A guy on Reddit claims Omega sold him all the parts he needed to build a modern Ed White with the exception of the movement. He then salvaged a vintage 321 movement, put everything together and voilà:
Would you buy an "empty" Ed White from Omega with no serial number on the case but with a receipt showing all the parts are genuine ?
It does have a serial number, you can see it in the photo. The case wont but then they don't on Watchcos either so it is a good parallel. You can trace the original watch the movement came from. It is just unlikely to be a Ed White, either original or otherwise, and even if it was it would still be a Franken build.
A guy on Reddit claims Omega sold him all the parts he needed to build a modern Ed White with the exception of the movement. He then salvaged a vintage 321 movement, put everything together and voilà:
Would you buy an "empty" Ed White from Omega with no serial number on the case but with a receipt showing all the parts are genuine ?
And in the event Omega does do an SM300 reissue, the Watchco SM300 will likely jump in value.
Because a new SM300 would likely be considerably more expensive than a currently priced Watchco.
We saw this phenomenon play out with the last aluminum bezel Submariner when the ceramic Sub was introduced. The new model was more expensive and harder to get, so the 14060 increased in value.
But the old Sub wasn't a franken...not a comparable situation.
But let's hope we have a chance to test the theory...
If you look at the market price trend of a Watchco SM300 over the last decade, it’s pretty obvious that it being a “franken” means less and less to buyers. The Hodinkee kids barely know what Watchco means. They just see a cool vintage watch in amazing condition and care less about provenance.
Well, the entire Rolex market is based on stupidity.
I would say the secondary market is currently, but buying one at MRSP isn't, if you like the watches of course...
But in any case, Watchco actually made Speedmasters this way as well (along with other models - Baby Ploprof's for example) and none of those command a premium, because people just see them for what they are - a bunch of parts. I don't see any 321 made up from parts with a modern case to be any different.
The SM300 was far more popular, and it's value is driven by that popularity and by the fact that new versions are not entering the market - this has also caused the number of fakes to explode. I still believe that should Omega release this watch again, it won't cause the Watchco prices to rise, even if there are some people who still follow Hodonkey by then...
