So I was following this bid on eBay and my guesstimate was that the price would end around the USD 7k mark (somewhere in between 'Running' and 'Good' off Speedmaster101 Price Chart). http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Mec...636505?hash=item25ba0456d9:g:fyoAAOSw6wRXAuOiPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network Before that, let's look at the good, the bad and ugly. My point of reference being: http://speedmaster101.com/105-012/ Good : - AML - stepped dial with Professional text - Correct serial number for a '66 Cal 321 - Single step caseback with engraved speedmaster and hippocampus - the CB case with the facet junction - DON bezel Bad : - Wrong Chrono hands - What looks like relumed hour/minute hands - Weird looking right subdial hand (what's up with that?) - DON bezel looks 'cut in'; eg look at the dot on ninety, half the dot looks eaten into. (what's up with that as well?) - Case looks lightly polished Ugly : - The disgusting looking lume on hour markers However, this is a more special CB case with the facet junction and surely this would be worth more than its HF cased brother? And herein lies the big question : Is CB case more rare and command a slight premium over HF? If yes, by how many %? So what is the consensus : did this watch under perform or it landed smack right at where it ought to be priced or was it overpriced for its condition and why?
given the condition and appearance, I'm surprised it pushed past about $4K. I believe that the CB cased ones are more rare and priced higher in general. they're also interesting in that they're different and produced for a short time.
I don't have any info to back this up (it may be covered in MWO), but from what I've seen, the CB-66 appears to be more common than the HF-66. However, HF obviously made the 105.012 in 63, 64, 65 and 66 as well as the .012 in 67 and 68, so overall, the CB case is much rarer and is priced slightly higher because of this. In this instance, it's not a great example as the dial is very poor. A year ago this wouldn't have reached this price. But, 'any port in a storm'.
The biggest problem as alluded to by OP is that it is just dog ugly. I wouldn't want this in my collection at any price.
If the Watch is now in good hands it could becommes a stunner. Of course, it will not be a 'collectible' one, but after reluming it could do the job... Look at some exemple from @Pianist