3800 1/a - good, bad, ugly - ADVICE

[DonQuijones]

Hi frens,

I have an opportunity to pick this up from a family friend at €15-20k. 1985 with all original paperwork etc. Clearly needs to go in for servicing and perhaps some polishing etc, but wanted to ask your collective opinion in terms of good/bad/ugly as a deal here? 1st in house PP movement, on a Nautilus, bought from original owner etc etc etc, but what am I not thinking about??

[huncho]

uh are these not worth more than twice that?

it's a watch i wanna own some day but the prices are insane. not sure what's going on here but at that price it'd be a no brainer ...

[~JJ]

If you pass, please send me a DM!

[agsstructures]

Buy it

[vliberman]

It is a mid $50k watch

[ts3]

Make sure you like the size on your wrist. A former colleague was wearing a 3800 every day in the early 2000s but he was a midget. On my 6.6 inch wrist the 3800 looked too small due to its tiny dial (much smaller than the dial of my 34mm 3998P Calatrava). Back when I tried on the 3800 it was a 10k to 15k watch and those days may well return I think.

[ts3]

Just to add, the 335 movement used in the early 3800 was retired for the improved 330 after a few years of production. I don't remember exactly what the issues were but I have read quite a few times that the 335 (just like the 310) doesn't have the best reputation.

[srvrf]

If you like a vintage watch at 37mm go for it. Hopefully the family friend knows that they are giving you an exceptional price (maybe a $25k USD discount). Because if they don't know and start to look at other prices such as on Chrono24 I feel it would cause a lot of problems.