Hi Guys, I am after a few comments on this piece. It's in pretty rough condition and I am just waiting for some pics of the case back and movement. Another forum member has already drawn my attention to the pushers being too short for the reference. The owner wants USD$4,999.00 which I am leaning towards thinking it is too high for the overall case, dial and hand set condition - any other views on the watch, price, etc? Of interest to me because it's in Aus and close to home. What do you reckon?

Cheers
John

 

When I see a $5,000 watch priced at $4,999, it raises my suspicions. If they're trying stupid tricks to get me to think "four thousand" when it's in fact "five thousand," I wonder what other tricks they might be playing.

 

I know, right? like the car yards, each advertising cars at $XX,999...yeah right! Like you, I have highly sensitive crap detectors I'll put that in the mixing pot as well.

 

To me the pushers look like the thinner ones from the 105.012 instead of the 145.012

 

If you are going to spend $5k on a vintage Speedy, IMO you need to know beforehand that it checks all boxes.

With that said, you need to know what's in the inside, calibre, serial, ref

Don't buy the pig in the sack, the downside is far greater than the upside

 

This is the main reason I have posted; one of the more seasoned experts may highlight a box I have missed that might be covered. As I said, I am waiting for pics of the case-back to check the ref # and pics of the cal and movement # - so those boxes can be ticked off or not. Right now I am just trying to assess if it's an honest watch on the face of it. Thanks for the heads up and I think we agree: no pig in the sack. The biggest downers for this watch right now is price, pushers and rough condition.

 

It's a swedish saying, I don't know really how it translates into English? Maybe you know? I may have heard it, but don't remember....

 

The pushers are the thinner ones so I was assuming the complete watch could be a 105.012

 

Or a put together

 

Don't buy a pig in a poke is the English version, I think.

 

Yeah, I thought this as well, hence why I am waiting for the inside pics. I doubt it though. Put together might be closer to it.

 

Crown is a replacement, pushers (at least the reset one, the start/stop is hard to make out and on the shot of the back looks new) are stubby and look more like the 105.012's. Dial lume doesn't look half bad but doesn't match the lume on the chrono hand and the lume's missing from the hours/minutes, leading me to think that the dial's been redone. Dial's further spaced "T's" look like a later 105.012 (65 or 66) or 145.012 - the earlier 105.012's "T's" (1963 through mid 1965, at least what I've seen from various examples) are moved further in. Case back would match a 145.012, unless it's a 105.012-66 with the CB case back, though the non-faceted lugs and narrow lumes aren't correct for that, and you'd have to correlate all of it with the movement serial. Bezel appears correct but is splotchy and worn. Case itself doesn't seem overly polished but is hard to tell from your pictures.

All together fits closest to either a 145.012 or a 105.012-65 / 66 (with replaced parts) but I'm sure a more learned eye could give you a better assessment. Seems like you'll need more and higher resolution pictures of the important bits to discern between a well worn example with potentially one or two replaced/redone parts and an absolute franken. Either way the $4999/5000 seems a bit much.

 

"The cat in the sack" in Danish...

 

That shows how grumpy I can be.
I thought is was

"You can't polish a turd"

 

You can roll it in glitter though

Pig in a poke > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_in_a_poke
I have bought plenty myself.

 

Thanks.
"...Dial lume doesn't look half bad but doesn't match the lume on the chrono hand and the lume's missing from the hours/minutes, leading me to think that the dial's been redone...."
When you say redone, do you mean re-lumed? If that's the case wouldn't you think the hands would be done at the same time? Do you think that the lume has fallen out from the hands during a dial replacement/reworking?

Not sure what you mean by narrow lunes?

 

Actually you can - see this Mythbusters episode...

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/polishing-a-turd-minimyth/

It's still a turd, but it can be polished!

 

Ok...ok...I get it, the watch is a turd! But it's not too overly polished.

 

What is amazing to me is that those who have commented on the pushers being too squat have picked up the difference without a comparative reference. The 105.012 has pushers of 2.7mm in length while the 145.012 on have pushers of 3.5mm length. I can see the difference side by side but with no reference point no way... I suppose that's what makes the expert.

 

Once you've stared at enough pictures you can pick them out as the 105 pushers look slightly dumpy and have a better aesthetic Imo.

For what it's worth, I don't think this has been re-lumed. I don't think its a great example either and you certainly need to know the case ref and movement no before deciding if it's worth negotiating from that price