re: Whose got a Rolex?

My friend is a lesbian and she got me one for Christmas. I think she misunderstood what I meant when I said watch for what I wanted for my present

2 of them

2014 Rolex Explorer II 216570 (White Dial)

1979 Rolex Explorer II 1655 "Steve McQueen" (Black Dial)

I don't wear the 1655 anymore, inherited it from someone very special and was thinking if I got mugged and they demanded the watch..I would probably say no.

Hold their value better? No. You can get a grey market moon watch for $3500, if you find a Black Bay Chrono for that, let me know.

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Better than the Tudor Black Bay Chrono with the B01 movement?
Yes. They are more recognizable, hold their value better

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Yea, I’m going to go out on a limb here because I really have never tracked the prices of Tudor Chronos or Speedmasters. But I would bet that the Tudor Chronographs hold value better than an Omega. Have not looked but I would think that an early 70’s Tudor Montecarlo bring more than a Speedmaster of the same year. Could be wrong though because I do not follow that particular market.

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Better than the Tudor Black Bay Chrono with the B01 movement?

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The B01 is a great movement but it just seems odd that Rolex would use a Breitling movement in one of their watches. While it is modified with a free-sprung adjustable mass balance and uses a silicon hairspring and is switched from a 30-minute register to a 45-minute register I still bristle a little at the words Calibre Manufacture on the case. Either way, it is a technically sound column wheel, vertical clutch movement that is technically better in Tudor clothes than Breitling guise.

Got one, dad gave it to me, I like it. If it breaks, it ain’t cheap to fix (assuming not under warranty)

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Yea, I’m going to go out on a limb here because I really have never tracked the prices of Tudor Chronos or Speedmasters. But I would bet that the Tudor Chronographs hold value better than an Omega. Have not looked but I would think that an early 70’s Tudor Montecarlo bring more than a Speedmaster of the same year. Could be wrong though because I do not follow that particular market.

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The Tudor Montecarlo has a huge advantage in scarcity but year for year and condition for condition it may have a small edge on value. The prices on those have more than doubled since Tudors reentry into the US. The 1969 and earlier pre-moon Speedys are the ones that bring the big money for the primo versions. The value retention for Speedy Pros is actually pretty remarkable given the sheer number of them in the wild. We are talking about a watch that has been in production for over 60 years almost visually unchanged.

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Where?

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That was Jomashop 6 mo-1 year ago, I know because I priced them around that time.

ETA: looks like prices have gone up a bit, strap version is now $3630.

ETA2: in regards to value, the BB Chrono is a better movement, with better finishes for roughly the same price.

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What would a Tudor 79260 have cost in the mid 90’s new compared to a Speedmaster of the same time period?

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I have no idea what the Prince chrono went for in the 90s. I know just 5 years ago you could get them for ~2.5k which was similar to a used 3570.50 Moonwatch. Since then the Prince has trended up more than the Speedy Pro. In general you don't buy a modern Speedy expecting it to hold a lot of value there are just too many out there and so many variations it makes my head hurt. The one recent Speedy Moonwatch that has done EXTREMELY well is the Speedmaster Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy, those sold for $6100 5 years ago and sell for over $26k now.

Speaking of the Moonwatch and the original Cal. 321 Omega has actually been painstakingly recreated it for use in special run watches. They are using gold instead of galvanic copper for the plate, cocks and bridges and straight-grained and polished steelwork with a German silver bridge on the intermediate clutch wheel. In pictures, the finishing looks nearly as nice as the 1142 in my Vacheron Historiques Corned de Vache 1955 (they are based on the same Lemania movement). The only issue is the new 321 will likely only be in high dollar limited runs, the first is an Apollo 11 Speedy Pro in platinum with moon meteorite subdials, I think the price is ~60k. Which for perspective is just a few thousand less than the Vacheron I mentioned which is also platinum.

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the BB Chrono is a better movement, with better finishes for roughly the same price.

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I certainly don't dispute that as I have pointed out the B01 is a very good movement and the Tudor modified MT5813 with its free-sprung balance is even better. The 861/1861 is a simple workhorse movement with industrial level finishing and in a Speedy with a solid caseback makes no visual difference since the Tudor has a solid caseback as well. In the end the Omega is a flight certified movement in a timeless watch which will likely continue to be more popular than the Tudor with is somewhat polarizing design. The allure of the Moonwatch is strong for many, honestly I prefer my Speedy Mk40 Cosmos triple date it is a magnificent if busy little beast based on a modified Valjoux 7753. If you really want a Speedy with a better movement you can get the 9300 movement which is another step up from the MT5813 in engineering and finishing BUT it comes as a significantly higher price. C'est la vie.


Mk 40 for reference.