Speedmaster 2915-3: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly??

[hansaboy]

Good morning People!

Followed an exciting auction yesterday where there was a 2915-3.
Some of you here must have seen the auction?
The auction had a starting bid of 5450 € (with premium), which was obviously to low…😉

And following the biding that took some time (over 80 bids!!),
there was a person who had left an absentee (I found that out following the biding),
up to the amount of 15800€ (with the premium).
There was one ”eager beaver” in the auction house that did the final biding against the absentee bid
that almost got it,
but in the end a one and final bid came, and that lucky person got this watch!
The amount was 16300€/17600 USD with the premium!
So that was fun to follow!😀

And starting with the Good:
Look at the wonderful dial!
Oval O, domed dial, fonts seems to be right, the subdials have the short indices and Swiss Made at the bottom.
Nice hands, but not really sure about the length of the minute hand, they look a bit too short?
Crown (24 teeth) and pushers look beaten up, and could be correct?

The Bad:
The bezel is missing, that a real bummer, so if buying this one, a base 1000 could be very hard to find.
No bracelet, but thats one thing I could live with.

The Ugly:
The movement is NOT the correct one for this watch, serial nr 17301721 is perhaps for a 2998-1?
Following the lovely Speedmaster101, it should be in the 1664xxxx range.
But there are the "special" holes...?🤔

The auction house had also written that they tried to do an extract without success.

And case/caseback was not good or bad, so thats one thing I also could have lived with..

And of course - I am really curious to what you Folks think about the watch and if I should have gone beyond the wining bid…??🤔
Did the buyer want the parts for other projects (or just to sell), or did he have a period correct movement and bezel…??🙄
Or could it be he only wanted a 2915, regardless of everything...?

Cheers

Edited: Feb 5, 2023

 

[hansaboy]

Here are more pictures!

 

[watchyouwant]

What was the final price including fees ?

 

[befobe]

What a dial...😲

 

[hansaboy]

watchyouwant

What was the final price including fees ?

Sorry.. missed that one, but edited it now!!

 

[watchyouwant]

Movement number that high might be the reason for not getting the EoA. ( Maybe deducts 20% ...). Correct, normally used base bezel around $10000. But times and values have changed in the last 2 years. The last 2915-3 , I sold to a private collector shortly before COVID hit, had the EoA with an early -3 Mvmt. Number , the correct bezel and the -2 broad arrow hands. That was $ 96000 .

 

[PerJ]

Hi,

I picked this up yesterday at Kaplans. As written this was auctioned with a very low estimate due to the slightly off serial of the movement. I waited out the telephone bidder and then just had to bid off the written absentee bid. Of course you always want to buy cheaper but I imagine I did fairly well considering the amazing dial and hands.

I am normally into other brands so don’t be shy to let me know if something is off.

I will put on a vintage Telemetre bezel to begin with and leave it as is. Luckily I also have a 7912/6 bracelet to put on and with that I think I will have a very nice, kind of cheap ( I know how bad that sounds) 2915-3 to wear and enjoy.

Have a great day guys!

Per

 

[hansaboy]

P PerJ

Hi,

I picked this up yesterday at Kaplans. As written this was auctioned with a very low estimate due to the slightly off serial of the movement. I waited out the telephone bidder and then just had to bid off the written absentee bid. Of course you always want to buy cheaper but I imagine I did fairly well considering the amazing dial and hands.

I am normally into other brands so don’t be shy to let me know if something is off.

I will put on a vintage Telemetre bezel to begin with and leave it as is. Luckily I also have a 7912/6 bracelet to put on and with that I think I will have a very nice, kind of cheap ( I know how bad that sounds) 2915-3 to wear and enjoy.

Have a great day guys!

Per

Hi Per (a fellow Swede??), congrats on a lovely watch!!
I did do a lot of studies before the auction to try and understand this reference, and also about the specific watch that you got!
I do think that you did a nice catch, specially with that marvelous dial!

Ware the watch with pride and JOY!😀

Take Care!

 

[PerJ]

hansaboy

Hi Per (a fellow Swede??), congrats on a lovely watch!!
I did do a lot of studies before the auction to try and understand this reference, and also about the specific watch that you got!
I do think that you did a nice catch, specially with that marvelous dial!

Ware the watch with pride and JOY!😀

Take Care!

Thank you!

 

[hansaboy]

P PerJ

Thank you!

It would be interesting to read if some of the Masters here on the Forum might have another opinion??😉

 

[Dash1]

The lack of an extract will always bother some people (including me) but if everything was right about this watch it would have been vastly more expensive. So we pay our money and make our choices.
No doubting the attractiveness of that dial. Surely it was a very good buy for a 50’s Speedmaster that you can wear and enjoy.

 

[Arancio601]

That dial is spectacular. Congrats on the purchase

 

[Spacefruit]

At first glance I would be happy to have this at the price.
it has to be valued as parts, and these parts are valuable.
The dial is lovely, and valuable.
The handset is extraordinarily rare - but rarity does not equal value in this case, as just how many people actually want them? They fit 2915-3 and the early 2998-1. A narrow band of use case. That said, if two people need the handset, the bidding could go much higher than what I might think is reasonable.
I would check the case for damage by the pushers, hopefully ok.
Special movement ring for the -3
The movement is a concern - the number bridge is a different colour but for me, the value of a non extract movement is much lower than one with extract.

the original dial and handset make this a good purchase at this level.