Yesterday in Chichester £4900 plus commission and VAT is a lot of cash. The auction house couldn't open it to show the movement or which model, the bezel is missing. Nice dial and hands. These were the pictures they sent me.
Without the commission and VAT, price seems about right for an .003 if you add on 1500$ or so for decent DON. I think dial is real nice, case not bad. Again, would need to see movement and caseback.
nice crown, wrong pushers. at that price, with a decent DON bezel added, it seems a little steep *for this piece*. what is that between the pushers/crown anyway? mould?
I think the pushers are original and correct. I have had a few with the same. I saw this one too. Nice looker.
I think everything you see is original and correct. Looks like it has a nice dial as well. No doubt the 'barn find' angle pushed it up but at 4900 GBP +vat and commission it's another strong price. I'm struggling to keep up!
Tired looking 105.002 on eBay at the moment: BIN for £12k. Dial looks beaten up with a bite taken out of the step. Don't know if it will sell at that price, of course.
Pushers are dirty enough to be original. Lugs look a bit rounded (at 7 o'clock). Could be the photo. Nice case of hour creep. Sea creature is really worn. This watch has been WORN.
Chichester? I love those small regional auction houses!! Blurry pics and all that. I recently dealt with one that had a Rolex 6610 buried in the middle of a pottery, jewelry and furniture sale. Literally leather sofas and the like. They would not allow prospective buyers to handle the watch at the viewing (held in a church basement) for fear that it might get damaged...and forget about opening it up for a pic of the movement. It used to be that in exchange for putting up with these practices, you got a healthy discount on the watches -- but now with online salerooms it's hardly the case anymore.
Lets assume commission is 25%. Which gives 1125. Assume VAT is only on commission so total cost is: 4900 + 1125 + 245 = 6270 or by x-rates : USD $ 9040 For that the buyer gets a 105.003 with apparently all the right bits, except of course the bezel. By my reckoning it needs a service - and probably internal parts, so lets hope the buyer knows someone, and a bezel. Minimum spend $1500 + $650 so the new total cost is: USD $ 11,190 Going by my own chart http://speedmaster101.com/price-chart-2/ its a touch high. But not so high. It will be an original, fully serviced, correct condition 105.003 which will be compared to other 10k+ speedmasters. It depends on how the case and dial appear in the metal. 003's are a wide ranging group. A poor one might languish, unsold at 5000, while a good one will comfortably exceed 10,000. The thing is, when you compare watches side by side, only then will one know if it is really a good piece. I think a lot of the price increases seen in the last 6 months are newcomers over paying for watches that lack the fundamentals to be great watches: poor dials, poor cases, painted hands, damaged bezels. Here is a sound watch, that lacks the correct Chrono seconds, and carries a poor bezel. The dial is sound, with a little degradation. Pushers are the modern specification service pushers. (So waterproof - ish) Here are two more. One is worth double the other: And finally a gratuitous 105.003 group shot: Here shown an Omega Service watch, (top), and another Omega service dial, (Right).