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SoyuzPilot
·I do like this concept of sale/auction reviews, as certainly I always seem to learn something from each one. So thanks Spacefruit and recently pdxleaf for those. Here's my attempt:
I have a thing for boxes, as some of you may know, and so this caught my eye at Hanson's, a group of regional auction houses in the UK.
Link is here.
Here's Hanson's headline:
"Omega- a gentleman's automatic steel cased Speedmaster wristwatch"
Well, ummm, ok, that doesn't look right. I'd better read on.
"Omega- a gentleman's automatic steel cased Speedmaster wristwatch, circa 1960's, comprising a signed round black dial with applied lume baton indices, lume inserts to hour and minute, centre seconds, dtri subsidiary dials, outer seconds tack, black Tachymeter bezel, case approx 40mm, logo crown winder, to a bracelet link strap with fold over logo clasp, along with original box, Mexico Olympics along with original parts and service papers, Omega red travel case General condition: working at time of report, some fine scratches to glass, case and bracelet commensurate with wear Note: regarding watches/pocket watches please note movements untested, functionality untested, for more information request a condition report with specific questions or please view in person"
Forgetting the watch for a moment, as I didn't come for that, let us look at the box. I do love these Mexico Olympic boxes, and many don't have their insides, but this one does. They came in a number of variants, in white or yellow and with various names, Omega, Seamaster, Chronostop and with or without the full Mexico games logo. The yellow Seamaster variant usually comes with a bright green velvet interior. This variant is white, with the Omega name, and with the Mexico logo - a variant that I don't have yet in my collection so that's now got me interested.
Externally, the box is not in perfect condition. It's a bit late in the day now to ask for more photos and I can't get to the auction house in person, so let's press on... The outside has clear corner staining, which tells me that this has likely seen some damp or water damage. Above the logo there is some puncture damage, but the gold logo is clear and in excellent shape, without much rubbing or fading. This is quite rare, as the print quality was not that great at the time, so that's good but mixed due to the section with loss.
Inside the box, it's like new - so it's been restored likely - although I have seen a few that have been kept in excellent condition. But to me, that interior is not consistent with the exterior or with the watch, but if the owner had it as a daily wearer then it's all plausible. No way to tell without an inspection.
https://hansonslive.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk/images/lot/4712/471215_0.jpg?1700987045
For the watch, obviously it's not an automatic as described. If came with the box originally then it would be a 1967-9 vintage. What have we got? Well if you know your dials extremely well, you can get right to it very quickly, but it took me a few minutes to work it out. Firstly I thought to myself - here we have a transitional, perhaps without lume. Then I noticed there is only "SWISS MADE", without the "T"s, which raised an eyebrow. The hands are all new, I noticed, so it's been serviced. Ah, of course, it is the luminova service dial that Omega routinely used to replace raised logo dials.
Oh dear. Well, that's a shame. Maybe it's in the bag of bits.
Ok so this is interesting. We have a DON bezel, the original set of hands and plenty of parts. The potential to restore the watch. But no, because we don't have the original dial. Thanks Omega service dept.
So, what do we have. The is case is well used, looks like it has been polished, but we don't see too much of it in the photographs supplied. We could go into detail here on the crown and pushers, but we've already got some red flags.
So for me the value is only in the DON bezel and hands, which we can't make out the quality of, and the hands anyway won't match the dial as the original dial is AWOL. Value-wise, I'm putting a generous £1,300 on the bezel and £300 on the box, then I'm left with valuing a service dialed 861 probably from late-60s but who knows as we don't have the serial or reference. If we put £2,500 value on that then we are at £4,100.
This auction house charges 39% fees (!!) including taxes, so we can bid up £2,900, maybe £3,000. However I don't see much value here for me as so much is guesswork is required due to lack of information and photos. Ultimately it would have been better to have inspected in person or to have received more info well in advance.
So that's how I looked at it just prior to the auction - bidding was competitive and the price rose quickly to £3,300 and hammered there. That's £4,600 all in, plus a few hundred quid for packing and insured shipping to me. Someone either saw some value I didn't or didn't see the service dial I suspect. Let me know your thoughts.
