I appreciate the underlying concepts of the mantra of condition condition condition when collecting watches, or indeed many other things. However I feel we are entering a new era, where an alternate condition is attracting a new kind of collector.
This rapidly rising group seeks a certain kind of wear, degradation, or age related decay, and is becoming valued by enough people to ensure they push values well above expectations.
It is clear that there are very few individuals who value both, to the same extent that one person will actually pay top money for an example of each. I have noticed particular derision heaped upon the high prices paid for brown, or patinated dials as in the case of this watch, lot 84 Antiquorum in New York - but other degraded dials attract similar vitriol. And not without foundation. It is after all a damaged watch.
The thing is, despite being strongly disparaged, the watches exhibiting a pleasing degradation continue to fetch high premiums over watches with a similar degree, but not quality, of degradation.
So first I conclude that there are several people who like them, and second that they have deep pockets.
I notice that degradation per se is not a guarantee of a high price. Clearly the buyers need to see a certain but definite charm. Some, while exhibiting the same degree of decay, do so in an unattractive manner. It is this difference that I find so interesting, and that the "triple C" group do not see at all.
I note also that this phenomena, the high value placed on degradation, is compared to Rolex. So far, I am not so sure it is the same. In Rolex, the brown dials are very much more than their "CCC" counterparts. With speedmasters, imagine how much a NOS 2998-1 might fetch? I would say there are many bidders up to $25,000, and i believe is worth more than this watch - a lot more. It is after all much rarer. There are several on this forum who have shown similar decayed watches, but only one who has shown a NOS.
A NOS speedmaster is unwearable. (Certainly for me, I am active and inadvertently careless on occasion.) I still want one, and would pay more than a brown dialed one.
A watch with an already marked case is easy to wear without worry. And for me, if the dial is attractive, I find myself looking at it endlessly.
My wife wants to test me for OCD
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