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Spacefruit
··Prolific Speedmaster Hoarder2998’s have been over the place at the last two years or so, but I think the demand for nice ones is returning.
For me the median price is around $25,000, obviously they can go much higher and lower than that but when I first see a 2998, I think $25,000 and then I go up or down from there. For that I would expect to get a dot over 90 watch in attractive condition.
This watch is offered by Antiquorum on a live auction in January 2023. Link here.
As we can see immediately there is a bezel, which may or may not be genuine, and has faded slightly brown. If I was trying to fool people with this kind of bezel, I would make it brown and I would keep it in my pocket full of stones. I’m not trying to fool people, but I think a lot of people who put Watches in auctions are.
The dial of this watch is correct for a -1, and this can be seen in the short indices on the minute subdial:
The hour markers have decayed to an unattractive green - and I would want to know the results from a Geiger meter, but I suspect they would be positive.
The hands have lume slots with square ends on the hour hand and round ends on the minute hand . This configuration was also seen in the recent Philip sale of a 2998 with a brown dial that sold for over $110,000 in the winter.
It doesn’t mean to say that it’s right, and in any event it means that I value it less than if it had the triangle lume hour hand .
The price of this watch is lowest estimate at €25,300. A European buyer would have to add VAT at 20% if it stays in Europe plus the premium. I’m pretty sure that if you went shopping for 2998 today US$26,000 in your pocket, I think you could come up with a better example than this. (Really it's $30k+ after fees)
One thing Phillips is pretty clever at, is making the initial estimates attractive. If this watch had been at Phillips they might have estimated it at CHF8 to CHF12,000 and then slap themselves on the back when it achieved CHF22 or CHF25,000.
we would also all have been considering it, but for me, not at this level.
I look forward to hearing what people think
For me the median price is around $25,000, obviously they can go much higher and lower than that but when I first see a 2998, I think $25,000 and then I go up or down from there. For that I would expect to get a dot over 90 watch in attractive condition.
This watch is offered by Antiquorum on a live auction in January 2023. Link here.
As we can see immediately there is a bezel, which may or may not be genuine, and has faded slightly brown. If I was trying to fool people with this kind of bezel, I would make it brown and I would keep it in my pocket full of stones. I’m not trying to fool people, but I think a lot of people who put Watches in auctions are.
The dial of this watch is correct for a -1, and this can be seen in the short indices on the minute subdial:
The hour markers have decayed to an unattractive green - and I would want to know the results from a Geiger meter, but I suspect they would be positive.
The hands have lume slots with square ends on the hour hand and round ends on the minute hand . This configuration was also seen in the recent Philip sale of a 2998 with a brown dial that sold for over $110,000 in the winter.
It doesn’t mean to say that it’s right, and in any event it means that I value it less than if it had the triangle lume hour hand .
The price of this watch is lowest estimate at €25,300. A European buyer would have to add VAT at 20% if it stays in Europe plus the premium. I’m pretty sure that if you went shopping for 2998 today US$26,000 in your pocket, I think you could come up with a better example than this. (Really it's $30k+ after fees)
One thing Phillips is pretty clever at, is making the initial estimates attractive. If this watch had been at Phillips they might have estimated it at CHF8 to CHF12,000 and then slap themselves on the back when it achieved CHF22 or CHF25,000.
we would also all have been considering it, but for me, not at this level.
I look forward to hearing what people think
