I am thinking of adding a bumper to my collection and would like a little input on a couple of watches on Ebay. Thanks in advance. http://www.ebay.com/itm/302203045465?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network http://www.ebay.com/itm/232211545747?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
Stay away from #1. Bad redial. Now compare that to #2 which is a very nice original dial. Case on this one has been polished a bit. I wouldn't go much higher than current bid on that one. Hope this helps, gatorcpa
Listen to him and you will never have a watch. I wouldn't mind to pay some more for a nice dial like that.
I've gotten more than my share. #1 rule is not to overpay. You will never get it back. However, a watch in better condition is always worth more. If the case was sharp, I'd double the price. gatorcpa
As said: stay away from #1. Not to mention awful redone of lume of hands and hour-markers. Nice dial on #2. But rather polished and the sudden removal of the lugs on the 3rd pic is interesting to say the least. Cal looks sharp. Would stick to the all-acclaimed advice: condition, condition, condition My2Ksh
I don't think no 2 has been over polished. There isn't actually all that much scope for polish on gold filled or plated pieces like this else the plate would have worn through. Not all 2577s had the the bevelled lugs shown in the pic on the vintage database after all. I do see that the lugs bottoms look a little truncated but this is a HF case so there may be slight differences between variations. ps the 'sudden removal of the lugs in shot 3' is because it is a shot of the movement and spacer out of the case with the stem removed, or at least that is how it looks to me.
#2 looks like a decent piece. Even at a couple hundred more, I think it would be worth it. Nice ones still can be found around the $350 range but it is a lot harder these days...
Newsflash... Rule#1 is no longer true in an up market (wished I'd overpaid on a 321 a couple of years ago)
Okay I have a couple more that have popped up on my radar. This one looks like a redial to me due to the script. http://www.ebay.com/itm/142251674075?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network This one looks pretty nice to me, I don't see any evidence of the rotor rubbing and the dial looks okay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/252713030624?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
Would not buy either of these. The first is another terrible redial. The second has the gold fill separating from the case. It is a money pit.
The key is knowing an "up" market when you see one and adjust your price expectations accordingly. If you didn't get a cal. 321 at what you thought was market price, then you didn't know the market price at that point in time. That has happened to every collector on this board. gatorcpa
Thanks for your input fellas I really appreciated it. I lost the auction, I went up to $465 but refused to go any higher. I am already looking for another to try my hand at.
That's a nice watch, 2577's, especially ones in good condition are moving up in value at the moment IMHO, I saw that one going north of £400 TBH as the dial was particularly pleasing My tastes have changed of late, I still retain my inner quartz collection, which I know many of you don't get but I really do. I've brought a few mechanicals and I love them. I'm seeing a fellow forum member and friend who lives abroad in march with the dear hope go picking up one of his special bumpers, if I get it it won't be going anywhere...... period. Beauty is the in the eye of the beholder, I own a marine chronometer (for example), most on the forum scoff at it, especially as it costs more than a good pie pan to service, does it bother me? No. Its the one watch in my collection I utterly love. My advice is buyer a bumper that touches your heart and you can see spending many years by your side, don't consider the price but make sure it's 'the one for you'
Here's something I learned buying and restoring trumpets... If you're going to keep it the rest of your life, what someone else thinks it's worth doesn't mean dick, because after 40 years, any "overpaying" is amortized out. I suspect a lot of you guys regularily take a large portion of your collections and roll the pieces, and so of course you want to buy low and sell high, because who wouldn't? But, when a person is going to get a piece to wear and love the rest of her life, this nickel and dime stuff is just stupid. Edited to add: A high-end mechanical watch is a crappy investment, really, if you actually wear it. For what you pay for servicing, you could have bought a whole new watch. But that's not the point. Tom
Tom, Dick, and Harry, VetPsychWars, I agree with both of you. The thing I am on the look out for is I got taken on my first Omega purchase, a Constellation. I'm fairly familiar with American pocket watches as I have been collecting them for twenty or so years and figured I could handle the purchase of a Connie on my own, I was wrong. My Connie had been redialed (though fairly decently) and the case was polished to the point where it no longer had any sharp edges. I really like the watch, I just wish I hadn't overpaid for it and now am a little more reluctant to pull the trigger on an Omega without a little help on the minutiae.