Everything gets magnified at least 10X (maybe or more). Prospective buyers reap the benefit(or not) as a dent smaller than a pin head gets blown up, etc. Flaws hidden(not intentional) from the human eye surface. A good specimen can be a mediocre one. IMO only pieces straight out of factory can be free from all these flaws (not even sure about that).
If I like a piece, I won't mind the imperfection (and this is my problem since I don't think about future sale) which to a lot would be foolish. Exceptions for me re macro shots is the dial. With this kind of shots, you can distinguish whether if a dial has been refinished. I am not a bad looking guy but with a macro shot given to my wife before I met her, she would never agree to have met me. Thanks as I am rambling here but I hope my point comes across. Thanks.

 

I hear you, yet I still want to see the macro shots of the case. I think most here are aware of what 'typical wear and tear' looks like when magnified a lot.

 

My girlfriend (my wife of 53 years) had heard about me from a mutual friend for over a year before we finally met. I keep reminding her that you should believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see. But she musta believed what she heard. Poor thing!

 

Ya...poor thing.

I ain’t exactly a good looking dude and my personality ain’t exactly too good either...so I utilized “pester technology” regarding MacGyverette [the wife unit] over 25 years ago. Over a period of a year, I kept pestering her to go out with me...she always said “no” [actually “hell no”]...but I kept utilizing “pester technology”...and finally, after being totally beat down from a year’s worth of “pester technology”, she said “OK”.

“OK” is good enough...and “pester technology” is fabulous.

Poor thing.



LATE ENTRY: In this context, “pester technology” was asking MacGyverette out every day, 7 days a week, for 52 weeks...that’s 365 “shoot downs” and then a weary “OK”. See how “pester technology” works? You gotta wear them down until they’re just plain stupid...and you might have to wear them down even more until they’re stupider. Wearing them down to more stupider is historically ideal and will almost always get the job done.

 

Yes, very true.... but if you were selling it 'face to face' the bloke wouldn't say "can I see some fuzzy pictures?"

He would have it up to the light, with his face muscles wrapped around a zillionX loupe!

Nothing hidden then! ........He'll be telling you about every 'fakkin' scratch!

 

So either she says yes or takes a restraining order out...

 

I was selling a 1960's Constellation to a guy once and we had agreed a price based on my pretty good pictures and made an appointment in a small local cafe to complete the transaction.

We sat, I gave him the Connie to inspect and as I ordered us coffee he pulled a large microscope complete with side mounted spotlighting out of his backpack and proceeded to set it up on table where we were sitting.

Talk about OTT! Anyway, under super extreme magnification he started moaning about some microscopic speckles on the dial and wanted some extra discount. Well let's just say in my most diplomatic northern English manner I put him right and he ended up paying the agreed price.

My point here is some people (buyers) will never be happy and will always try to find a 'fault with a vintage watch. It's up to the seller to know what he's selling and set a fair price based on condition

 

I have been happily surprised several times in recent years when a vintage watch I have bought - whose macro photos revealed every microscopic scratch - actually looked pretty fabulous in the hand. Sometimes nasty bits in images just wipe off the surface. I am surprised that some photographers don't carefully wipe a watch over with a spectacle lens cloth or soft silver cloth before they take their shots.

 

I think serious collectors appreciate the macro shots with all the fine detail of every dent and scratch. I always feel more confident bidding on a honest vintage piece with realistic wear and tear than on pieces that look better with fuzzy photos.

 

I always want macro shots personally! Though I do understand how hard they are to take