I am considering buying this 12298 from a local contact. I know the chronograph hand is missing and I suspect the subdials ones are not original. Are you seeing anything that I should avoid ? Price is fair in my opinion (3k€).
Thanks for you views!

 

The moon disk is a replacement most likely. Hour counter hand is wrong, no chrono hand, h/m hands are wrong, dial is horrible, movement pic is terrible (inconclusive) , we see no caseback pics... save your cash for a better watch. Buying this is the equivalent, of standing on a rooftop and tossing your cash into the breeze.

 

Supplemental to my previous note. Please do some reading here. Get yourself a copy of Sala. The very fact that you even considered this watch tells me you are far from ready to dive into the UG pool. 3k may sound “reasonable” but it’s still a lot of money. Garbage is Garbage.

 

Chill down please. That is a bit stronger than expected.

I do have sala, i did some research, I have many UGs.
I was not asking you if you would accept me in the UG pool. Your comment is very condescending and unjustified.
I was just asking for opinion about the watch, not judgment. Make the difference please. So I’ll take your advice about the watch (thank you) but the rest is really unfriendly.

 

Just trying to save you some cash. The pool is the UG pool not OF.

 

It's that kind of advice that I come here for. I.e. run away. We're all adults here - take the advice on the chin.

I am not offering any further advice on the quality of the piece here, merely that for that amount of money wait or get a different watch. I think, having made that mistake in the past, you're better off not having one at all than having one in such awful condition.

I can highly highly recommend the following video.

 

It's alway better to receive a condescending comment than a bad watch.

Conditions is the word, whatever is the pool you are going to.

 

This is really interesting. His "forward guidance" back in 2019 was way off. Otherwise, this is 1:45 well spent (recommend playback at 1.25x speed). Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if there's a market for a website to crowdsource condition assessments. As we've seen in this thread, it can get a bit personal. How about a site that's a cross between Hot or Not and Instagram - rather than simply a "Like" you rate it on a couple of scales like condition, correctness, originality. Something like Reddit's scoring (karma) system could weight experienced users evaluations. Shall I build it?

 

I’ve been thinking about this, A LOT. the difficulty with watches is that it’s not like mailing it off to PSA and having the card sealed. It’s really quite messy. You can have a watch “verified” and then the seller just switches it out and sends a different one...

But I do like the idea!

 

So true !

 

In my opinion, that is too harsh.

 

We get a lot of query’s here and on PM. Sometimes the posters seem hell bent on burning money no matter what we say. Sometimes the posters have already bought the watch. Sometimes they are “dealers” looking for free appraisals. Folks get admonished to “ learn how to fish” here on OF all the time. The trigger for me here was “reasonable”. Then the OP says he’s got Sala and other UG watches . This said, perhaps my response was a tad caustic.

 

Sometimes you need the caustic response to really shake the buyer's head and emphasize the mistake he is going to make.

 

When I evaluate a watch, I try to be very specific about the issues. Scales of any kind are less informative by themselves.

 

I wonder if there's a market for a websi

the scale doesn’t have to be numeric. A seasoned collector such as yourself can place a piece on a spectrum from total dog shit at one end to glorious NOS at the other. The average of a thousand similar ratings would reflect “market consensus” on that dial, or those hands, or that case, logo, engravings etc. That would be helpful to know, and without all the half cocked comments from berks like me, who want to look knowledgeable but know squat

 

@Larry S was right - on these pics this watch is a waste of money. Also bear in mind it may well need a lot of service money piled into it. Better to spend $7k on a good one than $3k on that will need $3k to get right. And it will be a PITA to get the correct parts, and may still look like a dog’s breakfast.

 

""olivierw said: Are you seeing anything that I should avoid ? Price is fair in my opinion (3k€).""

OP it seems you have certainly hit the hard scrabble on this one--I think a few of the comments are unnecessarily harsh ,perhaps
economically unreasonable and maybe not absolutely in your best interest-not everyone can squirt out $10 - 20k for a
pristine example of a watch they would like to own..

I believe the ref 12298 is an 18k gold cased tri-compax; this is good as solid gold cases can be cleaned up nicely as opposed
to gold filled cases, stainless is also a great choice for cases but wears more casual. It would have also been
good to include the serial number ? as some characteristics are defined best within a time frame such as the moonface (which in my opinion) cannot be seen clearly enough to conclude anything, as well as appropriate hands, chrono hand colors. The dial appears original to me as do the hour/min hands it is difficult to assess condition without the crystal being removed; Sure the hour recorder hand is incorrect-easy fix, no chrono sweep hand a bit more difficult, typically very long post-hard to find. You do not indicate if the movement operates correctly; it has obviously seen some prior repairs or adjustments but the eccentric screws appear to be in great shape which is unusual for a chronograph with some miles on it. Whether the watch runs and operates correctly is the balance of the value proposition.

So you have an tri in a pink 18k case with an original dial in what looks like acceptable condition and mostly correct parts; if it is operating correctly and keeping time @3000E not junk and not a bad deal IMHO--I see tri movements with the calendar plate completely missing selling for 1500-2000$; junk cases for 800-1000$ or more Some members here have referenced parts watches running in the 3000$ range.

Yeah-it ain't perfect and it will never be a home run hitter; but I think the watch would clean up, wear nicely and scratch your itch for a tri (a wonderfully complicated watch with great vintage legacy). While certainly the "buy the best/leave the rest axiom" difficult to argue against; it's also OK to believe a vintage watch should reflect some "vintage" and in a Tri's case offer it's owner an opportunity to appreciate all its' mechanical allure.

For those members of the pristine club I offer one additional consideration:
@ https://www.forbes.com/sites/hylaba...-for-a-wristwatch-at-auction/?sh=a1ca12c5313f Condition/Condition/

 

Nice idea. Also, I guess people are not always considering top condition watches

Thank you for this balanced analysis. Very interesting !

 

I don't mind a bit of a bruising in exchange for free knowledge from years of experience.

I can't imagine how many watches you've commented on or how many people you've helped over the years. I am one of those you've helped and still appreciate it.