In one of the fasted lot dismissals I have seen for a while, this 2915 was chased out of the room selling (I think?) for the low estimate of HKD480,000+comission which is about USD $77,200 in total incl commission.

After the previous 18 months of interesting 2915 acution sales, I was looking forward to seeing how this one went. I did not get the chance to handle it - which would give me so much more info, so if anyone did handle it I hope you will chime in.


First glance it has the right dial, hands and crown.


The above shot shows the bezel, about which I am still studying so I cannot make a definitive pronouncement. All I will say is that it shows a lot of lathe marks.

For comparison Phillips sold this in Geneva last november (2018) for CHF225,000 (About the same in USD)

What this does highlight, is the pushers on the above lot have striations that I have not seen before.



Here is another photo of the watch that just sold,



This photo is very flattering, and does not show the not insignificant dial damage on the minute subdial



Plots are dirt, dial is damaged, the pushers are not seen by me before (but of course could be something I have not seen or heard of before) and the bezel is always suspect with these.

It would appear the auction knew they had just one buyer, and they rushed the sale to close it without the buyer watching as the bidding stalled in the room, hanging like a bad smell.

So the question is, did the buyer get a bargain with his sub $100,000 2915?

Or did he buy a tired, not quite right 2915?

Look I know there are some who say that because it is not perfect, it has no value. I understand, but it adds nothing to the discussion as it clearly does have some value. I mean there are pleanty of people who would have it for $10,000. So it has a value.

I am interested in hearing what people think this is worth, was it too high or cheap?

For me, I think it hit the market about right. It leaves room for the possibility the bezel is new, and takes into account the tired, but not terrible condition of the rest of the watch.

 

Bezel appears to be a (not very good) copy.

 

The 2 in the 275, 250 has a nice angle to it.

 

If the movement, case, and bracelet are correct, I suspect the parts would be worth 50 to 75k usd. Possibly 100k. The hands alone are worth several thousand now. In my opinion.

 

case was quite good. Pusher caps are new. the bezel could be original, because the expensive replicas are better . but that evaluation would need much better pics. dial damage for that age not too bad. lume plots can easily be cleaned without removal of more lume. hands match the overall condition. the small hands are too different from the overall dial/hand appearance. cleaned? movement , back and band are ok. so, that price seems good. ( even with the chance of the replaced bezel; because good replicas are not cheap either....) there is something else in play in the moment. Luxury Goods Auctions have seen better economic conditions. With the stable Genius in the White House and his Idea of a Trade War with the USA 2. biggest Creditor, there is a LOT of uncertainty about the Future direction of the world economy. and if it is necessary in the moment, to buy the watch number 25 from an Auction house......kind regards. achim

 

Well here is a better picture(!) - when it was sold in 2016 for HKD437,500



Enlarged:

 

Bigly said.

 

While I agree that there is a bit of uncertainty in the air economically (IMO more attributable to the length of the current bull run, rather than any harbinger of an impending meltdown), I don't think that Phillips' auctions this weekend are an indicator of a slowdown in auction appetite. The Blackbirds x Phillips sale was fully sold with a lot of very strong prices, while HK 8 was aimed at a different crowd and still realized a strong overall sale. While I don't judge the overall health of the watch market by performance at Phillips and Christies auctions, it's worth monitoring as a data point, and I personally believe that this auction season has shown a continued high appetite for vintage watches (with some fluctuations in brand preference along the way). This 2915 is simply not a great example and as more 2915s have come to the auction block in the past few years, the "gold rush" mentality has naturally slowed.

 

From the Phillips description ..."The present example is fitted with a period correct base 1000 tachymeter scale"

Are they not opening themselves up for problems if the bezel is proven to be otherwise?

 

they are usually quite precise about their language.. . period correct = authentic but wasn't born with the watch

 

I guess so, period correct is not original.

 

I think if they claimed 'it was THE original bezel of the watch' that would be an issue, but period correct could indicate a replacement that is identical to a vintage original bezel.

 

Knowing if a bezel, or pretty much any part, left Omega as a new watch is nearly impossible to know. Even one-owner watches (meaning once they move on to the next owner) are no guarantee of originality, regardless of appearance. And now with outstanding repro bezels and lack of clarity as to how many variations exist of "original" steel bezels, the waters are murkier than ever.

As to the market, I agree with the frog that it appears strong with new buyers entering while vintage Speedmasters (321, 861) ceased production many decades ago. Demand grows and supply is the same, less if you account for watches placed in collections and not seen again for many, many years.

Will all 2915-1s sell for 400k or 250k? Apparently not, but they remain one of the most sought after yet nearly impossible to locate watches in the vintage world.

MSN, I assume you mean "original style bezel."

Did they at least align the bezel correctly before this latest sale? And it looks non-original to me, too, for what it's worth.

 

Actually, as this thread has drifted interestingly to the state of the 2915 market, in my opinion it shows that the very high priced watches sold in last two years showed prices achievable for some very nice examples, and that the op watch is much more "Ordinary" in comparison to this sold for $225,000:

 

Wasn't one of the highest gavel prices on a 2915-1 that was described in the listing as re lumed? I seem to recall something like that. It may be the one in the photo just posted.

And anything regarding the 2915 can easily and understandably lead to discussion of the market.

 

The market is paying big money for wathces that are in great great condition.
For what i can see the one just sold (as seen in the previous photo ) had unattractive lume and some, some sign on the dial and hands not in great condition. Especially if compared to the one sold for 225K

 

Am I the only one thinking the hour and minute hands are incorrect? To me they seem like the Ranchero hands modified to fit 2915.

 

“Original” claims are as worthless as a piece of dung (and admittedly an oft-stated pet peeve of mine) despite popular use.

Actually, come to think of it, dung is much more useful, as it can at least serve as fertilizer, or food if you’re a dung beetle.

As for the OP’s subject watch, for me it’s an unattractive example, though, as already stated, not without value. The price curve as you approach top 1% condition is exponential.

 

If you can afford to pay this much for a watch would you really want to settle for one that was "less attractive". Even this Phillips watch is not exactly cheap.