My previous response was a bit brief, a few small elaborations as to why I think this watch was certainly worth its price:
The good:
- This which seems honest in every respect. Dirty on the outside, consistent signs of wear, yet clean movement.
- Dial body colour and printing seem perfectly in tact.
- Hands seem original, correct length and curved as they should be.
- This watch was auctioned by a rather regional and small auction house, certainly not specialised in watches and clearly not prepared for sale. At the same time; good pictures and an external expert who's described the watch and clearly has knowledge of MWO. It allegedly came from the first owner, and I have no reason to doubt that based on what I'm seeing.
- Bonus: came with a later 1035/506 bracelet. Whilst not original to this watch, it never hurts to have one of those at hand.
The bad:
- The lume is a little dirty and seems a bit shoddily applied, particularly on the 9 and 10 o'clock indices.
- Case is indeed a little polished, but try and find a 2998 that is not... Good luck. It makes it almost a bonus, if it wasn't for the scratched up caseback. I hate those dummy marks. The pics above don't show the caseback; it's not dreadful, the hippocampus is visible and the double beveled edge remains, yet there are some opening marks on the side.
- This one is a bit of an assumption; the serial sits in the right range for a 2998-2, but is only a few numbers apart from another 2998-2 I've seen with one of our esteemed members here. That one failed to get an Extract due to a gap in the Archives. As much as I am convinced the serial is correct, I wouldn't be surprised if this one fails to get an EoA too (if that service resumes in its previous form, that is).
The ugly:
- The crown is a later service replacement, wrong diameter. But easy fix.
And of course, the ugliest part is not winning the auction. I'll just keep saving up. 😁
