I agree with everybody that conditions trumps everything else: of course a mint (and all correct, with bracelet, maybe box etc..) MKIII will be worth more than an average MKI (with perhaps service parts, etc...), that is true of any watch really. What I mean though is that for the exact same conditios a MKI IMHO is worth more than a MKII or MKIII, mainly because is much much rarer and also because to me it is more historically important. Early = more value in many many cases. You can see this in many brands, especially (but nt only) in Rolex.
20y ago a Sub was a Sub, or a GMT was a GMT, or a manual Daytona a manual Daytona, very few people know about the difference between an underline dial vs no underline, double swiss, a close vs open chapter ring, pointy vs square crown guards, etc... but as years went by and scholarship increased and went deep into details the price and value difference emerged, A LOT.
Take a Speedy 2995-1 or 2995-2: they are IDENTICAL, literally. But the -1 is no question worth more. And they are indeed absolutely the same, a part from that -1 vs -2 on the inside of the case back.
Or Take a Heuer Monaco 1133b Chronomatic vs a Transitional: a part from the fact the former has Chronomatic written in the dial whereas the second doesn't have it the are pretty much the same: same"color-shifting" metallic blue dial (different to later version), same steel hands.
Which one do you think would be worth way more if auctioned/sold....i think we all know the answer.
It is my opinion that the same is/will be happening with A386.
I also disagree that the MKI is identical to MKII ad MKIII, there are A LOT of differences:
- Difference spacing of the writings on the dial
- Different hour and minute hands (the white spacing between the lume part and the black tip of these 2 hands is much thinner in MKI compared to MKII and MKIII)
- Different (thin) sub dial hands compare to late MKII and all MKIII
- Different case (no "groove"o the lugs in MKI)
- Different case back (inside is engraved differently to MKII and clearly completely different outside to MKIII)
To me these differenes are way more than the ones of other watches where the earlier iterations are worth more.
But, as jhross98 said, the market is always king, so only time will tell.
Me personally, given the choice, I will happly put a premium for a pristine MKI compared to a MKII or MKIII.
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