Thought I'd start a more recent post of good / great deals that we missed on.

For me I had an opportunity to purchase a full set Royal Oak 15300 in unpolished condition but with recent full AP service on movement for $13,000. This was 7 months ago. It is still a good amount of money and that's probably why I hesitated but I'll never find another for that price in that condition.

 

Life is full of regrets and missed opportunities. Learn from them. Over 30 years ago I had the chance to buy TWO Patek Philippe Ref 3450 perpetual calendar watches at a price of about $8,500 from an AD in Zurich. I passed because I already had one. Today they go for about $150,000 each, sometimes more. Having two pristine, never worn, in the box, full documentation 3450's would be a sweet proposition. It is what it is, just move on.

 

2 years ago, a friend who I had a dealt with before ( he bought my 14060) offered me a full set Aquanuat for 12k USD.

I went to check it out and passed on it because I had to buy a brand new rubber strap to replace it. (Old strap was for 6.5 inch wrist)

What a bummer.

 

4 years ago I was contacted by an AD who I had bought a couple of Rolex’s from previously to ask me if I wanted to buy the Aquanaut they had just received. The lady had remembered that I had previously mentioned a desire to one day own one but I was not on a list. Two weeks prior to this call I had bought a Breguet type xxi in rose gold so funds were empty and I passed.
Even the free diaries have stopped now from said AD. ☹️

 

Tell him that strap will fit my wrist and I'll pay him 12.5...lol. The Pateks went bananas in the past few years

 

Was offered a magnum style gmt a few years back for essentially a straight trade with a new superocean I had.

Turned it down as the bracelet on the Rolex was tinny in comparison with the breitling. Oh how I kick myself now.

 

It was in my early days of collecting vintage Omegas that a watch popped up on ebay as a BIN for £300. It looked like a well-known classic, but there was something oddly different about it. Could that dial be correct with those weird markers? Was this some sort of fake or "homage"? If it was genuine, surely it must be well worth getting and I wondered whether to just BIN it anyway with the option of returning it. But I didn't - I played it cautiously and searched for similar images. It was real! Effing eff, I'd better buy this and quickly! I clicked back over to the page to hit the BIN button, too late. It was "SOLD"......

The watch I'd been looking at was a very nice Seamaster 120 "Deep Blue". That chance won't come again. Bollocks.