agree with both these sentiments. . i think the philips crazy auction result for a NOS a384 has definitely moved prices up but nowhere near as much as the asking prices indicate
Yes the asking prices. Not the best indicator for sales prices unfortunately.
I wonder how many of these over priced watches Chrono24 sells. As my experience is that only very reasonably priced watches sell on their site
never bought on c24 but I think on average we can assume a possible discount not over 20%, does someone with buying experience on c24 confirm or correct this?
Yes!! Price shown on the ads has been significantly increased in the last 3-5 months ... but it is not more demand ... it is interesting to see how many week/months is necessary to get sold that watches.
A384 and A385 was underrated (like any other zenith, IMHO, what I want to thank), but demand was never high ... so I guess prices will go down slowly
Last year I saw A385 for around 4000 eur and A385 for around 5000 eur in good conditions ... I think that’s the price ...
Will chime in since one of my watches is in there priced at 9750. I have sold quite a lot Primeros last year. Some go quick and others last a bit.
These thoughts in random order I like to share with you. Some of them are open doors but some maybe interesting for you guys.
1-The tropical A384 is one of the nicest early Primeros since they offer a true vintage experience. You can have the black dub dials but also the tropical sub dials with all the different kind of hues as mentioned earlier in this terrific post of @Mick Tock. I think in the pictures by @preacher you see different kind of A384 in different kind of conditions. Some have a ladder bracelet some don't. Some have black dub dials and some have tropical dials etc etc.. There is a different demand for each kind expression of this vintage reference.
2-On high demand sport Rolex models, dealers tend to take a small margin since they rotate quite fast.
3-Last year was a particular good year due to the anniversary of the Primero but also the speedmaster Moon landing.
4-I see a big price increase for early/rare Primeros since i ever got interested in them. I remember well the first prices i asked among @mahamithra in 2015 and compared others for around 3000-4000 euro.
5-Sometimes there is a bit wiggle room depending on the purchase price of the dealer. But bear in mind that a dealer has to make a living and has high costs such as interest, subscriptions, insurance, service costs, shipping and need to make a decent living.
6-Thereby I and some others will be the person who will give you one year guarantee. In my first year i had one return which was a really difficult one. But I solved it. To me a happy customer is the most important since I would like to offer my customers the experience I would like to be treated myself. And yes there are still a lot of things to improve. I will thrive to get better and better each day.
I have to disagree. A384 have been around 5k usd for a long time and in my opinion very under valued compared to A386 and Zenith Daytona (for example). A384 did not move up anything even though the A386 and Zenith Daytona did Indeed go up a lot. To mee, watches have a relative value to other watches, and lets say that A386 should be 2 times the price of A384 long term. Then the market all run in the same direction and buy A386 and bid up the price to around 4 times A384. Then it is to me likely that they will move back at some time (one up or the other down) as people eventually reallize that one of them is relatively cheap. Exactly the same thing happened to vintage Nautilus vs Royal Oak.
So in summary. A tropic panda El Primero in good condition should not be 5k with current values of other watches. It is a high quality and well balanced iconic chronograph from a highly regarded brand.
Price has a lot to do with condition along with things such as: does it come with box and paper work, GF ladder bracelet, has it been recently serviced etc..
For what it's worth here is my opinion, assuming that the watch is in great condition, recently serviced and comes with GF ladder bracelet.
A3817 and A3818 are going to be in the range of $13-$15k. Mathew Bain recently sold 2 really nice A3817 examples and their list price was in this range.
A386 as far as I'm aware are going for $15-$18k
A384 and A385 are some place around $6k
Again this is just my opinion based on what I've seen lately. Others may want to weigh in.
BTW here is a pic of mine.
As Zuke said, condition will set the price... Most of them have service/replacement crown and chrono hands (the spiky ones...). Lume is sometimes very dark. Out of the 2500 A386, I guess less than 500 remain in top condition...
I am proud to own 2 A386, a mk2 and and mk3. Both are 100% original. mk3 has the GF bracelet and the mk2 has the original zenith strap and buckle. mk2 is un unreal condition, watch has hardly been worn in 48 years.... patina is fresh and clean...
I enclose 2-3 photos as this thread needs a few pics....
Up
