Advice needed on older oyster

[gcohbill]

I have an opportunity to aquire an older ladies dateless oyster perpetual in SS. It is missing the band but otherwise appears OK, and seems to keep time. It is a Plain Jane with no diamonds or anything like that. I didn't get the serial no yet but expect it to be genuine from the 1970's. Are there pitfalls I should be looking for as far as cleaning it up for my wife to have a "vintage" rolex? What would one expect to pay for a "restorable" watch? Any advice appreciated!

[llamaofdoom]

Originally Posted by gcohbill

I have an opportunity to aquire an older ladies dateless oyster perpetual in SS. It is missing the band but otherwise appears OK, and seems to keep time. It is a Plain Jane with no diamonds or anything like that. I didn't get the serial no yet but expect it to be genuine from the 1970's. Are there pitfalls I should be looking for as far as cleaning it up for my wife to have a "vintage" rolex? What would one expect to pay for a "restorable" watch? Any advice appreciated!

The problem with buying a "restorable" watch for the general public is that you really don't have a good way of knowing the internal condition of the watch. Without listening to the movement, feeling the way it winds, etc., it's hard to assess whether or not their may be issues....and even then, it's preferable to visually inspect the movement for wear.

Rather than tackle something like that, I recommend that you find a clean used watch from a reputable seller and pay a bit more...the 70s Oyster Perpetuals are not collectible, nor very popular, due to the lack of a date...so you should be able to find a very good deal on one. For something from the 90s, you would be at $1,700-2,100 retail...go back to the 70s, and you'll be around $1,300-1,600. And those prices assume the piece will have a proper and decent bracelet.

A great deal can go very wrong when you're dealing with a watch that old and don't know how to assess the general condition of the watch and the overall cost of repair/restoration.

All that having been said - $500-600, depending on the condition, sans bracelet would be a decent buy...provided the movement sounded good, felt good, no evidence of corrosion on inner ring, no discoloration of dial, etc. etc....

[Wolfgang427]

Welcome. If the price is right buy it. The lady DJ is a great watch and the bracelet is no problem in finding one. If you can't let me know and I can get you one cheap.

[abigsecret]

I wouldn't if I was you, buy a lady's watch from the 70's...
They have the 2030(35) movement, and that one sucks!
It can never keep good time, and parts are expected to discontinue in the near future, which will make the watch unserviceable (is that a word??) well, you get the point.
Just my 0.02

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Welcome to TRF!

Please post a pic of the lady Rolex so that we can better judge what you have been offered!