The First Ten
A new identification service has a problem: nobody has seen its work. So the first ten written reports are free, and they're going on this site as case files — photos, findings, grades, verdict — so the eleventh customer can see exactly what US$25 buys before paying it. Same report, same standard, no shortcuts because it's free.
A free Movement ID report, published as a case file
Send a vintage Omega through the normal five-photos-and-a-weight process. You get the full written report — normally US$25 — at no charge. In return, the photos and the report are published here as a numbered case file.
The terms, plainly
- Vintage Omega only — mechanical, roughly 1940s to 1970s. That's what the reference library covers.
- You keep the watch. Photos only, as always. Nothing is posted anywhere.
- You get the report first. Within a day of receiving your photos. You see everything before it's published.
- What gets published: your photographs, the report in full, and the verdict. What doesn't: your name (unless you want it), your email, and the full serial number, which is masked to the first three digits.
- Honesty cuts both ways. If the report finds a redial or a marriage, that's what the case file says. The value of these files is that they're not cherry-picked. If you'd rather not have a bad-news report published, say so before you send — you'll still get the free report, it just won't be a case file and won't count as one of the ten.
- Ten means ten. Watches are taken in the order they arrive. When the ten are filled, this page will say so and the offer closes.
Free for life, for watch YouTubers who feature the service
If you run a watch channel and you show a Watch Breaker report in a video — or send a watch through and talk about what came back — you get Movement ID reports free for as long as the service runs. No cap, no expiry, no strings beyond the one video.
The terms, plainly
- Any size of channel. A hundred subscribers who care about vintage Omega are worth more to me than a million who don't.
- One video earns it. Show the report, or the process, or just tell people what you thought — including if you thought it was wrong. A link in the description is appreciated, not required.
- For your own watches and the ones you cover. It isn't a licence to resell reports to your viewers; send them here instead and they'll be looked after.
- Same report as everyone else. Same grades, same sources, same "I can't tell that from a photo" where that's the truth.
- To claim it: email channel@watchbreaker.com with your channel link and the watch you'd like to start with.
Case files
None published yet. The first ten will appear here, numbered from WB-0004 — the three before it are the worked samples the report format was built on.
Why give the work away
Because a report nobody has seen is a promise, and a report you can read is evidence. Ten real watches, with the findings graded and the sources cited, will do more for the next hundred customers than any amount of copy about how careful I am. It also keeps me honest: every case file is a public record of what I said and why, and if one turns out to be wrong, that goes on the record too.
To take one of the ten: send to id@watchbreaker.com, subject "First Ten":
- The dial, straight on, in daylight.
- The movement, caseback off, close enough to read the numbers.
- The inside of the caseback.
- Between the lugs at 12 and 6, and the outside of the back.
- The watch on a kitchen scale, in grams.
- One line saying it's fine to publish the photos and report under the terms above.
You'll hear back within a day, and you'll see the report before anyone else does.
Questions people ask
Is the free report the same as the paid one?
Identical. Same grades, same sources, same length. The only difference is that it's published afterwards.
Will my name be on the case file?
Only if you ask for it. By default the case file carries your photos, the report, and a masked serial. No name, no email, no location.
What if the report says my watch is a redial or a marriage?
Then that's what it says, and that's what gets published — that's the point of the exercise. If you'd rather not risk that, tell me before you send and I'll do the report without publishing it; it just won't count as one of the ten.
I'm a YouTuber. Do I have to say nice things?
No. Say what you found. A creator who says "it got the calibre right but I disagree about the dial" is exactly the kind of review that makes the next viewer trust the service.
What happens after the ten are gone?
The report goes back to US$25, the case files stay up, and the creator pass continues.
Watch Breaker is an independent identification specialist and parts dealer and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Omega SA or the Swatch Group. Omega is a trademark of Omega SA. Reports are identifications from photographs, graded by confidence; not an authentication of record and not an appraisal. Terms.