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jeppehh
·Fill a thread? I have a watch box full of those "story" watches 😀
The one that got away: tell us about a good deal that slipped through your fingers
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yvrclimber
·Mine is a tragic tale that I will painfully remember forever. 1985-ish, out of grad school and wanting to get into the market and buy my first house. A program for lower income borrowers (me!) offered a great interest rate but you had to have 10% down. I borrowed $5,000 from M&D and eked together the $10,000 for a down payment and started putting the deal together. I was a regular reader of the the local "Cars Wanted" cheesy newsprint publication with tiny B&W photos. There it was, my absolute dream car! A "running, needs work" Aston Martin DB4, asking $10,000.
Oooh did I want to go buy that Aston. Cash. I hesitated and did the adult thing and passed on the car. Ironically, it was bought by a local lawyer I knew who routinely flipped high end collector cars. I know, 'cause I saw him driving it a day or two later after he'd bought it! He and I later had an another unpleasant encounter whereby I hesitated on a $20,000 Allard J2X that he then scooped up.
The one that got away. Any Aston, in any condition, will start at $250,000 for a basket case and go to $500-800,000 when perfect.
ETA I see that this is a DB5, but you get the idea...
Oh no!!! What a loss. That must hurt :-(
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Walrus
·Damn I missed a couple pouges, a very nice vintage movado and a constellation by either days or minutes, I felt bad about it but it’s barely worth a mention with the stories I’m reading here. I had the chance once to buy a handwritten letter by James K Polk, a president I always found interesting for around 800 dollars. In the letter it actually mentioned “manifest destiny”. I was 18 years old at the time and I knew I was way over my head when it comes to knowing what is real and what isn’t with documents of that nature but years later I read an article about the guy selling it and how he was a “world renowned” dealer in such things.
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TLIGuy
·I missed out on this one back in 2018.
This NASA issued X-33 popped up on eBay one evening with a BIN $2200 price from a seller in Jupiter Florida just south of Cape Canaveral. Knowing better and having a feeling something about it was not quite right I was hesitant to buy it fearing legal repercussions. I reached out to Omega to see what their interest was as well as contacting my contact at the GSA. After watching it sit for 4 days I finally received information back from Omega and the GSA on the same day saying they had no interest in the watch and laid no claim to it. I immediately went to purchase it and it was gone after being there an hour earlier.
According to Omega the watch was from the original batch of X-33 training and flown watches provided to NASA through the United Space Alliance contract.
If someone here picked it up you got quite the deal.
This NASA issued X-33 popped up on eBay one evening with a BIN $2200 price from a seller in Jupiter Florida just south of Cape Canaveral. Knowing better and having a feeling something about it was not quite right I was hesitant to buy it fearing legal repercussions. I reached out to Omega to see what their interest was as well as contacting my contact at the GSA. After watching it sit for 4 days I finally received information back from Omega and the GSA on the same day saying they had no interest in the watch and laid no claim to it. I immediately went to purchase it and it was gone after being there an hour earlier.
According to Omega the watch was from the original batch of X-33 training and flown watches provided to NASA through the United Space Alliance contract.
If someone here picked it up you got quite the deal.
Edited:
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Gaz6263
·I was at a Bonhams classic car auction, when they held them at Hendon airforce museum, probably mid 90’s. Amongst all the beautiful cars was a mark 3 Ford Escort, totally unremarkable but it had belonged to Princess Diana.
My friend and I laughed as it sold for about £3k as without that link it was probably worth about £500. After her death, I saw it in a sale in Las Vegas, asking price $1,000,000.
My friend and I laughed as it sold for about £3k as without that link it was probably worth about £500. After her death, I saw it in a sale in Las Vegas, asking price $1,000,000.
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wagudc
·I had recently inherited a 145.022-69 Speedmaster with a terrible redail. Thinking that a nice C1 step dial would not be easy to come by a I picked up a 1990s tritium dial. Soon after sending the watch off for a service and dial swap @EdtheAussie posts this beauty of a C1 dial. It was not in my budget at the time having committed to the service and purchased a dial. I still regret not getting this.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/spe...let-b2-c1-1171-1-and-1506.88988/#post-1175801
https://omegaforums.net/threads/spe...let-b2-c1-1171-1-and-1506.88988/#post-1175801
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kip595
·When I was 24 I was in grad school in Birmingham, England. There was a little vintage watch shop - long gone now - in a local shopping arcade. I was only just beginning to develop a real appreciation for high end watches and would regularly wander through (my whiskey shoppe and cigar shop were in the same arcade) just sort of to begin recognizing what was what, brands, models, the really basic stuff.
One day I strolled in and there in the case sat a freshly serviced Rolex Oyster Perpetual from the early 40s - in a full 34mm size - with a true original California dial. They even had the original sales ticket, from Harrod's IIRC, maybe Selfridges, but one of the big London dept. stores.
They wanted I think 1800 GBP at the time - I had about 2200 to last me for the rest of the semester while I wrote my dissertation. I knew it was something special, but I convinced myself I'd easily find another. I have yet to see one even close to that level since, let alone that I could afford...alas, the hunt goes on.
Pic for reference of the style, not my pic (and this example is the more common 32mm):
One day I strolled in and there in the case sat a freshly serviced Rolex Oyster Perpetual from the early 40s - in a full 34mm size - with a true original California dial. They even had the original sales ticket, from Harrod's IIRC, maybe Selfridges, but one of the big London dept. stores.
They wanted I think 1800 GBP at the time - I had about 2200 to last me for the rest of the semester while I wrote my dissertation. I knew it was something special, but I convinced myself I'd easily find another. I have yet to see one even close to that level since, let alone that I could afford...alas, the hunt goes on.
Pic for reference of the style, not my pic (and this example is the more common 32mm):
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Lonestar
·You are joking/being sarcastic, right?
When I posted, I wasn't. Then following your question, I dug a bit and realized the racing pre-pros don't have split hour markers... goes straight from Red to Tritium. Which I had never noticed. So I stand corrected now, thank you 😀
(and for those who want to follow the train of thought: https://www.watchbooksonly.com/articles/watch-reviews/racing-speedmasters/)
Still somewhat skeptical about the whole ebay setup of that one above, but hey it's an awesome story no matter what 😀
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eugeneandresson
·I missed out on this one back in 2018.
This NASA issued X-33 popped up on eBay one evening with a BIN $2200 price from a seller in Jupiter Florida just south of Cape Canaveral. Knowing better and having a feeling something about it was not quite right I was hesitant to buy it fearing legal repercussions. I reached out to Omega to see what their interest was as well as contacting my contact at the GSA. After watching it sit for 4 days I finally received information back from Omega and the GSA on the same day saying they had no interest in the watch and laid no claim to it. I immediately went to purchase it and it was gone after being there an hour earlier.
According to Omega the watch was from the original batch of X-33 training and flown watches provided to NASA through the United Space Alliance contract.
If someone here picked it up you got quite the deal.
Moral of the story : buy first, ask questions after.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerMoral of the story : buy first, ask questions after.
My thoughts exactly as I was reading it!
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myatt
·Perhaps not in the same league as some of the stories above, but I hesitated on pulling the trigger on a mint 145.022 with the 220 misprint bezel - all original with box, papers, extract from archives & bracelet last year for $9K - for a couple of hours. And it was gone! 🙁
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rcs914
·M myattPerhaps not in the same league as some of the stories above, but I hesitated on pulling the trigger on a mint 145.022 with the 220 misprint bezel - all original with box, papers, extract from archives & bracelet last year for $9K - for a couple of hours. And it was gone! 🙁
If it's any consolation I'm not really sure you missed out there cost wise.
