I need your help OF - Zenith A278

Hello friends!

I'm looking at this Zenith A278 chronograph and would like to tap into the collective wisdom of OF.

Pros:
Unpolished case. Quite beat up though.
Dial in ok-ish condition. Some lume missing at 5 & 6 o'clock.
GF bracelet.

Cons:
Service crown.
Damage on bottom right lug, looks like welding splatter.
No pics of the movement, seller says "it's working".

What do you think? Watch is at auction and I have no idea what a specimen like this could be worth 🤔 I am seeing prices from €2k to almost €4k for this reference.

Seller's pics are not that great...



Thank you in advance!

No movement pics?

Seller claims the watch is working, but unfortunately no movement pics. This "game with incomplete information" -aspect certainly complicates things...

even though I love a good bit of patina, this just looks kinda tired

I'm far from an expert, but I agree with the previous poster. This just looks tired, including the bracelet. I dislike it when there aren't sufficient pictures from different angles to determine what is damage to the crystal and what is damage to the dial. That spot near 10 o'clock for example. Is that on the dial or on the crystal? Same question for a lot of the smaller spots around the center of the dial. The spot on at 8 minutes on the chrono subdial certainly seems to be on the dial. The running seconds subdial looks to have some discoloration on the left hand side. And no movement pics certainly doesn't help.
I'd look around for a better example. It's a great looking model.

Thanks for your opinions. I agree, the watch looks somewhat tired in those pics. I suspect it looks much better in real life but who knows.

I think it all depends on what your ambitions are. If you want to take on the risk, bid accordingly 👍