What Aaron Rich, head of watches at Sotheby's in New York, looks for in a vintage watch:
The papers: Ask for the certificate of origin to guarantee you're buying a genuine piece.
Wear and tear: Scratches are good, sort of. Marks on the side of and underneath a watch's case show that it hasn't been polished or brushed, which reduces value by 20% to 40%.
Stamps: Some manufacturers stamp their seal or mark gold content on a case's underside. You can see these with a loupe.
Monograms: On a modern watch, initials take away a lot of value. But for watches more than 50 years old, when monogramming was popular, Rich says it's almost irrelevant.
Bands: "Never, never turn down a watch because of its band," says Rich. An original helps pull top dollar, but a replacement affects value less than other factors.
Dials: Use a loupe to inspect it. Many dials are made with some silver, which naturally tarnishes from water and polluted air. So an older watch should have dirty spots.
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