Is DON Bezel Madness back?

We need more Speedmaster discussion and content! lol ... or maybe that is just me 😁

It can be fun watching auctions in an unstable market. I am sure a few of you followed this auction: https://jones-horan.hibid.com/lot/165862435/omega-speedmaster-professional-don-bezel?ref=catalog

$2800 is a really strong price IMO. Personally I would call this a step below a Very Good condition bezel. Depending on the watch of course, but as a loose bezel I think VG- is fair. Either way, pretty sure we can all agree it is not Excellent. (or maybe I grade too tough?)


What do you think; are people holding and and now starting improving pieces in their collection, or was this just a one-off in an unstable to down market, a sign of market improving, or….?

Full disclosure: Niners had Sunday off so I had a day uninterrupted to peruse auctions, my wife didnt realize they had played Thursday so she didnt load me up with chores. Hence a couple of new threads. 😎

Its a great bezel, dont get me wrong, but I was surprised at the rather strong price based on what complete watches with equally fine bezels are selling for. But by the reactions here it sounds like I should be readjusting my expectations on loose bezels. Thanks for the input!

I agree, it’s a good bezel but the price is towards the top end of what I’d expect in the current market.

Then again, I maintain that outside of dealers, there aren’t a huge amount of nice 60’s/early 70’s examples on the market. Same with parts.

My crystal ball is telling me the market correction we’ve seen recently has about bottomed out (let’s see how well this post ages!)

That was my thought also. The watch I posted in another thread was in the same auction; a stronger bezel for sure, and with a $6,000 hammer it makes the rest of the 145.012 come in at around $3,000-$3200 which I think is a steal.
Picture of the $6k watch as a reminder:

Thats part of my curiosity also, not sure which direction it may be headed when we are getting back to where a watch that is broken down into parts is worth more than the watch as a whole. Never sure if that is a positive, a negative, or just a given with watches in general.

I had a quick look at the link and it suggested there were no buyers fees to add on