Hi everyone! First time posting, long time lurking. I am looking at acquiring a 105.012-66 with the CB case that I came across. I've done a good bit of research on speedmaster101 and also in the moonwatch only book. This example seems to have the correct dial, bezel, pushers and movment serial. The hands I know are wrong and I'm pretty sure the crown is a service one. Those things don't bother me too much. My question is about the dial. It looks good overall in person but it has a few of the second hand indices that appear rubbed off or faded. How big of an issue is this? Visually, it doesn't bother me much but was wondering about impact to value. I know the 105.012 is getting harder to find at a decent price. Would love the overall opinions of the experts. Thanks!!
Dial looks washed, if the hand lume was bad enough to need replacing it makes sense the dial lume was too. The hands are a bit of a problem, especially the minute hand which looks like the tip's paint has worn off making it look more like a Daytona hand than a Speedmaster hand. Case is polished too and the facets aren't very present anymore.
Well, the pushers are actually wrong too as they're the tall type, where a 105.012's pushers should be the short type. The subdials look a bit worn which is odd; worse is the lume looks completely gone, which for many buyers may negatively affect the value. The crown as you say is wrong, but it's a '70s crown which may have some value - not as much as a '60s flat-foot crown, but more than a modern wide-logo crown. Bezel's really nice, which is good -Are the case sides polished? They should be brushed, meaning this one's seen some case work in the past (nevermind the appearance that the trademark CB facets seem to have been removed!). While that's not particularly difficult to correct, it should definitely be taken into consideration. Overall, only buy if it's cheap.
The dial is ALMOST everything to me, and in this case, the dial looks very unappealing. So, for me it would never be a watch I would go after unless I could get it for super cheap, but that won't happen as even not so nice vintage speedmasters will still sell for a very good price compared to last year.
Unless its really, really cheap I wouldn't recommend buying this one because its not worth fixing. The hands are wrong (even the hour one). The lume on the dial is gone so theres not much character on this watch. CB case junction has been polished away. Pushers are wrong. Only thing that's decent is the bezel.
Thanks! Great feedback. Seems like it might not be the right one. What would be considered super cheap on these though? Just curious.
So value as parts. Do some research on ebay on what the component parts would sell for, case, movement, dial. Bezel on its own would probably be upwards of $1500. Movement, maybe another $1500. Go from there.
I agree, if the movement is nice though, the parts are worth $3k if you want to piece it out and you would probably get more than $3k
If the movement is clean, I think this watch would easily bring $4k in total. Anyone remember that nicely scarred dial that brought $650 on the bay?
Are you 100% sure this is a CB case? These cases are typically identified by the facets on their lugs, but they also tend to have a slim side profile and another facet on the underside of the lugs. None of which can be seen here. Rather than a polished CB case it just looks like a tired HF case to me. Regarding the rest, I never consider hands a deal breaker. Modern replacements can be ages to match, so although the price needs to be reduced accordingly, it wouldn't stop me buying. The dial is different altogether. And this dial would stop me buying unless I wanted a beater that might improve slightly with a sympathetic relume. The loss of the minute markers makes a big difference.
I did a deal at $3k. All this info was really helpful in securing that price. I figure I can daily wear it for a while and part it out in the future. Thanks!!
You can't go wrong at that price. It'd be interesting to see a movement shot, serial, inner case back and possibly an extract, to see exactly how it started out.
you got a good price, if you ever want to unload that bezel send me a PM ill be happy to take it off your hands for some $$