Scott Carpenter’s 145.022-69 BA Gold Speedmaster up for sale… $1,500,000!

Dan S

Maybe he will donate some of the proceeds to build a homeless shelter in Scott Carpenter Park.

southtexas

Did it sell when listed with wind, and now it’s being resold? Or…?

W watchguy12

That was Collins' watch that apparently was resold shortly thereafter at a profit.

I am sure that Eric WInd was not successful asking $1.5 million - an aspiration price for a watch that lacked the story that came with Wally's watch or the link to Collins Apollo 11. No one would resell a watch and take a 90% loss.

Its not that the value of these watches have declined since Schirra's sold for 1.9 million. Each watch has a wildly different value based on the astronaut, any associated stories, presence of a box etc, various paperwork, and how effectively it is catalogued.

W watchguy12

Sorry the prior post was sent before finishing. This is a list of the astronaut gold omega speedmasters that were sold at auction over the last 18 months, chronologically. The trend is done. Though it may be because the market is "saturated", I think a couple other factors are more responsible. The first 5 were sold at space memorabilia auctions and brought in watch and space collectors, while the last 3 were pure watch auctions. Second, the first 5 had a combination of more desirable astronauts as well as a variety of associated items like boxes or astronaut or wife signed COA. I think if /when other luminary astronaut's speedmasters come to auction - Armstrong, Aldrin, Borman, Lovell, Glenn, Sheppard, Cernan - they will realize prices like the top 5 particularly if sold at space related auctions.

Collins $765,000 06/01/2022 HA #5529 Lot 54101
Schirra $1,906,954 10/20/22 RR Auctions 646 #7000
Grissom $375,000 04/20/2023 RR Auctions 664 #9001 w/box
Bean $302,500 04/20/23 RR Auctions 664, Lot 9002 w/ box
Evans $296,738 04/20/23 RR Auctions 664 Lot #9003 w/ box
Conrad $178,816 05/24/2023 Phillips Hong Kong Watch Auction XVI #899
Swigert $150,000 06/09/23 Sotheby’s Important Watches Lot #104
Carpenter $150,000 11/15/23 HA 5550 Lot #54183

worldwidewes

Yup, this makes a lot of sense. I definitely think these work much better as memorabilia than watch auctions. It's still so tough to understand what the proper market values really are for these watches given how small the collector pool who (1) is interested in something like this and (2) have the funds / desire to purchase at this price.

W watchguy12

Couple points about their value. A reasonable starting point is $40-50,000 around what one would cost if not given to an astronaut. If you are a watch collector, the ones given to the astronaut are worth more but probably don't add a huge amount. If you are a space collector, these watches are one of the most desirable non flow items to collect - they are the astronauts gold medal, and have intrinsic value; hence worth multiples of a non astronaut watch. Hard to know how many space collectors have the means and desire to own one of these watches, but there are a few thousand space collectors and looking at the auctions plenty of items go for 5 figures and some for 6 figures so probably a reasonable number of collectors would want one.

So all things being equal, the last 3 were sold at watch auctions at sold for 150-200k with commission.

The preceding 3 sold for 300-400 k at a space auction. So seems like a space collector may pay twice what a watch collector would pay. Could also be a result of RR Auctions good cataloguing, the presence of COAs from the astronaut or wife, and/or the including of a desirable box.

Lastly, it is dependent on the astronaut and their story. IMO, Shepard, Glenn, Armstrong and Aldrin's watches would be 7 figures. Lovell, Borman, and Cernan would be in the mid to upper 6 figures. The other astronauts would be 150k-400 depending on watch vs space auction, presence or absence of other items, condition etc.