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Did anyone here nab the 'bargain' Ultraman of the month?

Aludic
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Hi all,

Went to have a look at this Speedmaster 'Ultraman' that came up on auction earlier tonight in a local auction house. Looks like I wasn't the only one who believed this to be a genuine Ultraman as bidding ended on 15k EUR (ex. 29% premium), in spite of rather dirty lume and a service bezel, which, by the way, was incorrectly aligned. Closer inspection revealed that the chrono doesn't work either. On top of that, it's a bit of a daring move as an EoA is absent and the serial, whilst starting with 2607XXXX isn't fully in range of the known Ultraman specimen.

Still, I believe this to be a good buy. Did anyone here nab this Speedy?

3491e97023a574e5a8f592d6c1b50-202004480_0021.jpg 88bb79c2f8ab403f5f2920d8ac700-202004480_0022.jpg IMG_8386.JPG IMG_8381.JPG IMG_8385.JPG IMG_8387.JPG IMG_8396.jpg


If so, congratulations!
 
paddymoran
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Aludic Aludic
Hi all,

Went to have a look at this Speedmaster 'Ultraman' that came up on auction earlier tonight in a local auction house. Looks like I wasn't the only one who believed this to be a genuine Ultraman as bidding ended on 15k EUR (ex. 29% premium), in spite of rather dirty lume and a service bezel, which, by the way, was incorrectly aligned. Closer inspection revealed that the chrono doesn't work either. On top of that, it's a bit of a daring move as an EoA is absent and the serial, whilst starting with 2607XXXX isn't fully in range of the known Ultraman specimen.

Still, I believe this to be a good buy. Did anyone here nab this Speedy?

If so, congratulations!
On ilovemyspeedmaster it shows as potentially an ultraman so it must be within (or very close to) the production range.
 
Aludic
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Dan321 Dan321
@Aludic do you know what range the ultraman were in? Thanks

Well, Watch Books Only has a rather complete list here: https://www.watchbooksonly.com/articles/watch-reviews/omega-speedmaster-ultraman/ (I can add a few more to it based on personal obeservation, but still.)

Looking at those serials, a serial ending with 6085 is a relative outlier. Then again, looking at claimed provenance, the length of the hand, the state of the lume (similar to known Ultraman as being rather dark and a tat mouldy) and knowing that it didn't seem very much prepared for sale (dysfunctional chrono, misaligned service bezel), I am inclined to conclude it's an original Ultraman.
Edited:
 
Dan321
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Aludic Aludic
Well, Watch Books Only has a rather complete list here: https://www.watchbooksonly.com/articles/watch-reviews/omega-speedmaster-ultraman/ (I can add a few more to it based on personal obeservation, but still.)

Looking at those serials, 26076085 is a relative outlier. Then again, looking at claimed provenance, the length of the hand, the state of the lume (similar to known Ultraman as being rather dark and a tat mouldy) and knowing that it didn't seem very much prepared for sale (dysfunctional chrono, misaligned service bezel), I am inclined to conclude it's an original Ultraman.
Thank you, I knew I had read this before but couldn’t find it!
Mine falls within those numbers……
Edited:
 
Dan321
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44EAC4B1-8166-4CA5-8D4C-F2D150269D22.png A5D32248-012B-4831-ACA2-83AB655FC279.jpeg
I thought I may have one (although it doesn’t have the orange hand and has been redialed during a service) but I think it has been claimed by Noel above, mine is also 26.077.43x
Edited:
 
140dave
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The hands look a lot fresher then the dial, they look like a later add-on to me. Could be the photography but I would think they were replaced at some point based on those photos.

Edit: referring to the Ultraman pictures posted. The close ups on the auction site do look better but it would have made me even more wary on top of the serial # and lack of EOA.
Edited:
 
Aludic
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Mark020 Mark020
Case is pretty poor imho. Hilarious valuation report as well (also one for the UG exotic which was a joke)

Agree, the 105.002 had a rather soft case, very apparent when you have it in hand. Still, a reasonable buy at the price it achieved.
 
Foo2rama
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Having the pulsations dial, and slightly long chrono seconds hand raises a lot of flags... I don't see the other signs of an true Ultraman either. Personally, I feel it was not undersold at all, I do not think it could get a higher price.
 
Aludic
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
Having the pulsations dial, and slightly long chrono seconds hand raises a lot of flags... I don't see the other signs of an true Ultraman either. Personally, I feel it was not undersold at all, I do not think it could get a higher price.

Interesting comment, provoking further questions, I hope you don't mind. Comparing it to confirmed Ultraman, for instance this one; it seems to have similar lume, a similarly 'cleanish' orange hand versus more tarnished hands overall. Add to that the fact that this watch can hardly be considered prepared for sale with a non-working chrono and a misaligned service bezel... Curious to learn more about the flags this example raises. 😉
 
140dave
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Aludic Aludic
Add to that the fact that this watch can hardly be considered prepared for sale with a non-working chrono and a misaligned service bezel...

There is more than one way to prep an item for sale and one is to make it look like a dog or "barn find".... ever notice that listings with bad photos sometimes go for more than they should? I still dont think the hands match the overall appearance of the watch as I mentioned before and I think that along with no EOA and a serial slightly out of normal range makes people cautious.
 
Foo2rama
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Aludic Aludic
Interesting comment, provoking further questions, I hope you don't mind. Comparing it to confirmed Ultraman, for instance this one; it seems to have similar lume, a similarly 'cleanish' orange hand versus more tarnished hands overall. Add to that the fact that this watch can hardly be considered prepared for sale with a non-working chrono and a misaligned service bezel... Curious to learn more about the flags this example raises. 😉
I’m not talking about the hands… I’m talking about the length of the orange hand.
 
140dave
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To me the length looks good, usually they are too short and this one passes the minutes track like (I think) it should but my knowledge comes from books and threads, not owning one. I understand why someone gambled on it but I do think it was a gamble for the points already made. It has a service bezel, it is obviously not an untouched example and too high for a "normal" 145.012 in that condition.
 
Aludic
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140dave 140dave
To me the length looks good, usually they are too short and this one passes the minutes track like (I think) it should but my knowledge comes from books and threads, not owning one. I understand why someone gambled on it but I do think it was a gamble for the points already made. It has a service bezel, it is obviously not an untouched example and too high for a "normal" 145.012 in that condition.

Yes, you are right. I can confirm that - in hand - it was pretty clear that the length of the Orange hand is good. It just passes the minutes track as it should.
 
Dan321
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Congratulations on your purchase. Nice move on extracting the info before the auction.
According to the below, the range started at 26.073.96x to 26.079.78x
So the known range of references is approx 6,000 watches.
B74CE2EB-452D-49DF-BB6A-DC167EB40784.png
Edited:
 
Dan321
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123Omega321 “123Omega321
As you can see on their list there are three known Ultramans with a serial number before 6.600 so I guess there are some offs from the more common 6.600 to 6.900 range....
I was referring to the quantity being 6,600 rather than the range I have amended my post, my error it’s actually less than 6,000 (not 6,600)
Edited by a mod:
 
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