http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121984795499?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network Prices just keep on going up and up.
And it wasn't a good one. Check out the font at 90 I wrote more on it here http://speedmaster101.com/blog/new-do90-bezel-price-record/ But basically my thoughts are that it is genuine, original, but not as attractive as one that does not have the cut off 90, and also that you can buy a nice 1970's speedmaster complete for the same money or less. And how long until someone replicates it, so well we cannot tell? (Like 2915 bezels)
Your point about these parts prices cutting into actually enjoying wearing the watches is a good one. I did not buy mine as an investment or to be a safe queen.
Somebody would probably pay $3500 in an eBay auction for just the bezel. For the entire case, who knows, $6-$7k maybe?
The market has gone a bit crazy lately but I guess soon people will value minty premoons much like a cheap daytona
Amythest, the famous purple gemstone, used to trade for $50 per carat for the finest. Then someone found out how to make man made synthetic amethyst. Over night the price plummeted to around $7pc. There is a test, but certainly to start with, the cost of the test exceeded the value of the stone. Also the market became flooded with high quality amythest that no expert could distinguish without expensive equipment, and time. Simply wasn't practical, so now no one cares if fine amythest is real or synthetic. Ironically if it has a flaw, or a colour variation, it is clearly natural and valued higher by collectors than the perfect example, even if it is possibly natural. But the collectors are a small part of the amethyst business and so the price remains that of the synthetic. If someone could reproduce bezels that could not be distinguished from the original then in my opinion the price of the original would drop. There will be those who value the older looking ones, but I think the rump of the demand would be satiated by the replacement. Now this only holds true if the replacement is indistinguishable. We see this in No6 end links that trade for $500 each while replicas fetch about $40. These replicas, some of them, are so good the only way to tell us to unmount them from the watch and check for seams underneath. While they look identical on the exterior, because they can be distinguished the vale of the original remains secure.
Did I just read between the lines that @Spacefruit is the speedmaster101 author?! Wow. I was unaware and am pleased to make your acquaintance. I used your price guide to start negotiations on a -69 just last week. It will be making its first appearance in WRUW tomorrow with my NASA shirt. Thank you for your work both here on OF and on speedmaster101.