Buying an ST 105.002

The reference in brief

The ST 105.002 is the shortest-lived steel Speedmaster of the straight-lug era, widely treated by collector references as a renamed CK 2998-62 rather than a new design. When Omega moved from the four-digit to the six-digit reference system in late 1962, the outgoing 2998-62 simply received the 105.002 stamp — same straight-lug case, same calibre 321, new paperwork. Its weight comes from rarity and ambiguity rather than innovation: the briefest production run in the line, and the moment the modern Omega reference system began. The full dossier — dial variants, the disputed production window, the source ledger — is in the Reference Library.

Two cautions travel with every listing. First, the production volume is unsettled: auction copy floats 2,000–2,600 pieces and no factory figure exists, so treat any exact production claim as a guess wearing a suit. Second, this is the radium reference — plain SWISS MADE with no T. A T-marked dial on a claimed 105.002 is a parts mismatch, full stop; the 105.003 is the tritium watch.

What sellers are asking

Every Saturday, the Glass Case check records the verified 105.002 listings on the board and computes the median asking price. Here is the complete recent run — medians of asking prices for USD-denominated listings, with the sample size and the full observed spread, because on a reference this thin the spread is the story:

Price bands updated October 31, 2026

Source: the Saturday Glass Case checks that feed this site’s Price Trends page for the reference. Asking prices are what sellers hope for, not what buyers paid; listings are counted once per check, in USD only, with no currency conversion.

Read the band, not the week. The seven medians sit between roughly $19,000 and $28,000, most verified USD asks land under $32,000, and every single check carries listings under $11,000 alongside asks at $39,000 — a four-fold spread inside the same reference, in the same week. That spread is condition, hands, bracelet and paperwork, not the calendar. It also means the honest answer to “what is a 105.002 worth?” is a question back: which 105.002? The house board tracked 85 examples across venues at the November 6, 2026 close; the living board, with each listing’s movement, is part of the members’ dispatch.

What the record shows: realized prices

Asking prices are weather; realized prices are climate — and for this reference the climate record is short enough to print in full. These are the sourced results on this site’s Price Trends ledger for the 105.002, 2007 to 2024, in the currency each sale was actually made in:

Sources: the venues’ own published results as recorded on the Price Trends ledger for this reference (the Sotheby’s result per AderWatches’ sale report). Full ledger entries, with the asking-price points alongside, are on the trends page.

Three lessons fall out of eight rows. First, the outlier is a context, not a level: the $47,500 Sotheby’s result came from a single-theme Moonwatch sale in 2019 where the room was bidding on the story; the same reference’s Geneva result four months later was CHF 18,750, and the most recent sourced result — a complete, extract-documented private sale in December 2024 — was $19,500. Second, completeness pays: the two strongest non-outlier results (Bonhams 2016, the 2024 private sale) were both bracelet-complete, documented watches. Third, hand originality shows up in the money: the 2018 Bonhams watch, with later painted baton hands, realized roughly half the 2016 watch’s figure. Different watches, different days — but the direction matches everything else known about this reference.

Which one to buy

The -62A: alpha hands

The connoisseur’s execution and the one that matches the earliest CK 2998-62 character: leaf hands, radium dial, silver rehaut — this reference is the last Speedmaster to carry that polished inner ring. Complete alpha-hand examples with the 7912/6 bracelet are the watches the strongest realized results belong to. They are also the most imitated: hand originality is the whole ballgame (see the checks below).

The -62B: baton hands

The later white-baton execution is not a consolation prize — it is the rarer sight in honest condition, because so many baton sets are later painted replacements. An original baton-hand watch, verified as such, is a serious buy; a watch whose batons are service replacements should be priced as one, whatever the listing says.

Tropical dials and the Soleil

Tropical (brown-faded) dials carry a taste premium today that the 2009 Antiquorum result — a tropical full set at $7,800, in a weak era — only hints at. Buy tropical on the dial’s honesty, never on the photograph’s warmth. The blue-grey metallic “Soleil” dial is a different category altogether: among the rarest vintage Omega dials known, and the one variant where an Omega archive extract is close to mandatory before money moves.

What to check before buying

• Hands are the #1 swap item. Service alpha hands show square-ended lume strips versus the original triangular inserts; repainted hands are common and, well done, forgivable — but fresh white lume against an aged radium dial is a red flag. On a -62B, establish that the batons are original, not the later painted type.
• The dial must be radium. Plain SWISS MADE, no T, applied metal logo, no “Professional.” A T-marked dial is a 105.003 dial in the wrong watch. Check the silver rehaut is present — it is this reference’s signature and a service casualty.
• Lume consistency. Dial plots and hands should age together; overly uniform cream colour may indicate a vintage relume.
• The renumbering cuts both ways. A 105.002 is a 2998-62 with a different stamp, so the caseback stamp, the watch’s specification and its paperwork must agree. Confirm the 105.002 stamp yourself, and budget for an Omega archive extract — on a reference this easy to re-label, the extract is not a luxury.
• Reference honesty. At least one dealer has headlined a 105.002 listing as “105.003-62” — and don’t pay for the “Ed White” name on this reference: that nickname belongs to the 105.003.
• Case. Over-polishing softens the straight-lug chamfers; look for honest brushing, not mirror-polished lugs, and legible caseback engraving with the seahorse intact.
• Bezel. Black Base 500 tachymeter with the dot over 90 and the accented “Tachymètre” lettering. Natural fading to blue-grey is accepted; a later dash-over-90 insert is wrong for the watch.
• Mechanicals. Check full pusher function and watch for chrono creep — the hour recorder drifting off zero while running. The calibre 321 is well understood by good watchmakers, but a tired one is a service bill, not a discount strategy.
• The bracelet claim. Period-correct is the 7912 flat-link with #6 endlinks and 1961–63 clasp codes. Many honest 105.002s live on leather — acceptable, as long as a 7912 is not claimed, or priced, where it isn’t.

None of this makes the 105.002 a frightening buy. It makes it a verifiable one: every check above can be done from photographs, a loupe and an extract, before any money moves. That is more than can be said for most references trading in this band.