Is the market cooling for this reference 881101/03? There’s a real beauty on eBay being sold by EuRopean Watch Co for $29900 obo. Is this reference falling out of favor? It seems they were trading in the mid $30s head only not too long ago?

 

I think it was more like they were offered at very high prices but no takers. Perhaps Aurel Bacs did manage to sell one or two north of 30k.

 

This particular example has a couple of issues and has also been sitting for a long time. I paid a fair amount more than that for mine ~3-4 months ago because it had original owner provenance and no question marks.

 

Out of curiosity, what would those issues be?

 

A really nice one sold for $25k at Phillips a few months back.

 

Agree, they are tending to sit at these high asks. I think the one above is now sold / reserved, but it started in the very high 30's. Too much for the condition IMHO

 

Link? I don't think Phillips has ever offered an exotic (slate) Tri-Compax, though they did offer a teal dial one that sold for $44K all-in. They have had a couple of exotic Compaxes, but obviously different watches altogether.

https://www.phillips.com/artist/13092/universal

 

this one was quite cheap thou!(not an exotic but still a good deal imho)

https://www.phillips.com/detail/universal/CH080219/166

 

I’ve totally checked out of paying attention to these because of the prices. I am curious as to the issues you spotted though.

 

At the base of the H/M hands and on the date subdial hand, there's rather sloppy repainting that's been done, which flags (for me) that the watch has had some work done in the past. Additionally, a couple of UG authorities have questioned the caseback engravings, which look slightly different than standard engravings. While that part is slightly more subjective, in combination with the hand stack repainting it was enough for me to back off.

 

I agree in the last couple years or so they everyone was asking very high prices but no much action. a dear friend sold his in 2015 , same exactly dial for over 11K, and about six or nine months later prices they jumped thru the roof . I have seen them with asking orice from 40K to 60k ...but who would paid that much, unless they are really minty all original untouched, with box and original papers.

 

it was a good price because of the warranty card + box. I also think that if the tritium was intact in all the indexes and the bezel was in much better shape, it would have gone for higher than 20K. it's kind of hard to judge from the pics posted, the rear cover should be looked at closely too, the ser# and ref# were engraved at the rear very thin, and if they are repolished the ref. and ser they disappear easily, also know knows if the crystal was ever changed too