It’s Friday, folks. That means the weekend is finally here, and so is Market Watch(ing). This week we have a great variety of pieces; in fact, you won’t even find two watches from the same brand. So, before the Mets begin their epic crawl out of their 0-2 hole tonight, read on and get your fix of awesome watches for sale around the web.
Neil’s Picks
Sinn EZM 13
We’ve said it many times, we are fans of Sinn. They make some of the best purpose-built watches at an incredible value. One of the lines from them I like the most are their EZM’s which are their “Einsatzzeitmesser”, or mission timers. It at started with the venerable and increasingly sought after EZM 1. Here we have the evolution of the series with the EZM 13, one of my favorite watches from the many releases last year. The EZM 13 it the ultimate tool watch with features like: 500m water resistance, unidirectional dive bezel, 1,000 Gauss anti-magnetic protection, anti-reflective and anti-fogging sapphire crystal, temperature resistance from -45 to 80 degrees Celsius, an uncluttered 60 minute chronograph, and all in a perfect size of 41mm. I really enjoy how well executed the dial is. The running seconds blends into the background at 3:00 and the chronograph has a full 60 minutes, eliminating the requirement for an hour counter, at least for my needs. This all adds up to an extremely functional and clean dial. I’m also a fan of the “destro”, or left-handed controls. The price is more than fair for this watch and the listing even says “negotiable”.
$2,394
Heuer Bundeswehr Chronograph
This watch is one we wrote about way back in our first Hall of Fame article. It just oozes military cool and has the rep and features to back it up. It paved the way for countless other brands and styles that can trace their origins back to the Heuer Bund. The one featured here looks great and is claimed to be all original and included is the original kit with box and pouch. There is just a little flaking of the tritium in spots, but overall, it is a fantastic dial. Not a lot of additional is info provided, but based on the sheer rarity, especially with the “3H” dial, this is hard to pass up. It’s a wonder this has been on the market this long. As always, it pays to do your homework, especially with these Heuers, but this looks like a solid piece.
$3,750
Dean’s Picks
Rolex 1675 Blueberry
$29,000
Longines Greenlander
€5,620
Isaac’s Picks
Omega Museum Collection Officer’s Watch 1945 Chronograph
In my time as an enthusiast of horology, reissue watches, or watches loosely inspired by several vintage pieces have been “hit and miss” for me, so to speak. When brands try and pull off a full-out reissue, it sometimes falls short of a vintage-focused collector’s expectations, which is why I tend to gravitate towards the throwback watches that remind us instead of a particular era in watchmaking in general. Since I’ve been looking into (read: insatiably obsessing over) less iconic vintage chronographs lately, I thought this piece from Omega fit the bill perfectly, even though it was released in 2003. As a part of their Museum collection, the Ref. 5702.50.02 pulls most of its design cues from a rare 33.3 chronograph supposedly released in 1945, but still features additional touches that we’ve seen in Omega’s of the same time.
This watch really could pass as a vintage watch in mint condition, and I’d say that’s largely due to the case size, coming in nicely at just 37mm across. The vintage aesthetic is then furthered dominantly by the oval chronograph pushers (something we don’t see on many chronographs today), the multiple scale gilt dial, and the relatively spartan shape of the lugs. On top of that, you’ve got an Omega Cal. 3200 column wheel chronograph movement beating away on the inside, and the fact that the watch is limited to 1945 examples is always nice. If interested, contact Miami-based dealer Matthew Bain, or check out his eBay page and listing.
$3,295
Universal Geneve Polerouter Deluxe
After writing an article on a little something we like to call “Fuck You Watches”, I went down a path of researching the gold-cased variants of my favorite steel watches, to see just how far the boundaries of bling can be pushed. The problem with this market segment, is that it gets expensive, since, uh, you know, it’s gold. Luckily, I managed to find a few stellar examples of relatively affordable vintage pieces in gold, so you can ball out on a budget.
We’ve talked about it many times before, and we’re about to do it again, because the Polerouter from Universal Geneve is just that great of a watch. Ask anyone out there what they think of the model in its purest form (Genta designed with turned lugs, crosshair markings, dauphine hands, etc.), and you’re bound to hear a great deal of praise. What’s different about this particular example, is that it was a Polerouter Deluxe, since it was produced in pink gold. In my opinion, the look of a gold watch with a black dial is hard to beat, and the condition of this particular piece speaks for itself. Definitely a worthy addition to any collection.
$2,750 or Make an Offer
Shane’s Picks
Zenith S58
Each week in Market Watch(ing), I make an effort to find less popular vintage watches and bring them to light. I think I’ve managed it today. Here we have a Zenith S58 from the early 1960s. These interesting pieces came with manual or bumper automatic movements, and featured highly legible dials and hands with plenty of lume. Thankfully, the abundance of lume makes for a nice vintage watch, if kept in good shape. This example is one of the bumpers, and doesn’t feature an external rotating bezel like some later S58s. Overall, it seems to be in good, honest shape, with matching patina and a thick case. It sort of reminds me of a vintage Milgauss ref 1019 with the case and hand designs. At €4,500 (OBO), it doesn’t sound cheap, but it’s certainly a lot less than a ref 1019.
€4,500 but taking offers
Jaeger LeCoultre Deep Sea Master Mariner
A while back, I wrote about the first Jaeger LeCoultre Master Mariner, which was a very simple watch marketed to seafaring folks. Appearance-wise, it’s not the most exciting watch, but here we have a later Master Mariner that really speaks to me. This is the Deep Sea version and it sports an internal bezel, and cushion-shape super compressor case. It’s basically everything I love about 1960s/1970s dive watches. From the limited pictures provided, this looks like a nice example, but I’d want to see natural light photos of the dial, as well as maybe just a few more shots in general. The seller says the full-rotor automatic movement was just serviced, which is a nice plus. For $6,300, you get a sweet vintage super compressor from a bonafide watchmaker that stands out from the sea of matte-dial Submariners.
$6,300 or Best Offer
by 
j_cic
Just a quick question on Vintage watches on eBay in general:
I’ve been following a few auctions for vintage Omegas of late. There seems to be a recurring pattern of items being re-listed after the auction ends, citing “non-paying bidder” – however it just appears to be happening too frequently to be random.
Should these sellers be avoided?
It feels as if they are probably bidding themselves with other accounts in order to reach a reserve.
Shane Griffin
There’s a lot of shady stuff that goes on with sellers bidding their stuff up, so I think that would be a possibility. You just have to do your best to trust the seller’s reviews and how long they’ve been on eBay. If you think their bidding stuff up, and the price gets too high, just lay off it. Even if they are bidding their auctions up, good deals can still be had, you just have to be patient.
Chris
This has to be the single best crop of picks you guys have done. It’s killing me that I’m putting my spare cash right now into a new car purchase. It’s just as well. If it wasn’t that, I’d then be trying to decide between one of these excellent pieces.
Shane Griffin
Thanks, Chris. You know, it gets really hard for us to resist our own picks as well.