Hi I stumbled across this on The Bay this afternoon initially described as a 145.022-76 and subsequently changed to 69 when the seller said that he’d opened up the case. Dial looks off to me, no concentric rings in the sub dials. Serial number I think is right range at 29 million I’d appreciate the more experienced folk on here to offer their opinions please Thanks
@JamieG its really up to you to get the ball rolling with your initial thoughts then others will chime in. What's your opinion on it?
Fair enough. I’m interested in buying a vintage Speedy. This came up whilst I was searching. I’m suspicious of the dial, as I thought they all have the concentric rings in the sub dials. Could be that the photos just aren’t good enough, could be fake. So if the dial might be fake then there’s a good chance the DON Bezel might not be the real thing either. Right now it’s on at less than £2k but with a couple of days to go, so it could rocket up at the last minute of course. So I’m obviously interested in it but don’t want to end up buying a pile of junk.
I think it's probably all legit but there are 3 things that concern me. 1. The photos are poor and it's hard to see whether the lume is just pale or its missing. Some of these -69's have quite pale, minty looking lume so it could just be the photo. 2. The chrono hand is the wrong type. 3. On a couple of pictures from the back, one of the lugs looks very thin. This may be the angle but I'd want to check. I think this could be a reasonable and legit watch, but it could also have some issues such as poorly refinished case and a washed dial. I'd want to see this in person or at the very least have better pictures before proceeding.
Dial looks correct to me. The hands, on the other hand are replacements judging by the lume color and the drop end chrono hand.
This ^, plus note that all hands have been repainted and the H/M/C hands have been relumed (and the chrono hand is not correct for the reference). Also notice oil spots on the dial.
Both lugs on the left side of the pic look way thinner than on the right side, the dial looks legit, I have the same reference in the 2911xxx range with a mint lume.
Thanks for the replies. I messaged the seller to see if I could get better quality pics, especially the lugs given the comments about lack of meat on one side. Apparently he’s away for the weekend and doesn’t have the watch with him. I also asked about service history. Apparently it’s not been serviced for about 10 years. Bidding is now above £2600 so I think I’m out given wrong Chrono hand, doubts on the case and defo wants a service. I might view it differently if I could actually see it before auction ends.
I have a -69 with light colored lume and I’m leaning toward this one being sans lume. There doesn’t appear to be any “texture” to the plots. But the pictures are quite poor. And yes, that is Chronomaster Only in the background
Agreed. Academic now. I was mulling it over and went back with five minutes to go before the end time to find it had been ended early with forty-five minutes to run. Never mind clearly not meant to be.
Fair enough I have probably not learnt anything but one thing I now look for in watches is better examples and would rather pay more for a better example than get a lesser watch cheap because I think that you will generally appreciate the good watches a lot more especially if you plan to keep them for a long time.