To be fair, I don't think they have been sub-$5K in years, particularly for great examples. The top inverse panda and panda examples were commanding $6-8K at least 2-3 years ago (based on data points from a couple of friends that have owned / still own great examples). Like anything, people were willing to pay tomorrow's price today, which is what I did with my inverse example. That said, it's in almost perfect condition and is one of the favorite watches in my collection, so well worth it. I think the top range of M95's are still sleeping giants (particularly the even earlier Borgel cased Breguet dials), despite the growing appreciation for them.
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This was my first M95 though, which I bought back in 2016. I was trying out both Gallet and Movado based on recommendations from a friend, and while the Gallet was nice enough, as soon as I opened the package, I was blown away by the solid gold M95. The dial and case quality paired with the in-house M95 movement...it was insane value for what I paid (sub-$3K on eBay).
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