zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

:

: just wondering how conditions of the watches
: Posted By: e.csn Date: 12/20/07 04:13:21
: GMT

: In Response To: Grail Prices - The latest
: update (Pascal S)

: differ in your charts, one could expect that
: those sold in omegamania are somewhat
: superior in that important aspect, and added
: to that should be a premium for having
: manufacturer's guarantee for them.

: Exceelent work and great idea in
: painstakingly gathering the infos and
: charting. Thank for you generous sharing.
: Just an observation and reminder...

: I have archived many interesting auctions on my
: website for reference and comparision:

:
: http://home.xnet.com/~cmaddox/omega/archives/auctions/

: If anyone wishes me to archive any particular
: auction for future reference, email me and
: I'll add a folder and an archive. You're
: absolutely right, Condition and Particulars
: greatly effect the worth of an item and the
: price it's likely to fetch at auction. The
: Archive is an attempt to preserve
: information on these elements for future
: reference and consideration/reflection.

: Cheers! -- Chuck
: Chuck Maddox

: Chronographs, like most finer things
: in life, only improve with time...
: Watch Article index :
: http://www.xnet.com/~cmaddox/cm3articles.html
: , Watch Links Page :
: http://www.xnet.com/~cmaddox/watch.html ,
: Watch Blog :
: http://chuckmaddoxwatch.blogspot.com/ .

:

One other observation:

Omegamania was very, very different than the typical Antiquorum auction. I didn't realize just how different until recently.

I attended an Omegamania viewing, and the watches were almost all in outstanding condition -- like you dream about finding. The were all restored by Omega in Bienne and came with a two year warranty. (Yes, I know about the watches with questionable heritage. But even those were in beautiful condition!)

I attended a viewing of a typical Antiquorum auction earlier this month. The difference was shocking to my uniformed eyes.

Some watches were not running, most had a recommendation that they be overhauled, many were scratched and worn -- and none had a warranty of any sort. My comments on the condition included watches with estimates over $100,000 . . . . .

Antiquorum makes no representation other than their evaluation of a watch, which they represent was the condition at the time of publishing their catalog. However, you buy in the condition at the time of dropping at the hammer, which may be different . . . . so if its not working when you get it, it is your problem.

While this does not explain all of the excessive prices at Omegamania, it does explain some of them.