I am in search of a bit of advice in the world UG. I have only bought vintage Seiko and one omega. I love vintage but always makes me hesitant to just buy anything online.

 

Um...do you like drinking from Niagara Falls?

 

UG ... Deep end of the pool. No going back after first exposure.

 

So I understand lol
The polerouter is seducing me

 

Lots of threads on this forum about Polerouters. The search tool is your friend.
One of the better threads is here:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/pol...-a-brief-survey-with-some-observations.35888/
also
https://omegaforums.net/threads/post-your-universal-geneves.40710/

 

No easy way tbh. Set up alerts on watchrecon, check this forum's classifieds often, ask questsions. This community is amazing, and I've bought two great UGs from the memebrs here!

 

I am hugely inexperienced outside of Seiko and do not have budget for mistakes. So I am in no rush to make the deal. It's hard to get on here often as I am very busy, but yes the wealth of knowledge is very vast here.

 

Ug is one of my favorite brands, I happen to own and have owned several of their pieces. Once you acquire one, there's no going back.

Prices are all over the place pending if you're sourcing from dealers or 3rd party collectors. Dealers are trying to pump prices on these up towards Rolex datejust money and it's just not where the market sits. Value depends on a couple things: condition, size, originality of parts (crown dial acrylic etc), and case material. Broad hand early poles are higher in price, large 36 mm cases are a bit higher than the 34-35 mm brothers. There are lots of little things that determine the value.

So, I'd recommend posting the reference you are interested in and letting us help a bit! Best of luck!

Below one from my "will actually wear pile": 36 mm unpolished, brevet signed pole date with stardust dial. My "summer pole".

 

I'm in the "can't figure out the value camp" too.




Bought mine at a reasonable price, but it has issues - wrong crystal and seconds hand as well as microscopic scratches on the dial and oxidised hour/minute hands - and prices seem to be all over the place. I can't decide whether or not it should be a permanent member of my collection or if it should be sold off and will probably continue not knowing what to do with it for a while

 

In my opinion it all boils down to condition, make sure what ever you buy is in decent condition.

I make sure the following conditions are met before buying; unpolished case, the serial number being visible, the dial being original *you really need to be careful of the redials*, make sure the seconds hand does not overlap the tension ring if it has one(you may need a few picture to properly identify that), if it has a date disc make sure it's the right one (the best number to look at is the 6 or 9 look at the 9 in @ARP488 s post)
Bonuses are; crystals with the U logo intact and original bracelets (bracelets are almost equal to the price of the watch)

Most important use common sense!!!

 

The problem with common sense is that it isn't always as common as one might hope .

 

Who cares about the crystal!!!

 

Ditto to that! since sourcing the correct one seems to be near impossible unless you buy another for parts...

For me personally I'm going to be on the hunt for a signed crown once my first one arrives...