Buying vintage Mido Ocean Star Commander

[Oldheritage]

Hello,

Lately I find myself rather smitten with the Mido Ocean Star Commander. Unfortunately, in my country Mido's are about as rare as hen's teeth, so I'll have to shop abroad...

I was looking around on Ebay, and I noticed that a lot of sellers based in Thailand are selling these Commanders at a fairly steady supply...

I'm wondering: these look OK to me (Of course, I'm not buying all the "recently serviced" crap ), but I was wondering whether anyone here has some experience or a better eye for these things? I don't know whether these are frequently franken or redials? The dials look OK to me (age is showing a bit)

thaigoodwill seems to be offering a lot of these for sale, for example.

Of course, alternative sources are welcomed, but I'm in Europe so that complicates matters a bit...

Thanks everyone in advance for your time

Best regards,

Oldheritage

[trim]

It is hard to tell. Having several times bought watches from hot humid countries, I doubt I will again. I keep getting tempted, but I need to learn my lesson on this. In every one I have bought there have been significant problems with the movements condition.

There seem to be 2 vendors at the moment for these. The ones from the vendor you don't mention above concern me. Perfect dials and worn rotors without gilding left on them ring warning bells. The listings from thaigoodwill seem to have movements that are in better shape - however, I do have trouble believing those dials after 30 years in that climate. The one closing soonest by thaigoodwill looks like it might be a redial. The one closing later might not, and the movement seems slightly better. But it probably is a redial - the day disk is quite discoloured, that is not consistent imo with the condition of the dial. Also his feedback is pretty bad at 98.7%, with a few accusations of selling fakes. You pay your money and take your chances I fear. I don't think I would buy any of these.

Someone who actually knows about Midos will no doubt be along soon to validate them.

[Oldheritage]

I appreciate your look on this. I hadn't thought of the climate and how it affects watches yet. You also have a good point on the colour of the day disk

[Eeeb]

My Mido Ocean Star Commander has an Eta movement ... easy to get fixed. The example I have came from a vendor in the Netherlands. It keeps COSC Chronometer time and has a wonderful flat line on the timing machine. $78 + $20 shipping last year.

That's an example of what you can get if you are patient and avoid obvious pratfalls like franken vendors. Patience. Let me say that again, patience!

[Oldheritage]

Roger that

I wasn't planning on impulse buying just yet, just curious about the steady supply that seems to originate in the east

Thanks for the advice on the sellers from Thailand, I really should get better at spotting redials

I'll just keep an eye on the more local vendors and avoid the franken stuff!