BUYING EXPERIENCE: Omega Orbis Constellation Series Star Quartz Watch

123.15.24.60.03.001

Several years ago I was looking in Michael Jones window in Northampton and I spied a black dial Omega Constellation with stars on the dial and a diamond bezel. I duly reported this find to my wife, but IIRC the price tag was somewhere around the £5000 mark so this particular avenue remained unexplored. A few years later my wife came across a quartz version in a shop in Milton Keynes, she loved it but it was still around the £3000 mark and as it happened the bracelet had a nasty scratch in it which rather put her off the idea.

A couple of days ago she sent me an email with a link to the Watchfinder site, where she had found a pre-owned model in excellent condition for £1875. Unlike the one she tried on before this one had a stunning blue dial and I could tell she was revving herself up to buy it, but was hesitating slightly because in these uncertain times it's still a lot of money to be spending on a luxury item.

But because this was pretty much her grail watch, I thought she should definitely buy it as if she didn't and it sold to someone else, she would always regret it. So the next morning I emailed my previous contact at Watchfinder and asked if there was any movement available on the price. He fired back an email with a link offering me the watch for £1650, and that was decision well and truly made! A £225 discount just like that, gotta be worth asking the question.

As ever Watchfinder were on the ball and we received a phone call an hour or so later to our home address, double checking our information was correct, the watch was dispatched that day and arrived the next morning. Unfortunately it didn't have the original box and papers with it, but they did send it in a very nice 'Watchfinder' box, which is as good as any of the watch boxes I've ever had - so full marks there.

My wife hadn't realised that the watch didn't have a second hand until she got it, which is always slightly perturbing as it's hard to tell if it's working or not. I think that's probably a good thing though as less is definitely more on this one and I'm glad it doesn't have a date as it's unnecessary, especially on a star spattered 24mm dial (the larger 27mm version does actually have a date incidentally).

This particular model turned out to be a special edition for 'Orbis' eye doctors, with some of the sale proceeds going to fund their work. It's approximately six years old and is no longer available, but the original list price seems to have been around about £3500, so £1650 looks like an excellent price considering that it's only just out of warranty and looks mint (there is one very small scratch on the bracelet, but that's all).

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly an Omega fan, I visited one of the London boutiques last year and while it was a very nice experience and the staff could not have been more helpful, I found the watches unappealing and in the case of the Speedmaster particularly, incredibly underwhelming.

This watch is spectacular though, the blue dial is fantastic and the 18K white gold stars really sparkle against it. In fact I think it looks much nicer than the black dial did, so I'm glad she hung on for this one - even though it was more by accident than design.