Good example. A 145.022-69 ST can fetch a very high price because it orbited the moon (as far as I know it was not employed in any kind of EVA). This might appear immaterial but how much would it cost to send a watch orbiting the moon today?
In this respect Ron Evan's specimen is not a simple and of average condition 145.022-69 ST, but a hardly replicable piece of history.

 

It's hard to escape the irony in this comment. In the pre-quartz era, Omega made (for the most part) moderately-priced watches in relatively large quantities, designed to give at least a little of the look of upper-class luxury to the hard-working middle class, including my own parents. It seems they were also thoughtfully engineered, not to be artist-quality Breguet-like heirlooms lasting for generations, but to be repairable with readily available, inexpensive and often interchangeable replacement parts. Today, collectors prize those few remaining examples that, though inevitably worn, somehow retain their original parts, like a 1900 collectible tin toy still with its original cardboard box, while Omega prepares to cut off the supply altogether of the increasingly rare and expensive replacement parts.

 

The whole discussion about the prices at this auction made me look up again at the price chart the late Chuck made at the beginning of this century....

 

I just barfed a bit reading that...

 

Cisco share price march 2000: $77.31
Cisco share price today: $26.76

Bear in mind that we are all corresponding by means of Cisco routers.

 

If you cant trust Christies who can you trust? I don't think they would give the seller a refund if he objected to the bezel.

 

It is really hard to wear a share of Apple...oh wait, there is the Apple Watch!

 

Exactly as a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Nevertheless, I am given to understand that some people buy them the same.

All kidding aside, as a professional I would be pleased if people bought vintage Omegas for their own pleasure, as it has been for many, many years and not by the mere expectation of an increase in value. Because this is exactly the way in which bubbles forms and grow.
I understand that many collectors can be very happy to see their possessions go up in price, but the other flip of the coin is that many enthusiasts are cut off from the current market action.

 

The nice thing about vintage Omega/Rolex/etc is that there still exists a sliver of the total ownership that originally bought the watch in the 60's/70's as a daily wearer, haven't paid attention to auctions, forums, etc., and never took enough of an interest to learn about references or value differentiators (estate agents often fall into this segment as well). As long as people like that exist, there's still reasonable hope of finding one for less than a king's ransom. It's not easy..clearly..but it's well founded hope that with enough effort, one will turn up eventually.

Edit: That applies to 2998/105's, rather than 2915's. Even I'm not that naive.

 

Lot 3, the famous 2915-1 has disappeared from Christie's auction results: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/salebrowse.aspx?intsaleid=25971&viewType=list&action=paging&pg=1

 

Perhaps as I predicted, the buyer will fail to complete.

 

Ouch!!! I am sure some forum members will get the dirt soon enough.

 

Very, very interesting. Even more interesting that Hodinkee did an entire write-up about it. One wonders if they'll do a follow-up piece (assuming the transaction didn't go through) or if they'll let sleeping dogs lie...

 

Will Christies keep deposit? I am a knob when it comes to watch auctions

 

This smacks of hopeless incompetence by Christies who should clearly take on Mrs Fruit as a Consultant.