Australia has one of the best watch markets at the moment, down at Shuck (my brothers bar and restaurant on the Gold Coast) you'll see 18K Rolex Daytonas, Submariners, GMT masters, Day-Dates, AP Royal Oaks, Pateks, Panerais and more, that's on Tedder Ave which is a bit like Rodeo Drive in California but even in the general community our economy's strong, unemployment is low and the mineral sector is booming, this is the place to sell watches (and I have several)

 

Really only have access to the online market and there for vintage omegas it is strong. I would say up 20-30% in the last 2-3 years or so.

 

When I read this, I get the impression that Littleroger and MSNWatch are fishing at different ends of the same pond.

From what I can see, the market is very strong for relatively rare or popular watches in excellent condition. The reasons for this are farily obvious -- decent demand and very small supply.

On the other hand, I think the market is quite soft on problem watches. Watches of less desireable brands, better brand watches with condition issues and frankenwatches aren't selling well. I suspect a lot the watches in those dealers' cases fall into in this category. Also, the volatility in the gold market can sometimes keep deals from happening as dealers always have scrapping watch cases as an option.

eBay, and to a lesser extent, PayPal are market levelers (to coin a phrase), as they facilitate cross border transactions. Generally, these transactions are completed without VAT or sales taxes that can add up to 25% onto face-to-face deals. Also, customs laws are rarely enforced on transactions done through the mail here in the USA. In that sense, eBay is almost like going to a duty-free store. Over the last 10 years, I've seen eBay go from a bargain hunters paradise to a more-or-less full retail marketplace. A very good place to see the real value of watches, or any other collectible.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the results from the major auction houses. My feeling is that these auctions contain either very esoteric items that sell at outside normal prices to very specialized collectors, or are subject to other outside forces (OmegaMania).

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa

 

Yep, I need to git me some of that high end gear needed to catch the big ones.

New this season from the history channel, "Wicked Watches", worlds most dangerous profession.

Or fools that have more money then brains and think that if it sold at a high end house that is all the provenance they need.

 

Again speaking about vintage omegas the premium pieces will always be sought after and as gator pointed out they are in short supply to begin with. But the key here is condition - even the common omega watches - the stainless steel mid-60s piepan connies are the perfect example - if in good shape will always fetch a premium price even if they were plentiful in numbers to begin with. Same can be said for date and non-date 1950s seamasters and non-chronometer 30mm manual winds - if the condition is very good to excellent and it is original, the price will be good.

 

Considering how many millions of watches Omega made during that era its actually pretty impressive that they're worth this sort of money at all given the survival rates and original starting number.

 

I think there's still room to run for the nice original pieces and these are still uncommon. Speaking for myself, for every 5,000 vintage omegas that go up on ebay, I am seriously interested in perhaps 1 or at most 2 to buy and perhaps 5-6 to follow in order to learn how much they go for. The fact many many more sell speaks to the broad following these watches have and growing by leaps and bounds especially in Asia.

 

Well at this point most people have been totally priced out of the vintage Rolex market, and especially in the dress watch segment, there are sellers flogging Ref 1803 Day-Dates on straps, that have "not been timed" (in other words we timed it and its pretty stuffed), that have been polished to death and are well and truly shagged out like this sorry case:



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolex-Presi...909105714?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item19d2b2a632Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

For $4,200, which is considerably more than Cicindela paid for this piece:




And given the pricing of current Omegas is now back on parity for Rolex, I think people could just be noticing that the crown in the dial isn't a justification for buying junk at that price point when there are much better alternatives. I'm going to call it a market correction.

 

Agreed - as the modern day omega brand goes up in prestige and value so goes the vintage counterparts.

 

Longines is really something else altogether, they were a duty free store brand sitting along side Raymond Weil and Victorinox a few years ago, now they have column-wheel chronographs and calendars like this: http://www.longines.com/watches/the-longines-master-collection/L2.739.4.71.3

Its a massive turnaround in their market segment