Have started watching sales at various auction houses and the weekend saw some impressive results. Anyone care to comment if these are abborations or on what is fueling these prices. One thing is for sure, the auction houses are certainly using the old tactic of estimating low and selling high.
Actually I think you have highlighted three very good examples of the auction houses not knowing what they have. The Racing dial was cheap - an exceptional finely patinated example - as opposed to tired like one sold recently. These are very, very rare. I compare them to Paul Newman Daytonas which are worth a large multiple of the standard version. The 2998 with the lollipop may have (perhaps, I speculate) gone to a naive buyer, but it was still exceptional. The dial was very special. It had the lollipop, and a BASE1000 bezel. This is the holy trinity for a Rolex Refugee looking for a Speedmaster. Also with a watch like this its sometimes better to own it than not. Remember we are not talking $2000 constellations here. 98% of the people offering opinions are never going to buy such a watch - and yet their opinions are taken on board regarding price - such is the internet. This again is a spectacularly rare watch, but with a strong potential customer base that is only getting bigger. The 2998 in Eastbourne was in my opinion bang on the money that these are trading for. This was an imperfect watch, yet good enough to appreciate and enjoy. It has problems, like most of the 2998's traded recently. (That is last 12 months).
Look, every watch is exactly worth, what somebody is willing to pay for it. all other evaluations are speculation. but it always helps, if Hodinkee talks things up. they have good connections to certain auction houses. kind regards. achim
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think an 861 orange racing has ever sold for that price. They were more like eur30-40k recently I thought.
Thats true - this is a record - here it is showing pleasant colouring in the red/orange band. Plots a little dirty. The one recently sold through the forum after asking Circa $50k - I dont know what it sold for exactly (sellers photo see listing here): Notice this dial and handset has washed out, like many of the MkII racing dials have done. This faded look is not as attractive as the the OP watch where the red is still more pronounced The 57k Phillips watch is this one: And the king of condition one, that I am fortunate enough to own is here: This last watch has no degredation at all, but it really is all correct original Omega parts. Serviced by Omega as well, some time ago. Which makes me wonder which hand spec is actually correct. These racing dials are super rare. It is true they were 20k then 40k and now 70k. But these are no longer collectors watches, like it or not they are now investors watches, just like Aston Martins are priced waaay out of enthusuasts league - which is a shame.
Here are the Phillips 2 from last year. I confess I thought the 861 was a bit too orange in the flesh and prefer the more faded ones.