August Ebay Speedmasters

August has never been a great month to sell, but we still see some interesting things and as a result of holidays, some things get sold cheaper than if the owners had just hung on until September. So here is a very quick skim through ebay on sunday.

Here is a 105.003 from an excellent trustworthy seller, Micheal English. The watch is in good overall condition, but the dial has been re lumed and the bezel is poor. That said the current price is around $6500 (offering is in Sterling) and that is cheap. It may end up going for more, and it deserves to in spite of the re lume. The case is strong and the dial body colour is loveley. I cannot help but thinking that there are many watches on offer with lume work that is undisclosed, and here we have a full disclosure seller. The original listing is here

The next watch that caught my eye wins the prize for worst photographer, and worst sales technique. If you really want to sell a watch, you have to show it in good light, and really if you want to sell it, a .99 auction.

I wonder what the bracelet is – could it be from the Soyuz? I am away from my watches so I cannot compare.

The straight writing case back is very desirable but the rest of the watch is almost impossible to validate. In the old days we might have bid on this gambling on it, but the current asking price of $6,600 is a bit unrealistic, given we cannot see what the dial looks like. Listing is here.

Here is a nicer watch:

Looks correct, nice bezel and dial and overall gives a good impression. The seller has provided a lot of good photos, but also a lot of extraneous wording, unrelated stock photos and generally seems to sell with a machine gun spray of information. It is unclear if any of the original documents that he has reproduced are included, but certainly I do not think it has the “New” Calibre 321 that he has shown pictures of.

None of that matters as the seller is real, the watch is well presented, and worth considering. Its extremely hard to find a 145.012 in this condition as many are broken for parts. I think this is changing, but a good 145.012 ought to be worth $9,000 to 12,000 all day but that is not what they are achieving and so I think these are the ones to buy – but only in good quality.

Currently at $4800 and listed here it is cheap at double.

Now here is what might be a gem, currently under $300 with two days to run:

Yes this was the best photo out of the listing – it was like he doesnt want to sell it. The bezel is a DN90 but the rest of the watch is a fairly decent 145.012 and it comes with the correct bracelet. This will go to a chop shop if someone does not buy it. Listing is here. I think that dial, while not perfect, might have an attractive colour.

Lastly, just to show no skim through ebay is complete without a potential scam, from Peru:

Listing is here.

I would be extremely surprised if this exists