Anyway, I hope you found some value in this. All photos are Copyright Hanson.
I have a thing for boxes, as some of you may know, and so this caught my eye at Hanson's, a group of regional auction houses in the UK.
Link is here.
Here's Hanson's headline:
"Omega- a gentleman's automatic steel cased Speedmaster wristwatch"
Well, ummm, ok, that doesn't look right. I'd better read on.
"Omega- a gentleman's automatic steel cased Speedmaster wristwatch, circa 1960's, comprising a signed round black dial with applied lume baton indices, lume inserts to hour and minute, centre seconds, dtri subsidiary dials, outer seconds tack, black Tachymeter bezel, case approx 40mm, logo crown winder, to a bracelet link strap with fold over logo clasp, along with original box, Mexico Olympics along with original parts and service papers, Omega red travel case General condition: working at time of report, some fine scratches to glass, case and bracelet commensurate with wear Note: regarding watches/pocket watches please note movements untested, functionality untested, for more information request a condition report with specific questions or please view in person"
Forgetting the watch for a moment, as I didn't come for that, let us look at the box. I do love these Mexico Olympic boxes, and many don't have their insides, but this one does. They came in a number of variants, in white or yellow and with various names, Omega, Seamaster, Chronostop and with or without the full Mexico games logo. The yellow Seamaster variant usually comes with a bright green velvet interior. This variant is white, with the Omega name, and with the Mexico logo - a variant that I don't have yet in my collection so that's now got me interested.
Externally, the box is not in perfect condition. It's a bit late in the day now to ask for more photos and I can't get to the auction house in person, so let's press on... The outside has clear corner staining, which tells me that this has likely seen some damp or water damage. Above the logo there is some puncture damage, but the gold logo is clear and in excellent shape, without much rubbing or fading. This is quite rare, as the print quality was not that great at the time, so that's good but mixed due to the section with loss.
Inside the box, it's like new - so it's been restored likely - although I have seen a few that have been kept in excellent condition. But to me, that interior is not consistent with the exterior or with the watch, but if the owner had it as a daily wearer then it's all plausible. No way to tell without an inspection.
https://hansonslive.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk/images/lot/4712/471215_0.jpg?1700987045For the watch, obviously it's not an automatic as described. If came with the box originally then it would be a 1967-9 vintage. What have we got? Well if you know your dials extremely well, you can get right to it very quickly, but it took me a few minutes to work it out. Firstly I thought to myself - here we have a transitional, perhaps without lume. Then I noticed there is only "SWISS MADE", without the "T"s, which raised an eyebrow. The hands are all new, I noticed, so it's been serviced. Ah, of course, it is the luminova service dial that Omega routinely used to replace raised logo dials.
Oh dear. Well, that's a shame. Maybe it's in the bag of bits.
Ok so this is interesting. We have a DON bezel, the original set of hands and plenty of parts. The potential to restore the watch. But no, because we don't have the original dial. Thanks Omega service dept.
So, what do we have. The is case is well used, looks like it has been polished, but we don't see too much of it in the photographs supplied. We could go into detail here on the crown and pushers, but we've already got some red flags.
So for me the value is only in the DON bezel and hands, which we can't make out the quality of, and the hands anyway won't match the dial as the original dial is AWOL. Value-wise, I'm putting a generous £1,300 on the bezel and £300 on the box, then I'm left with valuing a service dialed 861 probably from late-60s but who knows as we don't have the serial or reference. If we put £2,500 value on that then we are at £4,100.
This auction house charges 39% fees (!!) including taxes, so we can bid up £2,900, maybe £3,000. However I don't see much value here for me as so much is guesswork is required due to lack of information and photos. Ultimately it would have been better to have inspected in person or to have received more info well in advance.
So that's how I looked at it just prior to the auction - bidding was competitive and the price rose quickly to £3,300 and hammered there. That's £4,600 all in, plus a few hundred quid for packing and insured shipping to me. Someone either saw some value I didn't or didn't see the service dial I suspect. Let me know your thoughts.
Anyway, I hope you found some value in this. All photos are Copyright Hanson.
