Hi all! I'm thinking of putting my beauty up for an auction house. Could need some advice. The watch has only one prior owner before me. It was bought by the father of my wife in 1962. He used it well and did all service at the same place since new. It has been in a drawer between late 80's until it was given to me 1996. What would you do...? Take it in for service/cleaning/polishing? Put a new crystal on? According to my wife it was never polished, but I'm not sure. Thanks in advance!
Looks like a beauty although we need better photos. Wouldn’t touch a thing beyond removing the current bracelet and putting it on a leather strap.
Ok, so not even replace the crystal then? It sure has some patina Sorry for not the best quality pictures. I thought keeping the original (the one he bought it with) bracelet was the best, should I really replace it?
Leave it as it as and disclose what you know about it. Buyers would be happier having their own watchmaker do the work and having it serviced yourself would not get you enough of a better price to be worth it. Replacing the crystal if desired is easy for their own watchmaker to do. Give the buyer the choice. As for polishing, please no, never.
Do not polish it Do not service it. Any replacement of parts is likely to lower the value of the watch. Please look here: http://speedmaster101.com/ Read all the pages, this will greatly educate you.
You will need some photos with the crystal removed, but I would not do any work on it. It's too risky that some damage might accidentally occur. Don't make any claims that you can't verify. For example, most people would say that this watch has been polished as some point, so claiming that it is unpolished will just hurt your credibility. Don't even bring up this point unless your claims are absolutely certain. The watch is great, and very valuable as it sits.
There is nothing you can do - literally NOTHING you can do to he watch - that will add value. (That includes a dismantled photo) In fact it will make it less attractive to most here. You already have the most valuable attribute, that is a single traceable family ownership, and a relatively untouched example of a highly desirable reference. Anything, ANYTHING you do to it risks that provenance and attraction. Remember you are not the expert here. You don’t have to describe anything. You don’t have to say anything about the watch other than its history and verify it. The photos tell us everything - the serial, the reference the state.... I know it’s hard, but for family sellers less is more. You feel like you have to put effort in, but that effort is best spent solidifying provenance with papers or old photos. Good luck with the sale.
Strongly suggest you contact one of the larger auction houses that understand watches. Phillips? I'm not sure if you understand how desirable that watch is to a large number of collectors. The next owner will need very deep pockets. The best thing you can do is pull out anything to give the watch provenance. From boxes, receipts (not only purchase but servicing), family photos where the watch is visible .... Literally anything and everything will add to the watch. As for the watch itself ... put it down and leave it alone. The market loves originality. Originality above all. Don't even wipe the dirt from between the links of the bracelet. (Out of interest, I can see the bracelet is a "flat link" but can't make out any details ... what are the numbers stamped inside the clasp?). Other than that ... you might want to give some thought as to which model of Porsche you'd like to have.
Nice one Grapefruit. Jimmy D is spot on. You've got something there that may well be worth the value of your entire household contents! Suggest you find a nice wee hidey hole for it until it's time to take it to market..... and for God's sake don't trade it for a handful of magic beans...
