We don’t see the dust cover and I see no SN on the movement as well as some damage. Need better movement pics. My view is that this is a put together watch.
I'm not a noob but I haven't handled many 2998s.
If I had seen this at a good price, I would have been a buyer. I think it's a solid good, maybe better. Of course, there are limited photos.
The case looks great. There's half the battle.
Can't see stains on the dial in these photos. Assuming no stains, look at the lume. The lume is so intact and color so nice, I'd question if it was relumed. I don't think so. The 5, 7, 8 , 10 and 11 o'clock lume have slightly shrunk around the edges, which is a good sign of originality. The lume doesn't bleed over edges. If it was a relume, it was done well and not recently. I think it's original, but judging lume is not my strength. I think the dial is good+, at least.
The bezel is tricky. To me, it looks legit. We sometimes see fatter font at the end of production runs. The scratches along the upper left make me nervous, as that is what we'd see if someone were aging a bezel. But it's also where cuff wear happens, especially if wearing a heavier fabric. If real, it's not a bad looking bezel, and certainly does not distract from the watch.
Service crown and pushers are acceptable, as it helps if you want to wear it and shows it was cared for. Movement is clean with nice screw heads. I did not check ser number but assume it is correct.
Hands are a little bummer, but hands often let down an otherwise great watch. These aren't moldy or scratched or rusty. That's positive. But they pop out. The sub hands and chrono are so unmarred that they are suspiciously clean. It would not surprise me if all the hands were replaced at Service, since this was clearly serviced. But it does not look Frankenstein.
As Spacefruit says, older Speedys have been around awhile so we should not be as harsh on them as a 105 or 145.
You asked for an opinion, so this is just one person's opinion. I like it and think you did well, assuming you didn't overpay. Fingers crossed other more experienced members don't find issues.
Agree … could be a digital artifact. If the seller is hiding the SN … red flag. I’ll bet the dust cover is missing also.
I stupidly assumed the sn was correct and had been obscured.....still don't know why anyone is concerned about revealing sns. If the sn is in the proper range, and I'm guessing it is, you have a case, mvmnt and dial that I would not expect on a pieced together watch. Ouch, what is the sn?
And speaking to the comment about the dial being at least "good," I'd say it's closer to excellent.
The dial is where its at. The case too. Id follow Spacefruits advice and check the hands with a geigercounter…if they are radium, they are likely original…and i wouldnt touch them…if not, they can be easily matched. Bezel looks correct…adds a bit of beaten charm…good original ones can be found (with patience) if you want to match it to the dial (whichs looks 👍)…which can greatly improve the wrist-pleasure…depending on what you paid, id say ‘well done’,
as radium has such a large half life, its easy to recycle it into relumes… so i tend not to take that as an absolute.
it's argued that a crook can file a police report with the full serial and make a claim to your watch. It's common practice in the watch hobby to obscure portions of serial numbers (ie 17,537,3XX). However, being able to see/visually inspect the majority of the engraving itself is important to determine authenticity.
Sure…but typically when they do that, they color it to make it matchy-matchy. As far as i have seen on the internet (aka SM101), the white lumed original radium watches were very early ones. Never seen one listed FS. But then i have not seen everything…so its just a hunch.
No damage, just digitally "blurred" the serial number with a Voronoi filter.
Bezel does line up with the layout of the early 2998-3 bezels.
OP if you can give us something like 177621XX, it would be helpful placing it in time with other bezels.
A good clean photograph (ideally with a longer focal length) that is orthogonal with the bezel would be helpful to give best results on reporting on it.
