Chronostop Genève with Speedmaster stopwatch hand

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This Chronostop on Yahoo! Auctions is kind of cool looking but it never left the factory with that stopwatch hand, did it? Every example I’ve ever seen online had a chunky orange-red hand. What do you think? Just a mod? The dial certainly seems to have undergone a number of ordeals.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1060550693

 
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I also seen that model only with the orange hand I think 99% the hand was replaced. I do not like watches which has replacements..I consider them Franken watches and I will stay away from it.
 
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I for one would buy that in a heartbeat for the right price. After all eventually you could surely source the correct hand.
 
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I for one would buy that in a heartbeat for the right price. After all eventually you could surely source the correct hand.
It’s about $630. The schmutz on the dial gives me pause; the indices seem weird as well, although every photo of a Chronostop seems to have odd reflections on the markers, presumably due to the inverted angle the top face presents to the camera. Still, I find myself taking a hard look at it.
 
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It’s about $630. The schmutz on the dial gives me pause; the indices seem weird as well, although every photo of a Chronostop seems to have odd reflections on the markers, presumably due to the inverted angle the top face presents to the camera. Still, I find myself taking a hard look at it.

Having owned (checks records...) 7 different chronostop variants, the marks on the dial and markers are not uncommon, and seems to be consistent with the lume degrading and a certain amount of moisture getting in the case (likely sweat type volumes rather than a dunking, and probably due to degraded seals given that every one I've owned was taken for its first service by me).

Sometimes the marks come off, sometimes they don't, and if the markers have pitted there's no way of getting rid of it.

$630 feels about right in the current market, I will throw in a word of caution though, that servicing these tends to be a little more than a normal three hander, due to the stopwach complication.

I too would be pondering.
 
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If the second hand has any resale value then it could be an okay pickup. I will say I picked one up for 500 a few years back and took close to twice as much to fix it properly.

these tend to be listed for a lot of money but I don’t know how many actually sell for those higher prices.

Mine:
 
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these tend to be listed for a lot of money but I don’t know how many actually sell for those higher prices.

I struggle to believe that they actually sell for the silly prices you often see now... a couple listed on eBay recently for more than £2k each. You'd have to be a fool...
 
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I struggle to believe that they actually sell for the silly prices you often see now... a couple listed on eBay recently for more than £2k each. You'd have to be a fool...
Yeah I agree. Maybe with bracelet, full service, warranty, etc… but even then it’s not really a 2k watch.

Mine was my daily for a solid year until I picked up a 2254. I still wear it on occasion and am always happy when I do. Picked up a bracelet a year or so ago too.

For the amount I have into it I’d probably want 2k too haha

 
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Just go onto eBay and buy one of the orange hand swapped speedies and correct both watches at the same time.
 
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If the second hand has any resale value then it could be an okay pickup. I will say I picked one up for 500 a few years back and took close to twice as much to fix it properly.

these tend to be listed for a lot of money but I don’t know how many actually sell for those higher prices.

Mine:
Just curious what was the main cost in getting it running? Are there some movement parts that are unobtainium outside of Bienne or was it just a combination of issues?
 
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combo of issues. The chrono hand wouldn’t stop. The pusher wouldn’t, push. A few broken parts inside, new crystal, pusher, crown.

I honestly believe the seller didn’t know any better, the second hand was running in their eyes lol.
 
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combo of issues. The chrono hand wouldn’t stop. The pusher wouldn’t, push. A few broken parts inside, new crystal, pusher, crown.

I honestly believe the seller didn’t know any better, the second hand was running in their eyes lol.
Ahk so just a cumulative number of issues, I was just wondering if it were a specific weakness or anything but sounds like that movement may have just been a bit flogged out
 
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combo of issues. The chrono hand wouldn’t stop. The pusher wouldn’t, push. A few broken parts inside, new crystal, pusher, crown.

I honestly believe the seller didn’t know any better, the second hand was running in their eyes lol.
It seems to be an iron-bound rule of watches that if you have more than one chronograph, you have at least one chronograph with issues. As soon as I finally got service for the Seamaster chrono that had been sitting broken in my closet for two years, my Gallet multichron immediately fell apart.
 
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The chronostops are such interesting watches, in my opinion. I believe when they actually sell, they seem to trade for relatively little money given the quality of the watch. The 865 is a relatively overlooked caliber and is really a beautiful one.
I’ve serviced a handful and I really enjoy working on them.

if you’re patient, I think you can find one of these in the $1000 range that has a lot more to offer than the watch shared. You might not get into a nice jumbo, like a 145.008, but these smaller case examples seem to sell in the $850-$1100 range.
 
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if you’re patient, I think you can find one of these in the $1000 range that has a lot more to offer than the watch shared. You might not get into a nice jumbo, like a 145.008, but these smaller case examples seem to sell in the $850-$1100 range.

Looking through my list, I bought two non running Seamaster Chronostop 145.007 for just under £400 each, without bracelets in 2016 thinking I could fix them, flip them, make a little profit and put the money towards something else.

The service back then on each watch was £450.

They each sold for £900, serviced, with 2 year guarantee, but finding buyers took more than a month each time, and removed any belief I had that making money on vintage watches was quick or easy.

It amazes me to see people asking £2k plus now for these Seamaster Chronostops in worse condition than the ones I paid £400. The watch world truly has gone mad.