I understand what you mean by "spot price" - I guess any single sale would not be reflective of the overall market demand for a particular brand or model. However, an auction is a well publicized sale and today's auctions allow for collectors from all over the world to bid live over the internet - regardless where the auction takes place or where the bidder is located - which makes "who is in the room" a pretty big audience. Therefore, I do not believe that auction results can be dismissed as not reflective of the market's demand for the brand or model. I for one hope that the RM does very well at auction - I guess I want to have the security of knowing that should I one day decide to sell my RM there will be a market for it. I believe that the simple fact that an auction house puts an RM in its auction indicates that at least they believe there is a market for the brand. I guess we will have to wait and see...
Do you think a watch's serial number could effect its value? For example - buying the No. 1 in a limited series?