I am a WIS.
I like LOVE watches. I go on holiday,lie on a beach & spend more time looking at mens wrists than the more curvey parts of the ladies.
I have VERY little interest in the movement. I don't care what finish is on the movement. I don't care who made it, for whom & who refinished it.
What counts for are the following.
- Omega, I decided quite early on that I would concentrate on Omegas. I could have quite easliy chosen Heuer or Seiko or Panerai etc.
- Optics, If I don't like the looks, I don't buy it.
- Features, I have more chronographs than others. Of the others most of them are divers.
- Purchase price. If I can't afford it, I'm not interested.
- Resale value. There are watches that I like, but I KNOW that if I bought them I'd take a big financial "hit" If I ever had to sell them.
- It must keep "reasonable" time. The last watch I had serviced for this reason was losing about 5 minutes a week. so lets say 1 minute a day is OK for me.
The fact that ALL ( possibly with the exception of a single Speedmaster Pro ) of my watches are vintage or thereabouts ( ie pre 1985 ), fits in with my criteria above.
There are literally thousands of Omegas available. I have selected a tiny tiny percentage of them & spend my money & time on them. I look for Info. I research. I buy books , leaflets, brochures etc etc on the watches that interest ME .
I don't care about advertising or marketing. I CAN'T say it doesn't influence me. It certainly DOES influence collectors & prices. eg. look at the PloProf, 1000M, SHOM seamaster & my recently posted "flightmaster" style 200m.
These are all Omega Dive watches from roughly the same period. these ALL have either a 1002 or 1010/1012 movement in them.
A typical price for a PloProf is currently $2000 upwards.
A typical price for a 1000M is currently $3500 upwards.
A typical price for a SHOM is currently $500 upwards ( the last one I saw sell fetched $1500 though ).
A typical price for a "flightmaster" style 200M is currently $400 upwards.
So..... what does the movement have to do with this . NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Rarity ? I's also say NOTHING, or at best, VERY LITTLE. Look in eBay now, you can find PloProfs, you can find quite a few... Now find me a SHOM seamaster. I bet you can't find a SHOM.
Or find a "flightmaster" style 200m, you'll be lucky to find one.
I reckon they come up for sale MUCH less frequently that PloProfs & fetch less than a quarter of the price.
MARKETING... We collectors ALSO do "marketing" we talk about watches, praise some , criticise others. WE influence the prices.
Another good example of this is the Speedmaster 1045 Moonwatch. This is currently fetching around $4000. ANY other 1045 movemented Speedmaster is less than a quarter of that.... why.... marketing. We, the collectros have talked the price of the "grail" up. It has NOTHING to do with the movement.
I have a couple of the 1045 movemented speedies, but just the case styles that I like. I don't have a TV dialed watch, & unless one comes my way VERY cheap, I won't buy one.
So, to get back to the original question... ( which also bores me to death )
I don't think I can improve on the ansers from John R & Ishrar. I am MORE than impressed with their arguements above. ( even if they don't apply to vintage watches )
As for the laughable comment about being able to "afford" a Rolex. PUUULEASE..... If I sold all my Omegas I could afford quite a few Rolex. How many Rolex do I have ? None. Do I like them ? Of course. would I like one ? Obviously , I'd LOVE to have a GMT II or Explorer II. Will I ever buy one ? Not as long as the prices are so high & I still have other Heuer's, Omegas, etc etc that I want.
I think most posts in this thread present a reasonable & balanced view of the world.
There will always be Omega "fans" who are just working their way "up" the ladder until they can afford a Rolex.
I wish them luck.
Finally, after this long ( & boring ? ) post, I'd like to add.
Every opinion here counts. I don't agree with some of them. Some people will not agree with mine. That is LIFE.
I'll finish with a quote from Abraham Lincoln, which sums up this whole Rolex/Omega situation.
"I don't like that man, I must get to know him better"
Maybe we should apply this to watches too ?
S. ( just my 2 cents worth, which has the same value as everyone elses here )
