Well, I opened my big mouth, so..
There was an auction on eBay a few years ago for the watch.
It seemed like a scam. But these watches never come up for sale,
so I was following it and emailing the seller fequently trying to get
something that would give me confidence that it was legit. He claimed
he was a Longines Wittnauer salesman in New York area in the mid-1960's,
and that he ordered this watch direct from the factory when they first
came out. He said the watch had never been serviced and that it has
been in his safety deposit box for many years. I asked if I could call him,
he said no he had hearing aids and didn't do well on the phone. I asked
if I could talk to him through his wife and he said "she's not avilable to
talk to you". Well, everything pointed to a scam. Well it came down to the final
hour, and I was still emailing him like mad, still searching for legitimacy.
In the end, I didn't bid because it was a Big amount and I felt it was too risky.
I emailed him and told him I chickened out and why. I told him if the deal didn't
go through to contact me, I was a buyer. He sent me an email the next day
saying that the buyer was an big ebay seller but that he was buying the watch
for someone in France and would it be ok if a third party paid him by credit card.
The guy freaked out. He asks me in the email if he can get out of the sale.
I then had to read all the ebay rules and told him 3rd party payment is not
acceptable in an ebay auction. Also his terms were Paypal only and the
guy wanted to pay by credit card. I told him to tell the buyer he will only
accept Paypal and no 3rd party payment. I said ignore any email except
one on those terms and if they haven't paid in 4 days open an Unpaid Item Dispute.
The buyer threatened him, etc, but didn't fork over the payment. There's a lot more
to the story. More drama, he thought I was a scammer, thief at the end. But
I flew down and picked up the watch.
It's an
early 1965 LeCoultre Polaris, of which only 500 were produced. There
were 50 prototypes made not offered to the public. The 50 prototypes and the
first 100 of the 500 were made without the snapin cover for the alarm. This
watch is the exact configuration of the prototype(Dauphine hands, no holes caseback,
big dot little dot hour markers) The seller told me he recieved the watch he
ordered directly from the factory, in a plain box and only wrapped in plastic with
a rubber band around it. I have suspicion and hope it is one of the 50 prototypes.
Well here she is. Gilt LeCoultre,Swiss, and Hour index print, Silver on the rest. 44mm Not including crowns
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