Good afternoon:

I purchased (private deal) a couple of Hamilton watches (946 and 992B) with some guidance from Lindell and Tony Dukes. Thanks guys. I am posting this to stimulate some discussion about assessing watches. With lower grade watches I’m not so concerned, but when the price is tied to a higher grade watch, I often need extra confidence to proceed. Lindell has helped me through a couple of purchases now, and his insight has been very useful and appreciated. There are soooooo many things that impact the value of a watch, so I will tell you my buying decision process and you can offer your opinions and additions to the list in the hope that we all learn useful techniques when assessing a watch. I will try to keep this short….

1)Take your time and look the watch over well. Make a mental list of the items that you always inspect. You will notice something else each time you look.
a.Dial condition. As Samie mentioned in another post, have aloupe handy. The naked eye misses a lot of detail.
b. Movement condition
c. Components "appear" to match
d. Case condition and originality (dents, scratches, hinges, etc…)

2) If possible have a price book handy

3) If you are going to research the watch further before deciding whether to purchase, get the serial number. Sounds obvious, but I have forgot

4) Mentally tie the case and movement together. If it is a railroad grade movement, is it a railroad grade case from the same era? Look for additional screw marks on the case to see for evidence of a previous movement.

5) Know how to assess the authenticity of a solid gold case to give you a comfort level enough to proceed with the purchase; especially if an advertised “solid gold” case is adding a premium to the price.

6) Look for other unique characteristics that will add or detract from the value.

7) Have an informed idea of what the case, dial and movement are worth as a set and individually.

8) If you have time, contact one of the experts through the 185 board. In my experience, they are always happy to help you learn.

9) (Ed Ueberall) Put a couple of turns on the mainspring and listen to the watch run. Familiarize yourself with what a clean, properly set up movement (in each size, as they are a little different) sounds like. If the balance doesn't have a healthy ampliture, if the "ticks" and "tocks" don't sound evenly spaced or if you hear rubbing or scraping noises, figure that there may be more involved than a routine cleaning and overhaul.

10)(Ed Ueberall) Look at the hairspring with a loupe while it is running. Each coil should "breathe" evenly as the balance wheel rotates. If the coils don't move in and out in unison, there is a hairspring problem.

11)(Ed Ueberall) Check the winding and setting mechanisms. If either is non-functioning, replacement parts may be hard to find and will certainly be expensive.

gp

Excellent points,
Let me add a couple more;
Put a couple of turns on the mainspring and listen to the watch run. Familiarize yourself with what a clean, properly set up movement (in each size, as they are a little different) sounds like. If the balance doesn't have a healthy ampliture, if the "ticks" and "tocks" don't sound evenly spaced or if you hear rubbing or scraping noises, figure that there may be more involved than a routine cleaning and overhaul.
Look at the hairspring with a loupe while it is running. Each coil should "breathe" evenly as the balance wheel rotates. If the coils don't move in and out in unison, there is a hairspring problem.

Check the winding and setting mechanisms. If either is non-functioning, replacement parts may be hard to find and will certainly be expensive.

Thanks for the input Ed. I have added your 3 to the list above.
best regards,
gp

As Ed said in his post check the balance out good,,learn what a balance in good condition should look like ,,the balance is the heart of a good watch ..

i have a Ball watch on my bench now that runs and a lot of people would say it,s okay ((but)the balance has just enough swing to run ..you could sale this to someone who was new at watch collecting and they would think it be okay ...The problem is the hairspring..The watch will gain 30 minutes in 24 hours..

Not a specific ... but something I feel is important is recognizing and judging the condition of a watch beyond the superficial appearance.

At one end of the spectrum is the watch which has sat neglected for years (if not decades), and has some surface dirt and grime on the dial and movement but the underlying condition is excellent. This is often the case with watches that come from non-collector sources ... i.e. a family piece that has sat in a dresser drawer for several generations.

At the other end is the watch with serious condition flaws, but that has been made to appear shiny and clean. This would include watches with refinished dials or those with dials having multiple hairlines that have been thoroughly cleaned, gold filled cases worn through to the base-metal but polished to a near uniform shiny appearance, and similarly motivated movement alterations.

Fred