My first Omega...and it's heavily modded (FOIS-based)

Why not just buy a pre moon Speedmaster that would continue to appreciate? Instead you have a modern FOIS that won’t appreciate much that cost a significant amount to modify (I assume).

If a watch appreciates or not only matters if you plan to sell it, but if you plan to keep it, it makes a differnce if you want to lay out 10k for an EdWhite or 4k for a modded FOIS.

Great lookin' piece, man!

A few reasons. First, I wanted a new watch, not a used one. It was a gift I got myself for starting a new job and I don't want someone's scratched up watch. I like new things in general. I asked the watchmaker a few months before I bought if he could make one without patina but he wouldn't so I ended up buying this when he made it (I prefer patina now after I saw it in person).

Also, I paid substantially less than an original Ed White and I have no interest in ever selling this or anything I buy. I paid equivalent of a new FOIS at retail from an OB back in 2019 when I bought it. My investments are only in form of stocks and bonds. Homes, cars, watches, memorabilia, etc, I do not consider among my investments and don't approach them that way.

Last was I don't trust the used watch market with people advertising watches as original when not and sometimes cobbled up parts from one era and sold as such rather than box, papers, receipts, original watch. The manager at my OB has an EW with box and papers that his father bought new back in the 60s...family heirloom at this point and over $20k...I'm not interested in spending that much or wearing that if I did own one.

Nice timepiece