Month: December 2017

Hey, there’s something really interesting here. We have the second “found in a drawer” Omega replica to surpass the $100k mark in a little over a week. It sold at good prices through Live Auctioneers, which represented Flannery’s Estate Services in the digital auction.  
There’s something excited about this, though. We noticed that bidding went quite affordable on this one, sans buyer’s premium, though now it seems to have reverted before the premium, giving us the final nice price. I have reached out to Flannery’s Estate Services multiple times to try to get more information here, and neither my email nor my phone calls have been returned. I will update this story if we learn any more.
The fake watch in question is a fake Omega Speedmaster, made between 1959 and 1962, which was the first Speedy to come exclusively with the black bezel that served as a major design turning point toward the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch. Incidentally, though a special model may not have touched down on the lunar surface, as a matter of fact, it did go up into space, in 1962, on the wrist of Astronaut Wally Schirra. It was Schirra’s personal chronograph, not official issues.
Bidding started at just $250, with a funny estimate of $500 to $1,000. As you can see, the watch did not fly under the radar and the results were in a different ballpark.
The replica watch that sold last week was this guy over here, which broke the $275,000 mark at Bukowski’s Auction House in Sweden. That’s a record for the Ref. CK 2915-1 “Broad Arrow,” the first Speedmaster and a grail for Speedy lovers.
The real version of this model showed a price with a buyer’s premium of $110,700. We spoke yesterday to Marianne Flannery, of Flannery’s Estate Services, who told me that the actual price of this Speedmaster, including buyer’s premium, was $103,500. Because the winning bidder was in-room in at the physical sale in Upstate New York, she said, the actual buyer’s premium was 15%, not the 23% that is customarily charged to bidders using the online Live Auctioneers platform. She added that the bids escalated before premium due to “unverified” bidders who registered with Live Auctioneers during the sale itself.

Panerai Watches are always working so hard while making preparations for the sale of Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona and other amazing pieces in its New York “Winning Icons” sale next month. The auction house, which is quickly becoming a contender for the title of top collector watch auctioneer, has another collection of impressive replica watches slated to cross the block. 
While the exquisite Patek Philippes are bound to get most of the attention, what caught our eye was a duo of ultra-rare fake Panerai models from the ’40s and ’50s that are some of the most historic and great Panerais ever sold. The estimates look low on these beauties, so if it’s an indication that the market for antique Panerais is softening, we’d say it won’t last and savvy Panerai collectors should get busy with the auction paddle – not least because it may be years before watches like these become available again.
The big draw is a replica Panerai Luminor manufactured circa 1955. Different from the newest releases of the fake Panerai collection these historical watches are connected to one giant Swiss watchmaker. Like all Panerais from this early era, it features a movement and case by Rolex. And this example is crucially important because it was formerly owned by Admiral Gino Birindelli, a true hero of the Italian Royal Navy, which originally commissioned the Luminor for its elite Decima MAS underwater commandos. Admiral Birindelli was a commander of the Decima MAS during World War II, was later made chief of the fleet of the Italian Navy, and received the Gold medal of military valor among other distinctions. He himself rode the famous manned torpedoes that did such damage to the British Navy during the war.  
Nearly as important and appealing is an even older Panerai, this stainless steel Radiomir-style model is known as a “Type C” and features longer fixed lugs, and an inside case back signed Rolex S.A., along with the reference number and serial number. There are only 211 known examples of the model. There has been some evidence advising Panerai did deliberately this so that any commandos captured by the enemy would not have their origin betrayed by their wristwatch. We have to mention it again that this fake has an extremely interesting provenance, and was formerly owned by combat swimmer Helmut Rösel, who was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit. The multimillion-dollar Pateks may be more valuable but there’s nothing cooler than this pair of Panerais.

The replica Rolex GMT-Master was made particularly for Pan-Am Airlines after the company applied a reliable watch that was capable of displaying multiple time zones at the same time – for use on transatlantic flights. By adding a 24-hour hand and a rotating bezel with 24-hour markings, pilots could quickly reference another time zone by simply switching the bezel and using the 24-hour hand as an indicator.
The fake Rolex released an update to their GMT-Master line with the new model in 1959. In addition to a new movement and a slightly re-designed dial, the most obvious difference was the addition of crown guards to the case of the fake watch. Initially, the watch had a case with pointed crown guards; however, around the mid-1960s, Rolex fake watch changed the design to the more traditional crown guard shape that can be found on later renditions of the GMT-Master and GMT-Master II lines of replica watches.
Early examples of the watches were fitted with gloss dials, small 24-hour hands, and Rolex’s Caliber 1565 movement, while later examples received matte dials, large 24-hour hands, and the Caliber 1575 movement. What’s more, while the GMT-Master was originally fitted with a red and blue bezel insert – to match the company colors of Pan-Am Airlines – Rolex watch introduced the option of an entirely black bezel insert during the early 1970s.
These various changes were not all implemented uniformly; and since Rolex manufactured the fake GMT-Master for over two decades until production ceased in 1980, surviving examples of the watch can be found with a wide variety of different dial, case, bezel, handset, and bracelet variations. These numerous yet subtle differences, along with the overall condition of the watch, can be responsible for great differences in resale value for seemingly very similar watches.
While the fake Rolex’s latest iteration of the GMT-Master has received a large, Triplock winding crown to match many of their other sport watch lines, the GMT-Master was fitted with a smaller, Twinlock crown that was similar in size to those found on the Datejust and Day-Date watches. The superior water-resistance of the Triplock crown was initially not deemed necessary for a pilot’s watch.
Given that GMT-Master is a vintage watch, brand-new examples have been unavailable through authorized dealers for several decades. While the pre-owned market is currently the only place to find a model like this, examples can still be found in pristine and unworn condition, with all of their original boxes and packaging materials. Due to its remarkably long production run and the numerous variations in dials, hands, movements, bracelets, and bezel inserts that were fitted to the Rolex replica GMT-Master, prices can range surprisingly depending on the individual watch and its overall condition.