How to buy a vintage watch

A Universal Genève Tri-Compax, one of the watches seen at Tempo Passado. Photo: IPR.

On Saturday, 28 November, Tempo Passado — the Vintage Watch Fair — returns to the Lisboa Jupiter Hotel for its 5th edition. The tables will hold watches that are 40, 60 or 100 years old, and almost none of them has reached us exactly as it left the factory. That is not the problem. The problem is not knowing what you are buying. This is IPR's guide to looking at an old watch before you pay for it.

Original, serviced or assembled?

A watch that has lived for half a century has been through services, knocks, broken crystals and worn crowns. Replacing parts is part of any watch's life. What matters to the buyer is knowing which parts were replaced, why and by whom.

• Original: dial, hands, case and movement are the ones it was born with, and they match each other.

• With service parts: during a service, the brand replaced the dial, hands or bezel with new parts. They are genuine but not original, and the watch is worth less than an original example.

• Redial: the dial has been repainted or reprinted by a third party. It should be good work, and it may make more sense for watches in frequent use than for historic watches worthy of auction.

• Relume: the luminous material on the dial or hands has been redone.

• Assembled («Frankenstein»): a watch built from parts of different examples and presented as if it had left the factory that way.

The line between an honest watch and a bad deal is almost always drawn in the description. A watch with a service dial, sold as such and at the right price, is a legitimate purchase. The same watch sold as «all original» is not.

A replaced part is not a flaw. A replaced part that is hidden is.

Not even the big auction houses are safe. In 2021, an Omega Speedmaster ref. 2915-1 sold at Phillips for CHF 3,115,500 and later turned out to be an assembly of Omega parts, as we reported in «An Omega Frankenstein, €3.2M later» (in Portuguese).

The dial: where most of the value lies

On a vintage watch, the dial is often the part that weighs most on the price. It is also the part most often repainted. Some warning signs:

• A perfect dial on a worn watch. Fifty years leave marks: if the case is tired and the dial looks new, ask why.

• Thick, misaligned or off-centre lettering, or text printed too close to the edge.

• A logo, typeface or text that does not match documented examples of the same reference.

• Luminous material on the hands with a colour or ageing different from the markers.

The markings at the bottom of the dial help to date it. Until the early 1960s, luminous paint was radium-based, and many dials simply say «Swiss». Tritium followed: in Switzerland, the «T» marking became mandatory from 1964, hence «T Swiss T» or «Swiss T<25». From the late 1990s, tritium gave way to non-radioactive materials such as Super-LumiNova, and the «T» disappeared.

These markings date the dial, not the watch. A 1950s watch with «T Swiss T» on the dial almost certainly has a later dial — often a service dial.

The marking at the bottom of the dial dates the dial, not the watch.

A practical warning: radium is radioactive. A dial like this must not be scraped, sanded or opened at home.

Pocket watches for sale at one of the stands at Tempo Passado 2023, in Lisbon. Photo: IPR.

Hands, case and crown

Hands are easy to swap, so they are among the parts most often not belonging to the watch. Compare their shape and length with documented examples: the minute hand should reach the minute track and the hour hand the markers.

On the case, look for polishing. A heavily polished case loses its sharp edges, its bevels and the shape of its lugs, and that wear cannot be undone. Check too that the reference and serial number, engraved where the brand used to engrave them, are legible and consistent with the model. On a gold watch, look for the hallmarks.

A replaced crown, crystal or bracelet is normal on an old watch and has little effect on value, as long as it is not presented as original.

An Edox Geoscope at Tempo Passado. Photo: IPR.

The movement

Ask to see the movement. Check that the calibre is the right one for the reference, that it is signed by the brand where it should be, and that there is no rust, no sign of moisture and no screws chewed by badly used screwdrivers.

Have the watch running in front of you. Wind it by hand and check that the crown turns without hard spots. Set the time and, if it has a date, advance it — but away from midnight, as explained in our guide to the clock change. On an automatic, move it gently and check that the rotor turns. On a chronograph, start, stop and reset it several times.

A watch that runs is not a serviced watch. A dirty movement with dried oils can run for weeks while it wears itself out inside.

Papers, boxes and archive extracts

The original box and papers add value, especially when the numbers match those of the watch. Always check that they do: papers and boxes are also bought and sold separately.

Several brands — among them Omega, Longines, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin — issue archive extracts based on the serial number. They usually state the reference, calibre, date and the country to which the watch was shipped. Conditions, prices and waiting times vary from brand to brand and should be checked on each brand's website.

An extract confirms that the number exists and what the factory recorded about it. It does not confirm that the dial, hands and case in front of you are the ones that left with that number. At Omega, for example, the date given is the date the complete watch was shipped, not the date it was made.

A Yema Worldtime at Tempo Passado. Photo: IPR.

Water resistance and servicing

A 1960s diver's watch is no longer water-resistant, whatever the dial says. Gaskets age, and the crystal and crown may have been replaced. Before taking it into the water, have it pressure-tested.

Add the cost of a service to the price. On many old watches it is unavoidable, and on calibres with discontinued parts it can take time, because parts have to be found or made.

The price of a vintage watch is what you pay the seller plus what you pay the watchmaker.

Who you buy from and what the law says

Before buying, compare with completed sales of the same reference in the same condition. A price far below the market is rarely luck.

There is a set of rules that must be followed when the sale is made by a professional. Between private individuals, this regime does not apply. We explained the rules in «Warranties in watchmaking — the essential legal framework».

A Hebdomas watch at Tempo Passado. Photo: IPR.

At Tempo Passado

Tempo Passado takes place on Saturday, 28 November, from 10 am to 6 pm, at the Lisboa Jupiter Hotel, Avenida da República, 46, in Lisbon.

It is open to companies and private individuals, for buying and selling old watches, parts and supplies, tools and other horological objects. Visitor tickets and seller registration are on the IPR website, and information about the fair is at www.tempopassado.pt.

Bring a loupe, ask questions and write down what the seller tells you. At a fair, the seller and the watch are right in front of you: it is the best moment to ask. For restorers, it is also a parts market — a period hand, crown or crystal may be waiting on one of the tables.

After the purchase

If you have already bought a watch, or are thinking of buying one, bring it to the IPR workshop. We provide a free estimate, listing the problems found and a proposed solution. On originality we only give an opinion: certification is not a service IPR provides.

Watches are received Monday to Friday, from 10 am to 12 noon and from 1.30 pm to 5 pm, at Rua Alfredo da Silva, 13B, in Lisbon.