HI OF,





Some of you have seen it on the German Ebay-Kleinanzeigen, but for those who didn’t I thought I‘d post it here for discussion and archive purposes.

This watch was offered about a week ago, I was in contact with the seller.
A really nice guy, he inherited this watch when his father passed and the watch spent the last 8 years in a safe.

Funny bit of trivia:
His father actually left three watches behind, a Rolex GMT II, a Jaeger LeCoultre world timer and this Speedmaster. The two younger siblings of the seller went for the GMT and the Worldtimer so he was left with the „old“ beaten up Speedmaster. Safe to say he knew nothing about its value but didn’t care much at the time.
Beeing the oldest sibling he was happy to leave the other two watches to his sister and brother.

Only when he posted the add to sell the watch, to pay off some bills for renovation work on the house he just bought, and his phone literally exploded with messages he knew he had something special in his hands.

He posted the add around 7:30 in the morning and at about 9:30, when I wrote him, his offers were already standing at around 23.000€.

We agreed to talk things over on the phone in the late evening and at that point he had offers around 25.000€. At that point I offered quite a chunk more on behalf of the shop I‘m working with.

Next day comes and his offers have gone up way high. In respect of the seller and the current owner I wont disclose the amount, but let’s just say you could buy a decent new mid size bmw for that.

At this point we dropped out of the game.
I just spoke to him today and he sold the watch.
It would’ve been great to be able to close this deal but I have to say I‘m also genuinely happy that he personally managed to get the most for his inherited watch.
He‘s a humble self employed guy who had no day off of his small food joint since years and he told me he‘s definitely going to take some time off now and go on a nice holiday trip with his family.

I‘m curious where this watch will surface again. I have a strong feeling that we will see it at a major auction house soon.

Interesting enough I was informed that the Omega Museum was interested in the watch, but also ultimately dropped out because of the price. I can’t confirm this info though.

To the watch itself:

If we go with the theory that the blue soleils are service dials, I think this watch would make quite a strong case for that.

The serial checks out for a 2998-61, (1894xxxx) the movement is good, symmetrical bridge, arrow indicator and so on.



All the other parts that may or may not have been replaced during service indicate a timeframe from the late late 60‘s to early 70‘s, especially the bezel and the hands and ultimately the dial, in-line with the service dial theory.

As far as the sellers story is believable, his father bought the watch in the condition he presented it in the add, and it was never serviced while in his (fathers) possession. So unfortunately it‘s not a one owner watch, and we can’t say for certain that it left the factory (or service) the way we see it today. But I had no reason to doubt the seller, even less so after talking with him over the phone.

And I‘m in general a quite sceptical guy when it comes to sellers story’s, especially when it comes down to an Item that is worth such a huge amount of money.

I don’t closely track blue dial Speedmasters, but out of the 3 variations the blue metallic soleil seems to be the rarest. I think there are 5-6 known examples so far, so this would make this watch number 7 or 8?

I‘d be interested in what the OF thinks about this one.

Have a great day,

Cheers,

Max

Here are some more pictures:

 

Simply gorgeous. A shame about the lost DON, but if you’ve got the coin to buy this one in the range you suggested, then you can probably spring for another $3-5k for a nice DON and be done.

Thanks for sharing the interaction and photos!

 

Yeah a DON would’ve been nice, but it would also go against the late 60‘s early 70‘s Service theory, although the bezel might or might not have to be replaced back then.
I don’t know if it is standard procedure to replace the bezel during service or only if it‘s damaged. Then again what qualifies „damaged“ at omega? The smallest scratch or a dent?

 

Man these rare dialled speedies are going for crazy prices now. There was that red racing dial a couple months ago on eBay that went for over 60k euro. How long can this last?

 

While early Daytonas are regularly fetching $500k and up...quite a while i'd imagine.

 

I am not an expert on these watches at all, but the dial seems to have "wide T´s". That would make me suspicious for a 2998.

 

Short indices? Isn’t that some kind of a service dial?

 

The prevailing theory for quite some time has been that they are service dials, which makes it so...interesting...to me that in a market focused on originality, people are willing to head into the same price territory as a properly sorted 2998-2.

 

What I suspected...alternative collecting..

 

i received a notice from my german friends as well. but i exited the price war early. there are more interesting watches for me out there. i still go for the service dial story. One other possible avenue is the idea, that the dial manufacturer had a few made in different shades to show the Omega factory, hoping for a Contract. they often were discarded or sold/given to local swiss dealers/watch makers and surfaced much later in the form of Prototypes on Ebay. has happened with Tudor Chrono dials and a few Rolex dials. so, the source for these is not the Factory, but the Dial Manufacturers. just another Theory.......kind regards. achim

 

One of the best dials of these I’ve seen. I see no brown wear spots.

So interesting how to value... Imagine the correct dial in this one and a 68 with this dial...

 

Stunning dial , glad the owner got the price it reached.

 

Great story and nice to hear the owner will have a chance to enjoy the benefits of it

 

rarity > originality sometimes and I sympathize in this case. That dial is beyond beautiful

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.
The dial is quite stunning, I know of another blue metallic soleil in Germany but this one takes the cake so far. Most of the time there is some damage around the subdials, not so on this one.
The seller deserved every penny he got for it.

 

Interesting decisions for the extract of archives. Swap or keep, mention or save for later.

 

https://www.chrono24.fr/omega/speed...d-white-prototype-blue-soleil--id10912782.htm

Just listed by a german seller.

 

He is looking for €68k, which translate to about $73k.

 

Incredible story. And it really is interesting about how the potential for this being a service dial has not detracted from it's desirability.

However, I wonder if it's more because there just isn't that much details about these watches yet. I feel like there's been other premiums in the vintage Rolex market for potentially service items (blueberry GMT bezel, all red GMT hand) but I suppose the premium does not head in the +300-400%

 

But I think that’s not the same watch from the beginning of the thread. Bezel could be changed, but the lume and some spots on the dial differs .

Nico