Thursday, June 10, 2021

Looking for hidden gem










I remembered I had a month anchorage at Salalah at the gulf of Oman by 1981…when I was on board the merchant vessel “White Sea”.

Salalah is the second largest city of Oman after Dhofar, also the biggest sea port in the Arab Peninsula.

It is the birthplace of the current Omani leader, Sultan Qaboos, and is located in the Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman. From the north, the city is surrounded by a mountain range that turns green with spectacular waterfalls during the Khareef season. From the south, it has a long beautiful coast that is embellished with white sands. It is a beautiful place, but by the summer of 1981, we were awaiting for moor one month before we can moor for cargo unloading.

I had a great chance to fish, as there was much we can do in the Arab port, no one is allowed to drink as beer, whisky store was bonded by Arabian customs officers once the shipped had arrived the port. Salalah shipping agent told me that Arabians do not eat those beautiful fishes as they called them fairy because of the colourful outlook. Those are green wrasse (Choerodon schoenleinii) and they are huge easily weighed 3 to 5 kgs each.
We use crab meat as bait on a string as we did not have fishing line, just put in we could catch big green wrasse, and we could possible caught 50 big fishes in just a day… This kind of fish is expensive in Hon Kong. The meat is so tender and we used to steam and serve with soya sauce, they were very delicious… but after a week, no one wanted to eat as we had enough with breakfast, lunch and dinner going to be the same fish!

The moral of this story is…. Try to get something no one wants in one place and that possible be gems in the eyes of someone… in other words, in the world of watches try not to compete with people who is looking for Daytona while price is too competitive already. Ty something else as to get the best net profit out of it.

Omega had been producing a lot of moon watches which I am not able to tell what series and model as they are as many as Panerai produced in the past ten years… unless you are really focusing in the Omega collections. Jack of all trades but master of nothing is always right to describe.

Alaska is so cold, but this Omega is so hot

OMEGA, SPEEDMASTER PROFESSIONAL, ALASKA PROJECT, LIMITED SERIES XXX/1970, REF. 311.32.42.30.04.001.

Perhaps no other modern kind of watch has quite encapsulated the spirit of the original NASA and pre-moon Speedmasters as much as the Alaska Project Limited edition as modern Icon of Speedmaster historical importance.

The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Alaska Project was the limited edition Speedmaster watch model that Omega introduced at Baselworld 2008. It happens to have one of the most interesting "limited-edition stories" among the modern limited-edition Omega Speedmaster Moon watches.

In 1970, Omega developed a Speedmaster that was a bit different from the then current Moonwatch models. They called it the Alaska project (it had to withstand extreme temperatures, especially those on the dark side of the Moon) and therefore Omega came up with the solution of an external casing made of red-anodized aluminum. The project title Alaska was from then on used for every assignment they did for NASA, like this 1978 Alaska III project watch that was re-certified for the Space Shuttle missions.

The dial was made white so it wouldn't absorb heat, and the red anodized aluminum case protects the watch in a temperature range from -148F to +260F.  NASA never purchased these watches and the project was cancelled at the end!

No other watch has captured the hearts minds of Omega collectors and enthusiasts as much as this. The Red anodized aluminum case is 58mm in diameter and we've still to see any collector quite brave or mad enough to wear one "On the go". I did it!

Price of Alaska project Omega

It was about $60,000 in 2008.

It was about $80,000 in 2019, then we see there is demand on it in 2020 January, price rose up to

$90,000 and By May we bought one with $105,000.  And price kept rising…

It is now about $350,000!

We here we are talking about Brand new full set unused one…

Price is still going up, what is the estimated price by end of 2021? Interesting. 

What is next for Omega

Well, people asked me, I think one of the most successful project is Omega Snoopy, launched at 2003, then another one in 2015, latest one was back to 2020, the 50th anniversary Silver Snoopy

Price is now $250,000, after goods are delivered in January 2021…. Price had been risen sharply and I really cannot estimated what price will it hit by Dec 2021…

From The past record, the 1st generation Snoopy is now HK$160,000

The second generation is now $380,000

With the new added nice and Start trek movie feature at the back of the 3rd generation Snoopy, I think this is the potential rising star or a hype for Omega.

I speculate that the price will overtake the 2nd generation by 2022… and By 2024 the price could possible go to $600,000!

Of course, this is my speculation, nothing can guarantee the price will go to that level, or even go above that level.

We you have chance try to get one at your local Omega boutique for this absolutely stunning piece.

HK Snob

Units here is in HKD (Hong Kong Dollar)

Pictures 

1. 2020 50th anniversary Omega Snoopy 

2. Back side of the 50th anniversary Omega Snoopy with rotating Earth and Rocket moving along the Earth

3. Omega Project Alaska full set

4.  Anodized red case for the watch

5,6. Omega Project Alaska watch

7. Port Salalah

8. A green Wrasse

9. M/V similar as the M/V White Sea/HPDS that I worked on it 1981-1982



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