Speedy Teutonic - is it worth bothering

Hello WIS,

my name is Benjamin and I am from Germany. I wouldn't really call myself a collector, I just like to wear watches - and I have a soft spot for chronos with central minute hand. Currently I have 2 watches with me that have this feature: An omega seamaster chrono 176.007 - you can partly see in my avatar - and a Breguet XXI.
Currently I'm having the chance to buy this Speedy Mark V Teutonic:






To my rather uneducated eye the condition of the case and the bracelet seems to be quite good - although I cannot really evaluate the condition of the clasp.
I am having three issues I would like to ask for your input:
- The handset: Lume seems quite rather unpleasantly aged, the white paint of the hands is yellowish discoloured at the cannon-pinoion. Is this in the normal range for a watch from the beginning of the 80's, or does it indicate some humidity and corrosion problem?
- The pushers: There seems to be some brown/yellowish residue between the pushers and the case. Is this likely to be DNA or some kind of corrosion?
- I found another one offered @ chrono24 as "NOS". This seems to have the engravings of the bezel filled with black paint:

However most "used" watches I find on the net show no trace of paint in the engravings. So my question is: Did they all have filled engravings in the first place? Is this what happens if you put the case in the Elma? Or are the NOS ones souped-up and the paint wasn't there in the first place?

Thanks for your input!
Benjamin

Hey Benjamin,

The bezels are originally painted, just not in a long lasting way... so the wear is common across this whole line.

From a buying perspective, it's a buyers market for these teutonic models.

They're hard to sell, and require someone who really wants one to take it off your hands, or low pricing.

Be warned that despite what dealers ask, recent ebay sold prices hover between £900 and £1500.

In short, if you like it, buy it, just don't pay top dollar, and don't expect to move it fast, or at a profit should you want to move it on.

Cheers

Chris

Spot on.

I'll also add that links for this are not available any more, and old/used spare ones don't seem to surface either.

So if you want a teutonic, buy one with the full 8" bracelet, or not at all - you don't want something else stopping you selling it when you get bored.

Thanks for your input, Chris!
The price asked by the seller is by the way ~ GBP1100 w/ origninal box but w/o papers and with unknown service history. So service will most likely cost me another GBP 200 with my independent watch maker.

Does anybody by chance knows, for how many removeable links I have to look out in order to have a full bracelet?

Thanks,
Benjamin

Hi Benjamin,

The price seems fair - if you want it, go for it.

Check the date advances correctly, both on manual alteration, and when running - the date discs on these are a little fragile, and it's not uncommon to see them with broken teeth, needing replacement - from memory that adds £150-£200 to the service bill.

I think a full bracelet should have 4 removable links either side of the clasp.

This http://chronomaddox.com/teutonics.html contains useful information. Just two observations. It could be just the photos, but I'd expect to see the calibre clearly stamped on the caseback. Also (and I stand to be corrected on this) I believe the day disk should be in German to be totally original, though they were sometimes replaced.

Two spot on points!

You can just see 1045 stamped on the back (distorted by the case grain).

With you on the day disc too - give the colour difference I'd say it's been swapped... possibly for the aforementioned broken teeth issue...

I'm pretty confident, that the back is stamped as it should.
The point with the day-disc is giving me some headache however. Replacement with the wrong disc and the fact that the 24h-indicator is missing the lume, maybe a cheap repair?
Any thoughts on the colour of hands and lume? I still think this looks pretty aged for ~30 years.

Benjamin