Evening all

Well, a few weeks ago I snagged a new Speedy on fleabay, now I accept these are not everyones cup of tea, primarily because they are quartz but I really quite like them.

Anyway, the watch is a 1977 (birth year for me) Speedy Pro LCD in the most desirable combination which has the moon watch case.

I waited on baited breath for it to arrive and yesterday the postman called! I opened it and to my very pleasant surprise the watch was NOS, no box or papers but non the less perfect, so I flipped it over fully expecting to find a scene of carnage on the inside where mercury batteries had done their worst.

when I popped the case back it the watch had an odd little hand written sticker saying Test 12 (which was just about falling off), the movement was pristine, put two batteries in and she fired right up and all functions worked perfectly................. utter result

Then I got out my loupe to inspect the movement and low and behold the serial number on the movement starts with 000, which as those of you in the know of Omega prototypes will be aware designates a pre production prototype watch!

A lot of people scoff at the quartz Speedies but a slighty modified version of this exact watch under calibre 1621 (it had no light function but instead had tritium painted behind the LCD) was issued to NASA as a test watch in 1978 and went up on numerous shuttle missions, as well as passing all of the NASA tests.

So, although cosmetically identical to the production watch I not only snagged a NOS Moonwatch case LCD which I thought was dead and it worked but it turns out that its a prototype

And here she is:

 

Another prototype! Congrats! Your insider friend must be the one supplying you all these prototypes. Where else could you find just even one, let alone a boatload of them?

 

nice

 

Beleive it or not this one came from ebay as part of a lot of three I bought, this was obviously the one I wanted but I had not idea from the poor pics the condition let alone anything else

How the hell these things found their way out of the factory and over the border to France is beyond me!

 

Ash

My thoughts exactly, the other LCD speedies are neither here nor there for me but these are lovely, they wear really well

 

Good work Tom, you're on a roll!

 

Amazing, congratulations!

 

Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!
I actually posted about this lot in another thread.
Can't believe I didn't look for the prototype tell. And I should have bid on it anyway.
As you say there was no way of telling what condition it was inside.

On my phone right now, but if I was on the laptop this post would be full of 'regret' emoticons.

He who dares!

Once again, I'm glad another amazing watch has found it's way to your collection Tom.
Do you ever get any duds?

 

Looks sweet, good work!

 

Occasionally I do get some duds, as I'm sure everyone does, this lot was one of the lucky ones, all sold as non runners but two of the three watches were nos and when batteries were put in them they worked perfectly and the third running and good for a donors 565

There wasn't really a prototype tell on this one, it was a strange one as I already have two round LCD moonwatch Speedy LCD's, I had been asked by a friend to look for a bezel for one of these LCD's and although expensive this seemed worth a gamble, needless to say the watch will not be parting with it's bezel and will be remaining intact and on my wrist

I usually don't take a gamble on something unless I know I can get it sorted if it's a worse case scenario! I think the only one that grown serious legs is a rusty 125 I bought last year which is still at sts and by the time I get it back it will be for the most part a new watch!

 

Im sure you are going to let your wife wear this so that you can sell me her 2998

 

Ha ha not a chance, I've already reclaimed the 2998 and made her wear her Equinox again! I gave her the equinox for her 40th it's was nos and a really rare SS and solid 18k model (most where 18k plated) within a week she'd chipped the crystal! Sigh

 

Obviously payback for taking back the 2998

 

I had this on the watchlist too, but i had no internet when it ended
congrats, it did go pretty cheap

 

Fantastic find , congrats

 

Yep I was definitely a luck boy with this one, I am going to order the extract monday, will be interested to see what it returns

Cheers Tom

 

Great find! I really like that model and it came on a very cool bracelet. Congrats!

 

Thanks Andy

The only downside to the LCD's is they were produced towards the 'dark days' of Omega when they had really lose their way, although the case and BCT are really well made they just don't have the substantial feel of the 145.022 moon watch, but then at the same time fashions had also moved massively in those few short years and people wanted smaller, lighter more slender watches