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Find the best sub $20,000 2998 (or 105.002 Alpha) on the market right now...

eugeneandresson
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In similar spirit to this thread, find the best sub $20000 2998 (or 105.002 Alpha) on the market right now. A tall task considering the price spread between the sub references (and anomalous auction results), but they are out there.

This one is currently for sale at European Watch. Dial has lots of marks and scratches, but the lume looks very good (so that leaves some questions) as does the outer track... methinks it has pleasure to be had at the price (on the wrist, to the naked eye and under natural light it should present better), and is my pick if the lume is original tritium, which I think it is.



Here are some that have caught my eye in the last year (but no longer on the market) for interest.

This one just went OHPF.
This one was decent bang for the buck. A few issues and questions, but similar to my 'pick' above with a cleaner dial.
The winner and the stuff dreams are made of...from following the thread at the time I speculate it cost a few banana's and papaya's...although when it came back onto the market at a well known dealers, it sold in about 2 days for 4x the upper threshold of this challenge.
Edited:
 
OmegaFan503
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I will play.

I was watching this one on Ebay, but steered away due to the lack of movement pictures.

Here is the listing:

Dead Link/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/264572331742

I was surprised to see it went for $8500. May be I should have put in a low bid ...
 
Screenshot_20191227-173407.jpg
Delbok
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OmegaFan503 OmegaFan503
I will play.

I was watching this one on Ebay, but steered away due to the lack of movement pictures.

Here is the listing:

Dead Link/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/264572331742

I was surprised to see it went for $8500. May be I should have put in a low bid ...
Serial was starting with 19 5xx xxx so unfortunately nothing to do with a 2998-3 even if I agree with you the price was still low compare to the parts present here
Edited:
 
gefmey
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Interestingly a lot of the bids were from a couple of bidders with very low feedback, 2 or 3. This always concerns me when I see that, especially on a high ticket item.
 
Dan S
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I have come back to look at the EWC piece several times over the past couple of months, and it looks so nice in the small photos. But each time I make the mistake of looking at the high resolution photos, and the dial is just so badly flawed. This is probably one of those watches that I would need to see in person to convince myself that I would enjoy wearing it on the wrist. I agree it's priced well.
 
OmegaFan503
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Dan S Dan S
I have come back to look at the EWC piece several times over the past couple of months, and it looks so nice in the small photos. But each time I make the mistake of looking at the high resolution photos, and the dial is just so badly flawed. This is probably one of those watches that I would need to see in person to convince myself that I would enjoy wearing it on the wrist. I agree it's priced well.

+1. The dial is very unattractive in the high res photos.
 
OmegaFan503
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Delbok Delbok
Serial was starting with 19 5xx xxx so unfortunately nothing to do with a 2998-3 even if I agree with you the price was still low compare to the parts present here

gefmey gefmey
Interestingly a lot of the bids were from a couple of bidders with very low feedback, 2 or 3. This always concerns me when I see that, especially on a high ticket item.

I felt that something was off besides the lack of movement pictures. Glad that you guys picked up on it!
 
eugeneandresson
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Here is the current top-contender.

speed-62-2998-1-jpg.925840

Nice looking watch with an attractive dial.
 
kov
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I will play too. Make me an offer 😀
 
TheGreatKat
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Dan S Dan S
I have come back to look at the EWC piece several times over the past couple of months, and it looks so nice in the small photos. But each time I make the mistake of looking at the high resolution photos, and the dial is just so badly flawed. This is probably one of those watches that I would need to see in person to convince myself that I would enjoy wearing it on the wrist. I agree it's priced well.
Do you remember what was the price back then? (EWC)
 
TheGreatKat
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Spacefruit Spacefruit
in the metal this has a flawed dial, and a badly polished back
H/m hands are good though
Bezel is uninspiring
Yes, its not a perfect watch by any case. Not even good one but cheap and still nice and affordable to enter 2998, am I wrong?
What do you mean by flawed dial? Is it wrong one?
 
TheGreatKat
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I decided to refresh the subject as we saw some nice ones fitting it lately. It looks like the market is much softer and this game (to find a piece circa $20k) is way easier. And I know you can say that the best ones sells for fortune but still...the market is a broad term and definitely it's easier to take a chance to own your 2998 and not bad one!

