zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

The Omegamania watches are in eBay !!!! Posted By: SteveW62

Date: 4/6/07 18:09 GMT

Hi Guys,

Sorry that I've been a bit quiet for the last couple of weeks, but I was working away from home & had limited internet access.

Hopefully I've been able to keep things reasonably sane in your "covert" moments. Hopefully I've been active enough to provide reason to visit.

I've just started to catch up on some "Older" E-mails & found an eBay search that seemed to show a watch using a picture from the upcoming Omegamania auction.

Here's an example auction.

I find this quite interesting. sinc ethe Auction is actually being held by Antiquorum, who have BANNED all mention of eBay on their forums.... ( not like us... postaway here guys :-)

It says rather a lot ( a little ) about Antiquorum, that they have to resort to "advertising" THEIR auctions on their main competitors website.... I actually find that a complete joke :-)

If you decide to bid via eBay please notice these couple of small points on the auctions....

All values, while posted as being in AUD, should be considered Swiss Francs. Example: $125 AUD bid will be accepted as 125 Swiss Francs If you are a winning bidder for any lot(s) in this auction you will be billed in Swiss Francs

Yes, it seems that Antiquorum has chosen AUD because it's value on the international currency market is nearly identical to Swiss Francs. Apparently there is an issue with using Swiss Francs or with the Swiss version of eBay (is there a Swiss flavor? I don't know)...

&

Buyer's Premium

AUD 0 - AUD 100000 = + 22.5 %

AUD 100001 + = +19.5 %

So, you won't be bidding in the listed currency & IF you win, you'll have to add about 20%

Unless you're spending BIG money you'll be adding 22.5% on the top and if you are spending big money, you'll be spending an additional 19.5% BEFORE Customs!

( + import duties ? ) to the end price...

This could be very costly if one were to bid and win.

It'll be interesting to see what the end prices are.

What I've found interesting is that the low end of the "expected end range" has been input into these auctions as the starting bid [essentially it's a reserve price as well as a starting bid]. It's been my experience that the most active [and frankly most exciting] auctions on eBay are those which start at $1 (or 1euro, £1, etc.) and then proceed from there, perhaps with an unknown reserve or no reserve. So, folks can start now, working up a spreadsheet to convert the actual SwissFr/Aussie$ amount, do an auto fill for price amounts say every $5 or 5SwFr, and have the spreadsheet calculate the Antiquorum premium.

I'd love for someone to develop such a spreadsheet and perhaps a spreadsheet to track what items are selling for) and post it for public use.

I personally do not plan to be doing much [if any] bidding. As nice as the pieces are, I am assuming they will be too pricey for me to be able to offer much if any competition, and frankly I'd rather not drive the price up for other collectors.

But it will be interesting to watch.

As for predictions... I guess I can see a lot of different things happening. Some of the initial bids for items will be [especially after the Anti. Premium near or above records for similar pieces offered for sale elsewhere and on eBay. Possibility 1: includes some or many items either going for the initial bid or there being no bid. This might have an effect of lowering the street price on items afterwards.

Possibility 2: Some/many items may go for around the current going rate for similar items on Sales Corners, webEtailers, eBay and the like. This would seem to have little effect on the street price of items offered elsewhere.

Possibility 3: Some/many items go high and match if not break existing records for similar examples. At this point the non-Antiquorum street prices for items offered elsewhere may be effected. Sellers may get the idea that: “Hey! if Antiquorum can get $2,500 for a Mark II Pro, why shouldn't I ask that much?”. The key point here is that there will be upward pressure on the street price, even though the items being offered elsewhere won't have the Omega warrantee, and may not be in the condition that the Antiquorum pieces are in.

and then there is...

Possibility #4: In this scenario, some/many items explode upwards through the roof and obliterate existing records for specific models. For example, the current record for a 376.0822 "Grail" Speedmaster c.1045 Day/Date Automatic is about $5,400. In this scenario the example that Antiquorum is auctioning off goes for say $8,000 or $10,000 or even more, despite the fact that the example they are selling has the WRONG dial! One of the end results of this scenario is that values of similar examples would experience a similar jump in street value. The good news is that if you own one, it's value has jumped greatly, the bad news is if you're still looking for one, you are going to have to pay a lot more for it. This is clearly Omega's hoped for outcome and wish. Omega would love to see vintage Speedmasters fetch prices similar to vintage Rolex Daytona's, that way they can charge more for current models. If this scenario comes to pass there will be a "ripple" or even a "Trickle-down" effect where similar watches, like Tissot's and Longines, will also experience a bump in street value. Already, a Tissot PR516 (same model as I bought 4 years ago for $362 on a bracelet) went for OVER $1000 on a strap on eBay. If this scenario happens, expect to see more of this in other brands too. It doesn't take a Nobel Prize in Economics to guess if Speedmasters jump in Street price, Tissot's and Bucherer's will too.

[my Tissot PR 516 for comparison...]

It'll be interesting to watch. I hope that I and many other collectors aren't priced out of the market in the fallout from the Antiquorum/Omegamania auctions.

Good Hunting!

-- Chuck

Chuck Maddox

Chronographs, like most finer things in life, only improve with time...

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