Reply With QuoteA 190 is a watch I’d love to own. For me, if the price was right, I’d take a punt and have it serviced. If you don’t go ahead, would you pass me the sellers details?
Hi, I’ve developed an obsession of late with old(ish) Panerai watches from the late 90’s / early 2000’s and travelled down to London yesterday to meet a chap with a 190 Radiomir for sale. Lovely things with a JLC movement modified by Panerai to have a power reserve of 8 days. I’m sure many of you will be familiar with the model. Indeed, I decided to try to track one down based on some great photos and reviews made by members here over the years.
The one I saw yesterday had, according to the owner, been bought in Fulham in 2006 by himself and he’d worn it a handful of times before putting it back in its box and leaving it there for 17 years.
I loved the watch, tried it on, double checked the paperwork, everything was looking great until I unscrewed the crown to experience the buttery smooth winding action that this particular movement is famous for. As I turned the crown it made a bit of noise, however the second hand started moving and the PR indicator on the back of the watch also started creeping up. I guessed that it would need servicing and lubricating, actually I worried slightly that I shouldn’t have wound it given its long hibernation, but I wasn’t going to buy it without examining it carefully. I then tried to screw the crown back into the case at which point I heard - and felt - some pinging and grinding.
It didn’t feel right to either of us so the seller suggested we visit the Panerai store as we were quite near New Bond St. When we got there the watchmaker kindly had a look but said that it would need to be properly booked in and taken apart before he could pass any comment. I suppose that’s a reasonable response but it wasn’t hugely helpful in the moment!
My question is does anyone have any thoughts or experience of fiddling with old watches that have lain dormant for many years? Is this something quite common that could be very easily attended to by a watchmaker? Or is that just a stupid question because it could have been anything?
I do know that you can’t lubricate the crown stem on that particular movement, it would require replacing if there’s a problem with it, which puts me off buying the watch slightly as I doubt it would be an original part. The Panerai watchmaker told me that much.
The seller is also not prepared to get it serviced and then sell it to me so it could be an expensive punt on my part if I were to buy it and discover a bigger problem.
These 190’s don’t seem to come up for sale that often in the UK and the watch itself seemed in good cosmetic condition, had never been polished etc.
I’d be grateful for your thoughts.
Last edited by djman; 16th November 2023 at 09:35.
A 190 is a watch I’d love to own. For me, if the price was right, I’d take a punt and have it serviced. If you don’t go ahead, would you pass me the sellers details?
Yes, sure, happy to share if I don't go ahead.
It wasn't a completely wasted journey, I ended up buying this 232 while I was down there ...
It's a pity that the seller refused to think about servicing it. In his shoes, partly I'd think it was the honourable thing to do given that a very clear problem emerged during the intended sale, but partly I'd also think that I'm going to have this problem with the next buyer if this one passes.
Yes, I'd think the same, I certainly would have at least looked into getting it serviced, but for all I know he might now be planning to do exactly this, having had time to think about it. It’s also not up at a bargain price, far from it. In fact the seller put the price up quite considerably in between me organising to see him and actually meeting, a matter of a few days. Which I thought was a bit weird.
Anyway, perhaps I should just continue to look, or consider buying from abroad. It doesn’t take long to find a few nice looking ones on the internet, you’ve just got to factor in a 20% hike or thereabouts in import costs. There are also a couple of others in the UK right now from what I can make out.
Would it not be worth seeing if you can split the service cost.
Take it to an independent watchmaker.
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Honestly I think the seller is taking the P...., a watch that has problems, possibly won't be cheap to fix and puts the price up 😮
Keep looking and leave the chancer to sort out his own watch.
The hunt is half the fun 😁
The hunt is half the fun, definitely agree with that! Although finding an independent watchmaker and splitting the cost is also a really good suggestion. Thanks.
If the watch has a crown- related problem, which sounds likely, it needs to go to someone with access to Panerai parts, simple as that. Get a proper quote for the likely cost and try to work a deal around that with the seller. Otherwise look elsewhere.
Left the watch in a drawer for 17 years without winding it, increased the price after agreeing a meeting, doesn’t want to pay to get the watch put into the working condition that was assumed in the original, let alone increased, price. Not a serious seller, just ****ing about I’d say. Time on his hands and/or a game-player, doesn’t care if he sells the watch or not.
When you put it like that it doesn’t sound great I agree. I know he wants to sell it though, I just think he doesn’t know anything about watches and doesn’t seem to think that there’s anything demonstrably wrong with the watch because it still winds and holds power. I’m going to try to cut a deal with him given the cost of the impending service it’s very likely to undergo should I buy it.
For me if you like the watch and by the sound of it you do , I’d take this as a positive as everything is right it just needs a device and the owner isn’t prepare to spend on it for it to be serviced so this has got to be factored into the price .
You won’t necessarily need to get it serviced through Panerai ( I have no idea on the ££ ) and you’d like to think it wouldn’t be too serious and personally I’d go for it as long as the price is right .
The watch should be in full working order before selling end of.
Unless the seller is happy to reduce the price by an amount which would at the very least, cover a full service.Originally Posted by Lammylee
However I tend to agree with some of the above comments. From what we’ve heard the seller is already ringing alarm bells to me.
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The rule of thumb is if your going to buy an older watch factor in a service always.
Others who know better will be able to chime in, but I would have thought that a watch of this age post-dates the type of mineral-based lubricant that has any chance of thickening and gumming up, so the issue with the winding is going to be a mechanical problem, rather than one fixed by a mere clean and service.
And that lays you at the door of proprietary spares holding and policies.
Gotta be factored into the price, surely
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