137 k for a speedy! Well, I am a novice here, not knowing anything about speedmasters until about three months ago when I started visiting this site and memorizing MWO. So, what the hell do I know!

But, the speedmaster is maybe the most iconic watch in the world. This watch is the best of the best of the rarest
of the rarest speedmaster. Way more rare than a crappy PN Daytona! So, yea, I see this as a bargain, and would
not be surprised if this watch is worth 400k in a couple of years.

But.........I could be wrong?

 

What the hell are you talking about? No link, no pictures.... what is "this" watch?

 

This one I imagine:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/o...15-1-sells-for-xxxxx-at-christies-in-new-york

 

How can you assess what a Speedmaster is worth, being such a novice? How can you even assess what $137,000 worth of watch looks like? or predict the market trend of the watch in question.

Anyway, seeing as it's sold higher than any Speedmaster in history, I don't think I'd call it a bargain, per se.

Edit: I was under the assumption that it was the highest sale, as the Hodinkee article stated it was a record sale. It seems I was mistaken - but still. Quite high! They must have been talking about non-historically linked Speedmasters.

 

Ron Evan's cal 861 speedy went for 245k...

 

I assume you think I am wrong and I may well be, time will tell. Because the watch sold higher than any
Speedmaster in history does not preclude it from being a bargain. One does not need to be a speedmaster expert
to have a sense of what 137k worth of watch looks like. Finally, there are lots of "experts" on Wall Street predicting the market incorrectly. I am giving an opinion, you can disagree without insulting.

 

"Crappy Daytona". U should put that in the Rolexforum haha just to stir sh*t up lol

 

As long as everything keeps trending up, I'm happy. Remember when antique furniture was trending up? Antique golf clubs? Carnival glass? Baseball cards? Gold? Hotwheels? Beanie Babies?
When consumers lose interest in vintage watches, I am SCREWED
Until then, BUY BUY BUY

Sorry if you thought there was an insult above. I didn't read it that way. That's the problem with forums.

 

Sorry, Dgercp, didn't intend to insult.

I was just perplexed how you could in the same breath say that you knew very little about speedmasters and then tell me how early examples ware certainly worth more than $137,000. And in my opinion, no speedmaster should be worth $137,000. When the prices get this high, they become nothing more than investments.

When these watches were first produced, they cost a few hundred dollars, which is perhaps a few thousand, if we adjusted for inflation. These watches are worth what they are because they have a cult following, just as Rolex does and just like others are becoming.

 

I think if someone out there is willing to pay $137,000 then it is actually worth $137,000. Doesn't matter whether this is for personal use or investment. If a financial instrument is expensive because of its potential gains then the product's value itself is justified.

These 2915 are much much more rare than PN Daytonas. The demand for Daytonas is still higher than for 2915s. But given how difficult it is to find one, it will drive up prices like crazy.

 

Well said , agree 100% with you..

 

You and he are both using Daytonas as a benchmark, which assumes the Daytona is also worthy of its price.

You can ague that an item's value is derived from what somebody is willing to pay for it and that that's the end of the story - but if you do, you would also have to say that no item that has ever been sold has ever been overvalued. You're diluting the usefulness of the word for the purposes of appraisal. When I say "overvalued", I mean that it's going for more money than it ought to, for what it is. A tool watch with a Lemania movement.

30 years ago, Daytonas were worth orders of magnitude less than what they are now, as were early speedmasters. The quality of the watch hasn't changed. Maybe there are a few less of them. But for somebody to try and justify why a $200 tool watch should be worth $137,000 - or many times that... It's madness. Speedmasters use to sell for less than 1k 20 years ago. Daytonas close to that 30 years ago. These cultish watches increase in value not because of intrinsic improvement, but because there are everyday more people interested with more money in their hands.

 

The most important question for us is when will the rest of the vintage speedmaster models follow suit and become this expensive

 

All I know about Speedmaster prices is that they'll go up....



or down.

 

Perhaps the buyer of the Omega mission set (lot 235) in the 2007 Omegamania auction would find find some comfort in your statement. He paid over 300,000$ for this lot. In comparison, the Missions lot sold for 66,250$ last night at Christie's.

Something is not always worth what someone is willing to pay. This is especially true when there are comparable sales and a market value can be assessed with some accuracy.

 

I'm very surprised. Some Omega-sellers on C24 have withdrawn their offers. They think, they can realize Christie's-prices now too...

 

It may be "overvalued" to you but does not necessarily have to be for the buyer. What it ought to be is based on your opinion not the buyer. Your highest bid is what you're willing to pay. In fact, the buyer might think he gets it at a "bargain" if he was willing to pay $250k on that watch since he pays the second highest bidder's willingness to pay at $137k or so.

I agree the watch is fundamentally the same 30 years ago (putting differences in condition aside). But today is very different than 30 years ago: it is no longer in production and demand has increased due to its popularity. If you are at the bottom of the ocean running out of oxygen and somebody has an extra tank, I'm sure you'll pay a heck lot more than what its worth above water. This is an extreme example but remember that there are rich people out there who wants a 2915 so badly.

 

This is true, but like I said - ignoring anything but that toothless idea, you lose the ability to assess an item in the marketplace in terms collectors can appreciate (workmanship, comparisons to similar models, prestige of the brand, runaway conspicuous consumption..). For example, I just saw a thread on this forum about a series of Rolex Subs with the words "Fuck 'em" printed on the dial selling for over $45,000. Now, people on that thread were quick to point out that whoever was willing to spend $45,000 on a Fuck em' Rolex was an idiot and a tool - but when we're talking about spending $137,000 on a Speedmaster, well - let's call it at buyer's discretion. Talking rarity - there are technically less of those Rolex's than of the early Speedmasters.

There is a false equivalence here. Oxygen is the only stuff we can breath, but 2915's are not the only nice dive watches from the 1950's-1960's. Sure, there are less 2915's in the world every year as collectors and time take them from us - but the Speedmaster was not the only watch around. There are dozens of similar sports watch from that era, and made in similar or less numbers, that go for pathetically less than 2915's. Hell, very nice and rarer vintage Patek's can be had for less. Omega, Rolex, Patek - they all have a tax. A tax independent from the watch.

Still, I think we sort of agree.

 

To be fair,

To those saying that this watch is a bargain in terms of investment, I cannot argue. Investment is investment and if the prices do go up rapidly, then technically from that standpoint, it was a bargain. But I was focusing on a more interesting standpoint of value for the money.