telling them it didn't technically need the service, he was only doing it for the case refinish, he wasn't too impressed to receive a letter from Bienne a few weeks later saying there wasn't enough metal on the top of the case to hold the crystal in place AND guarantee its water resistance, so Omega would be continuing with the service without refinishing the case. My friend managed to get hold of Omega and get the watch back without them doing any work but he wasn't impressed, especially as he'd a) dropped off the watch himself with clear instructions and b) it didn't actually need a service. Another thing, if you do send the watch to Bienne but want to keep the dial the you need to make that very clear (although they do send back the original parts). Apologies if I'm telling you stuff you already know!

 

Note to to self: NEVER, NEVER send any of my watches to Bienne!

 

It's more that if you do want to go down the Bienne route you need to be quite specific what you want! STS in the UK now has a lapping machine so that's a plus for anyone in the UK, I'm not sure if official Omega service centres anywhere else have them, they're apparently very expensive and presumably very rare.