I am new to this great forum and am looking for some information please...

I just purchased this watch and am wondering if it looks correct to everyone. The case back reads 105.003 65 but I thought this model should have different hour/minute hands. This one looks like it has CK2998 hands instead. Was there a transition period?

Also, I paid $5500. Is this a reasonable market price?

 

It looks like the hands are correct but the paint is completely striped off.

 

You're right. Do you think I overpaid at $5500?

 

Yes IMHO, but not by much.

 

Overpaid today, tomorrow will be a bargain. Enjoy the watch.

Cheers

 

Couldn't agree more

 

Now that's a phrase I need to remember when talking to my wife about watches, thanks!!

 

Also yours have an attractive fading original bezel (ghost bezel) IMHO. So cheerish it.

 

Great watch, looks like it needs a sympathetic service. It looks dirty, just the way I like them! It shows it isn't a watch tarted up for sale by a dealer. It looks an honest watch.

(STS would do a great job, from experience, Archer in Canada. I am sure there are others but I haven't used them.)

if it were mine I would try and find some aged hands to replace the unpainted ones, as others have pointed out. STS are very good at ageing new hands in the interim.

I love that bezel.

Overpaid? Hard to say. There are so few on the market that find one without a shed load of problems is even more difficult. I would say this one is basically sound, the hands aside. So the word overpaid implies you might have got a similar watch cheaper.

In this market I am not so sure. You might find a cheaper 105.003, but with a damaged dial, or messed up movement.

while I think you paid a high price, I don't think you could pay less and end up with what you have.

 

I will be pleased to be proven wrong, but my experience suggests (at least from the photognaph) that bringing back the hairspring to its original confitions is probably wishful thinking.
Unfortunately most collectors do not pay attention to the condition of the movement hoping that a qualified service will be able to fix everything. However, this is not the case. Most watches can be made running in an apparently reasonable way, but this is far from the running conditions they originally were up to.
A watch which loses 20 seconds when worn and gains 20 seconds overnight will give the impression to run very precisely but, in reality, it doesn't.
Most 105.003 show a nearly definitive version of the 321 caliber (the latest starting from about serial 24,5 mil) and, differently, from the previous versions (the CK2915-105.002 range), with some tinking can be made nearly chronometer grade.
But the movement must be very well preserved and not only from the cosmetic point.

 

did you return this? seems it's back up on ebay...

 

I was wondering too, just saw itPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network on ebay ....
maybe just a thread as advertisement

 

just curious because this watch has been up on 'bay since at least February, always with a fixed BIN. buyer's remorse? or broken watch? either way it would be positive/helpful to hear so as alert others here not to make the same mistake, if in fact it was a mistake

 

Yep, I passed on the watch. It has a nice look to it but I think a tad high on price.

 

thank you for such a speedy response! (sorry, couldn't resist)

 

Passed?

did you actually receive and return, or cancel sale?

i am curious if you received it what it looked like to you in hand.

i am also interested by watchtinkers view - sound advice.

I do tend to think I can fix most things in a movement.........by that of course, give it to a pet genius who will fix it for me.

 

nice spot.
so that's why the regulating needle is flopping around?
how much to fix that?

 

The picture shows the lateral view of a balance from a 145.012. Troubles can be related to the balance wheel, to its staff or to the haispring.
Often the correct hairsping shape is not found.
Many problems can be fixed completely. Some can be fixed partially and the watch will somewhat lose isochronism and show other type of irregularities.
However, it is my experience that most people do not pay much attention to the condition of the movement and that an accurate sample can be put on the same level of a simply running one, provided they appear similar from a cosmetic standpoint.

 

The movement is my biggest gripe with the cal 321. Sometimes I can service and replace the hairspring while other times it can be the one hell of a revival costing over a thousand to get replace the balance and other things. Getting a deal on a cosmetically good looking piece while overlooking the movement could the the costliest move when acquiring the piece.

 

This is just a condition of the market really - the market does not value the accuracy of the watch as much as the aesthetics. Yes this might be disconcerting to some, in particular watchmakers, but it's just the way it is.

For example a NOS Speedmaster that is perfect aesthetically (like the one Mike posted a while back) will not get used at all, so the accuracy of the movement, condition of the oils etc. is of zero consequence with regards to the price the watch would get.