Thoughts please? Vintage Diwen!

Dre · Nov 16, 2014

Hi fellas,

I'm quite interested on this watch, never heard the brand before but I found this a while back when I first started looking for vintage watch, and now the watch has come up for sale again from a different seller. This second seller seemed to be just copy pasted the photos and descriptions from the original seller, the description was that the was is basically almost NOS, has been in the vault of a watchmaker for all these years. The thing that questioned me is that the seller asking price is actually lower than the original price that he won from the first seller, I was the second bidder on the auction so I don't think that he would get any cheaper than the winning price.I really like the look of the watch and the asking price is about $700 and think that's a pretty good price if all the descriptions are true?

So without any further ado, here are some pics

I can't seem to find any reference or information on this watch, not even the year that watch was made. But what do you guys think of the authenticity of the watch as a whole? As I'm not interested on buying watch that the parts has been replaced, or even a re-dial because that's a big no no for me. So, please do share your opinions. Much appreciated!

Thanks

Andre

cristos71 · Nov 16, 2014

Looks quite attractive at first glance being boxed, having multi coloured scales and also the attractive darkened ( maybe blued ) chronograph seconds hand. Movement is a Landeron 248 which is decent, pretty reliable and serviceable if there are any issues.

When looking a bit closer though I see re-filled hands and a case that doesn´t look anything like it has been in a safe for 40 years and is certainly not NOS. In fact it looks to have been polished quite heavily. I also note that the back case states `stainless steel back base metal`, I can only assume it is describing the front part of the case, so that is also something to think about.

Diwen is not a brand I have ever heard of, that does not make it rare, that just means that it is probably one of countless `Chronograph Suisse` brands from this period who bought in cases, movements, hands and dials and then marked them with a name and sold them through department stores and jewellers in the 60´s and early 70´s.

As for the price, maybe I am tight but I would like it a lot better at $250-300,or if in 18kt, $600-700.

I would avoid at this price and in this condition.

Dre · Nov 17, 2014

cristos71
Looks quite attractive at first glance being boxed, having multi coloured scales and also the attractive darkened ( maybe blued ) chronograph seconds hand. Movement is a Landeron 248 which is decent, pretty reliable and serviceable if there are any issues.

When looking a bit closer though I see re-filled hands and a case that doesn´t look anything like it has been in a safe for 40 years and is certainly not NOS. In fact it looks to have been polished quite heavily. I also note that the back case states `stainless steel back base metal`, I can only assume it is describing the front part of the case, so that is also something to think about.

Diwen is not a brand I have ever heard of, that does not make it rare, that just means that it is probably one of countless `Chronograph Suisse` brands from this period who bought in cases, movements, hands and dials and then marked them with a name and sold them through department stores and jewellers in the 60´s and early 70´s.

As for the price, maybe I am tight but I would like it a lot better at $250-300,or if in 18kt, $600-700.

I would avoid at this price and in this condition.

Hey matey,

Thanks heaps for your reply, lucky I didn't win the auction on this watch last time! This was the first vintage watch auction that I have in my watch list in ebay at that time as I was very newbie and the seller description seems to be pretty believable. I was a little bit suspicious about the case as well because it doesn't look like a crisp case with sharp edges that hasn't been polished but I can't really tell 100% as I'm still learning to see some defects on vintage watches. Definitely will avoid this watch then! Cheers!