Omega DeVille Co-Axial Chronoscope – A Great Watch That Depreciated Already In The Catalogue

Some collectors or watch afficionados will tell you that the only good Omega watches are vintage Omega watches. In my opinion, they do have a point in terms of looks and value. Vintage Omega watches are the rising stars on watch auctions and who doesn’t want to own a very early Speedmaster?

As for the modern Omega watches, a lot of eyebrows are being frowned, but the fact that Omega is stepping up the ladder can’t be denied. Creating their own in-house movements (again), making watches with complications and spending huge amounts of money on their marketing machine. They want to be – or perhaps are already – in the league where they wanted to be for a long time, stepped away from brands like Longines, Ebel, TAG Heuer (with all due respect) and so on.

Sadly, even with great watches like the one I found to be very interesting (see below), they still do not reach consumers like Omega want them to do. Their icon watches like the Speedmaster Professional and Seamaster Professional are top sellers (I’ve understood that the Constellation does very well in Asia) but the rest of their collection stays a bit behind… even the ProPlof seems hard to sell (nevertheless impressive).

For consumers, this means you can bargain a bit harder on these models than you can on the Seamaster Professional and Speedmaster Professional models. For instance, the in 1999 re-introduced DeVille Co-Axial models are very nice time pieces and some of them have great complications aboard. Like the one below, a Co-Axial Chronoscope (ref.4850.30.37). This watch retails for 4650 euro and comes with a great Piguet (caliber 1285) chronograph chronometer automatic movement with Co-Axial escapement. True, this movement seems to have had some problems in the past, but current (post-2006) models should be fine.

This watch has a great design, with a few nods to classic Omega designs from the 1950s. So, why come it doesn’t sell? Even authorized dealers are offering it for 1300 Euro off retail. There is nothing wrong with this watch, the look and feel (41mm) should be good to go for everyone and it has a renown brand name on the dial. The cheapest one I noticed on Chrono24 is 3250 euro, you get one hell of a watch for that money. Is the problem that 3250 euro will also get you a Speedmaster (either new or vintage)? You tell me.