Hi What do you think of this piece ? http://www.ebay.fr/itm/371798687719?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network Special dial ?
As you pointed out, the dial is not correct. The lume is too fresh for my taste. Reference 7981-3 has round top 3 numerals (not flat). The printing is not of very good quality. There should be some space between the numbers in the subdials and the limit of those subdials. The Longines logo also does not look quite right. The 7981-3 mark on the case back is sloppy. The listing is from a watch seller and the watch has been cosmetically enhanced. Based on all those lines of evidence, I do not think that it is a barn find with a rare prototype dial but rather a redial. Nick PS. I love your blog.
I find this seller shady I have strong reasons to believe they engage in shill bidding. A bidder with 0 prior transactions outbid me on one of their items, then withdrew the bid 30 minutes before the end of the auction. Somone else won. Turned out the seller's transaction history showed a couple sales with bids by a 0 transaction bidder. (PS - congrats on your beautiful collection.)