This erratum concerns the correctness of Yema presentation boxes for Spationaute III's. Most watch collectors, including myself, like to have the right boxes and papers when purchasing a NOS watch and some people will go to great lengths to source missing accessories, because apart from being 'nice to have', they add to the resale value.
Rewind back to August 2012. A US eBay seller
izeldor, a.k.a. Isidor Farash and Leanne Ross, who as F Ross Llc were once the official US importers and distrubutors for Yema (among other brands), discovered a cache of unsold Spationaute III's in the basement stockroom of their Wood Ridge, New Jersey store. I'm not sure how many there were in total, maybe a couple of dozen, but they listed them on eBay between August 2012 and December 2013, with asking prices of $250, later reduced to $225. Many were documented in the
old forum's Yema N8's spotted thread. From memory, examples I saw had 1-xxx or 2-xxx prefix serial numbers, meaning they were manufactured in 1989 or 1990. They came supplied with a lacquered wooden Yema presentation box containing a cream coloured vinyl pillow. This is the photo of the presentation box from their original eBay listing in August 2012:
- YemaSpationauteIII-eBay-August2012-Box.jpg (16.03 KiB) Viewed 1046 times
Looking back at the description of that listing (which is saved in my post dated 18th August 2012), the only reference to the box is: 'Attractive wooden Yema gift box included!'. Some collectors took advantage of the relatively low price and bought a couple. I ended up buying three of them. The boxes measure approx 100mm x 100mm x 70mm high and have a 'Made in China' sticker underneath. They're protected by a gloss white cardboard outer box, which also has a 'Made in China' sticker underneath. I didn't think a great deal about it at the time and assumed these lacquered wooden boxes must have been sourced for the US market by F Ross Llc. I've never seen them anywhere else, except when originally sold by
izeldor, or when their Spationaute III's were subsequently being re-sold - for example
here.
Amusingly, earlier this month,
izeldor listed what presumably must have been their last unsold Yema Spationaute III on eBay, with an opening bid price of $875. I documented it
further down that same thread. The listing included this photo of the watch in the
slightly shop-soiled wooden Yema presentation box:
- rsz_yema-spationauteiii-ebay-jan2023-another-14.jpg (242.36 KiB) Viewed 1031 times
I hadn't noticed it before, because it wasn't included in the main body of the description, but instead further down there was a comment about the box:
- Yema-SpationauteIII-eBay-Feb2023-Description-Box.png (9.97 KiB) Viewed 1028 times
Yema Spationaute III's were manufactured between 1989 and 1994, so by their own words, these boxes are
not period correct. Indeed
izeldor appears to have used them out of convenience / to facilitate sales of their old unsold stock. They didn't include a photo of the 'original' box, but I strongly suspect it's this type in brown cardboard with a velour lined interior and a pliable loop watch holder.
- Yema-Presentation-Box-eBay-July2018-1.jpg (60.02 KiB) Viewed 1018 times
- Yema-Presentation-Box-eBay-July2018-3.jpg (70.32 KiB) Viewed 1018 times
- Yema-Presentation-Box-eBay-July2018-5.jpg (60.09 KiB) Viewed 1018 times
Incidentally this earlier style of boxes were seen in another cache of unsold new old stock (including Spationaute III's, Flygrafs and N81W63's) turned up by US eBay seller
watchaddict412 in February 2018, which were documented starting on
page 26 of the old forum's Yema N8's spotted thread. Amusingly, as it transpires, In hindsight, I wrote at the time:
- Yema-SpationauteIII-eBay-Feb2018-OldForum-Post.png (142.11 KiB) Viewed 1015 times
- rsz_yema-spationauteiii-ebay-feb2018-1.jpg (225.64 KiB) Viewed 1015 times
So it goes to show - just because you see lots of something, coming from a supposedly reputable source, it's not always safe to assume it's correct and original.
However, I still keep my eye open for them. 