The brown one (from Bonhams-discussed in other topic) sold few weeks ago for around $23K:

The other one was sold on ebay yesterday for $15k, which even considering few deficiencies which I see and few more which you guys can notice, it's still very good deal, right?

And just to ephasize the difference the last pic is 2998 sold few years back by Sothebys around $13k. I guess today would be skipped.
 
image-2.jpeg image-3.jpeg x1526531-f8cd54abc4d85416c2b441b15df4bd39.jpg.pagespeed.ic.knSoh89p1G.png x1526533-c92e2778177ced1962a7880e9668db1a.jpg.pagespeed.ic.8zLRgiThe_.jpg x812848-dc399924c3baf784278ea61a280dd468.jpg.pagespeed.ic.QThJknskrE.jpg
Aludic
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TheGreatKat TheGreatKat
The other one was sold on ebay yesterday for $15k, which even considering few deficiencies which I see and few more which you guys can notice, it's still very good deal, right?

Yes, I do think that was a very good deal. If it would have been in the EU, I would have been all over it. Surprised it stayed this 'affordable'... Perhaps indeed an indication of better times arriving to those looking to buy, like me. Time will tell.
 
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TheGreatKat
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Aludic Aludic
Yes, I do think that was a very good deal. If it would have been in the EU, I would have been all over it. Surprised it stayed this 'affordable'... Perhaps indeed an indication of better times arriving to those looking to buy, like me. Time will tell.
Same for me. If in EU I would jump in.
 
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pdxleaf
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TheGreatKat TheGreatKat
I decided to refresh the subject as we saw some nice ones fitting it lately. It looks like the market is much softer and this game (to find a piece circa $20k) is way easier. And I know you can say that the best ones sells for fortune but still...the market is a broad term and definitely it's easier to take a chance to own your 2998 and not bad one!

The other one was sold on ebay yesterday for $15k, which even considering few deficiencies which I see and few more which you guys can notice, it's still very good deal, right?
.

I was looking at it and got itchy fingers at first.

First reaction was why is it so inexpensive? This made me perhaps more untrusting.

It was difficult for me to decide based on those pictures. The lume was suspicious. It was difficult to distinguish a line at the step part of the dial and they seemed more puffy with little shrinkage. Plus, a darker color generally can be an indicator of a relume. Having said that, i've only seen a couple of these in the flesh and don't know what is normal 2998 lume. It did look similar to Spacefruit's other 2998 post so perhaps okay.

The case looked soft. These generally are but again, i would have liked better pictures.

Last thing was, what's the catch? Why is a Sotheby's auction buy being sold on Ebay for 15k?

This very well might have been a great buy. I wish i had come across it earlier than the afternoon of Christmas day with a few hours to go.

Perhaps there were others thinking like I was. This might prove to be a great watch.
 
bananapeanut
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Aludic Aludic
Yes, I do think that was a very good deal. If it would have been in the EU, I would have been all over it. Surprised it stayed this 'affordable'... Perhaps indeed an indication of better times arriving to those looking to buy, like me. Time will tell.

I was interested in buying it until members made me realize how bad the case looked. I initially thought it was unpolished as the seller claims but it's more than that. Therefore it was hard for me to put a number on it even when following the price chart on Speedmaster101. The dial was nice and I didn't mind the condition of the bezel at all but ultimately I'd rather pay more for a better example.

pdxleaf pdxleaf
I was looking at it and got itchy fingers at first.

First reaction was why is it so inexpensive? This made me perhaps more untrusting.

It was difficult for me to decide based on those pictures. The lume was suspicious. It was difficult to distinguish a line at the step part of the dial and they seemed more puffy with little shrinkage. Plus, a darker color generally can be an indicator of a relume. Having said that, i've only seen a couple of these in the flesh and don't know what is normal 2998 lume. It did look similar to Spacefruit's other 2998 post so perhaps okay.

Why is a Sotheby's auction buy being sold on Ebay for 15k?

The lume was 100% legit in my opinion. The seller claimed he bought the watch from Sotheby's for $33k just a few months ago. He was definitely prepared to take a loss but probably thought it would sell for more than $20k. Ending the auction on Xmas was not the best idea.
 
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