Please find a link to a local auction for 2998-2. Photos are poor but thinking quite a few issues with this maybe the dial , serial number , hands, bezel etc, ok everything but as they are quite rare someone might want it if it goes cheap, ha!

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...0015/lot-244ff735-b55b-4803-934d-a5b800fc8543

 

It's a struggle to find anything right about this one! I live about an hour from the auction but it's not even worth going for a look imo.
Thanks for the link though - it's always interesting.

 

Lots of issues. Bezel, dial, movement number, pushers are wrong. Minute hand looks too short.

 

As @Ash and @gemini4 say, its hard to find anything good to say about it.

Hands look like seamster hands, too short on the minute. Chrono looks odd, but I dont know if it is an original Omega or not - I dont like it.

Bezel, while accepted, should be a BASE1000 on this reference, although most are DO90 - its just a question of price really.

Dial is from a 105.003 I think. Certainly it looks like it has lived for a while outside a case.

Movement number, 19832735, is out of range that I see in a 2998-2. I have seen this in 2998-62's and 105.002's.

Possibly its a seamster movement, I dont know - but for sure does not belong in this case.

Once we see so many question marks on a watch like this, (that now commands over $30,000 in correct and excellent condition), it brings out whatever collection of parts a watchmaker might have lying around.

I think that is the case here - and its an assembly.

 

Closing bid of £6000..

 

Did anyone actually go to the Watches of Kensington Auction on the 19th ?

The 2298-2 is listed as being bid to £15,000... and then of course there is commission of at least 20+ %

So it was a minimum of £18k....

 

I went to the auction to check out some of the other pieces, not for this - it went to an absentee bidder. No one in the room even attempted to bid!

 

Damn, I nearly went, but got caught up in some work nonsense..

 

Looks like it had a 2010 Omega Extracts of Archives as well.......

 

Spacefruit did a great review here http://speedmaster101.com/category/blog/

As he says it ticked all the boxes. Possibly only bought by some one who wanted to complete the 2998 set?

What did the other speedies go for?

 

Most seemed to go at the lowest estimates. Maybe the Speedmaster price madness is cooling?

This is just wishful thinking on my part. More likely, what we psychiatrists call "magical thinking"

 

Thanks for posting this, good to see all aspects of the market. Just a question, what would some of you more knowledgable people look for as some good indicators that the market may be stabilizing for these vintage pieces? They can't keep going up like this forever right?

 

Actually you left off the last word....very important....

Quote: " The hands all tick boxes. BUT !"

The actual link to the page, is this http://speedmaster101.com/blog/watches-of-knightsbridge-sale-march-2016/

(The other link was to the top page of the blog, which will change if I ever get around to writing another...)

Interesting the reference to the speedmaster market "cooling"

I think what we are seeing is a breathing period, rather than cooling. A consolidation period while we all learn a little more, while unscrupulous sellers cobble together projects that we get better at recognising. I always refer back to the Daytona market, that I think leads speedmasters by about 10-15 years.

Most dealers offering speedmasters are ignorant. (I am not trying to be insulting). But they are learning. Some people seem to be driven to replicate a good watch by putting it together, this has not been the case for speedmasters in the last few years as the financial motivation was not there until now.

Private sources, the mainstay of my collection, have all but dried up. It's all now dealers, and a few collectors. However collectors, for the most part do not need money....especially when we see the value of the pieces rising on a monthly basis. So until the market stabilises, there is no incentive to sell a watch that's going to be worth more in a month.

This probably needs its own thread.

Back to the WoK watch. It's rubbish. But right now, it's the prettiest girl in the bar, so everyone is trying to take it home.

 

An excellent analysis as always, Will!

 

Hear, hear!

Here! Here!

 

Those are absolutely deplorable images. Did they hook up a lens to a potato?

 

Great stuff
I know this has been posted many times but still always eye popping to see Chucks prices from 2001. I will try not to misquote this time, sorry, but think he suggests increased scarcity and rapid prices rises. http://chronomaddox.com/pay.html
I know we can't ask you to spend every minute of the day on this but since you started your price chart would you say prices are rising exponentially or are there periods of lulls followed by jumps/bubbles?

 

Blimey. Reading that 2001 price guide made me laugh out loud. If I could turn back time.....

 

Even adjusted for inflation. Wow.