zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

>> Do personalized engravings devalue a watch to a collector?

>> Did Omega sell cheap watches for personalization?

<<< The answer to the first question, as Jim has addressed, is generally yes. Collectors favor the pristine and unaltered and the closer to original condition the better. Engravings and personalization are examples of alteration.

There are "extremes" at which this general assumption will be incorrect. Two examples come to mind.

1) "Too untouched and pristine" -- Within the last two years a completely untouched and unworn 1940s 30mm calibre Omega, much favored by collectors, with the stickers from the factory intact, with original box and tags, came up for auction. It brought less than a similar watch which had been worn would bring. I assume the difference was that fewer collectors are interested in a watch that couldn't be worn versus one that could.

2) "Notable personalization" -- A couple of years ago a watch which was given to Marlon Brando by Eva Gabor and identifiably engraved was sold first on Ebay and then at auction. It sold at a premium.

<<< Omega did not sell a different class of watches for personalization and I have not seen any correlation between engraved watches and fakes. However, they did on occasion produce for (generally very) large companies watches with the company's logo on the dial, for use as award watches. These seemed to be most common in the late 1950s and 1960s. This form of personalization also generally detracts somewhat from the value of the watch.

As an aside, it is amazing how few of these companies still exist today . . . .

If there is an engraving on the back side of the watch, who is going to know it unless you show it to them? Generally, I would advise you to leave the engraving intact. The only thing that devalues a watch more than an engraving is for it to have been overbuffed and all of the original detail lost from the caseback -- which is usually what happens when you obscure an engraving.

I don't seek out engraved watches, but I don't avoid them either.

This striking 1953 Seamaster Chronometer was sold in the US as the "Ultima" and in the rest of the world as the "Deluxe". In 18k gold, in an era just as the top of the line Constellation arrived (introduced in 1952 and always chronometers), this was one of the best Omegas available.

Turn it over:

Doesn't bother me a bit -- how about you?