Black Racing Speedy up for auction

Anyone spot it?
Am I allowed to link?

Just post some pictures if you can and make the members search for it 🤪

For comparison, there is also one for sale in Portugal € 158.000,-

Yep, early racing Speedys are important and given it's not your own listing you're promoting entirely fine to post

Teasers

Character, should we call it?

Certainly hasn’t been fluffed for auction

Yeah, dirty and worn seems untouched.

Serviced by Omega......😲

Interesting one, thanks for posting.


First, worth noting the Portugal example cited above is the non-Pro, whereas the OP watch is the Professional.


This is a genuinely rare variant, and importantly the Professional execution—so you’re looking at the smaller dial plate with correspondingly smaller sub-dials and hands. The dial plate itself is unique to this execution, effectively a different layout. That detail is often missed, and it’s where you sometimes see incorrect larger service hands fitted that end up marking the sub-dials. Thankfully that doesn’t appear to have happened here.


Condition is really the talking point. The bezel is heavily worn and faded (and a correct replacement is neither easy nor inexpensive), but more importantly the dial has losses to the lume plots. With these, the dial is everything. Replacing the bezel would need to be approached very carefully to avoid creating a mismatch with the dial—otherwise it risks looking overworked. The bracelet is later, and indicates work and service.


The serial (2654xxxx) sits very close to a few known examples, which is reassuring. There were loose racing dials circulating at one point, so it’s always worth checking that a watch began life this way.


Original black racings are exceptionally rare, and across the examples I’ve handled the variation in condition—and even small details of execution—is quite broad. Some carry the white “Ultraman” style chrono seconds, and I’ve seen several with this drop-end configuration.


At the risk of putting the cat among the pigeons: one could imagine a dealer buying this, sympathetically reworking elements (bezel, lume, etc.), and reintroducing it via auction. That route tends to provide false provenance buyers at this level look for—particularly when it comes to originality and what work has been carried out. An Extract would be helpful here, though not always quick to obtain. You have to really know what you are buying at auction unless it has documents. This watch is at least honest.


On value, it’s difficult to be precise in this condition. In a no-reserve ebay type environment it might settle somewhere in the mid-$20k range; in a stronger sale setting perhaps a little higher. The current starting level feels ambitious given the condition.


As I write this, I’m aware how absurd we can sound—picking apart what is, objectively, an extremely rare watch, some examples have sold for over $200,000 at auction. But with pieces like this, the details matter. The more you look, the more small issues begin to show. Even something like those orange hands becomes problematic—very difficult to repair or replace without it being obvious, and that alone can have a disproportionate impact on value.


More broadly, I’m noticing the same pattern across “fine objects” generally—watches, paintings, gemstones, objets d’art. The market has become increasingly polarised: truly top examples command very strong prices, while pieces with even minor compromises, despite appearing similar at a glance, can struggle to find a buyer at all.


Curious what others think on value?


This is one of mine with the same chrono seconds.

Thanks for another excellent post William 👍👍. As for the auction price , in this condition i think i follow @Aludic thinking.

It looks like the minute, hour and running seconds hands have been touched up with red paint in the past and it’s now flaking off. I’d still like to own it - at the right price - which for me would be £20k max.

Great insights gents. I thought, even in this state, it might be worth more although no doubt you’ll be correct.
Cool piece.

Nailing my colours to the mast, I would love this watch to go nuts in the auction.

Beautiful. I just love survivors like this. Great watch to go with an old car. Man I'd love to be a bidder.

The more I look at it, this is one to keep as is. Trying to fix all the issues will ruin its originality. It is a certain type of watch now, and needs to remain that way imo.

I know nothing about these, but @Spacefruit, that's really some excellent analysis.