Polishing it (to remove dings and scratches) is not a good idea, it involves taking metal off, and will detract from it more than the dings do. Replacing the bezel and bracelet (if still original) have a similar effect, a scratched dot over 90 bezel is worth more than a modern replacement. Care to post some pics?

 

Ok thats a different animal altogether, don't polish the watch at all or touch that bezel, the 18K solid gold version is far less common and far more special, especially that bezel which is impossible to replace. Honestly its worth looking for a box, but short of routine servicing, I would never polish that watch and certainly never replace any parts other than in the movement and crystal. That's a gem you've been left.

 

Holy shit. That is a rare and desirable watch.

Only 1014 of these were made - that number in the lower third of the case back tells you which number of the limited run the watch is. Be exceptionally careful before deciding to do anything to this watch.

 

This is from ""The Master of Omega" an authoritative book on Speedmasters.








By the way, one of the special 39 personalised versions of this watch that were given out was the famous one given to Richard Nixon.

 

DO NOT Polish the case!
DO NOT replace the bezel!
ONLY service the movement and replace crystal if needed.
AND even if the dial has blemishes, DO NOT refinish it!
By following these guidelines, you preserve what value the watch has and you keep it as close as possible to the condition your grandfather kept it and used it in.

 

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/2008/10/27/rarest-of-the-rare-omega-speedmasters.html

That's one

 

No new info here, but this is what the official Omega book "A Journey Through Time"' says:

 

In order to find a box you need to know exactly what to look for. There are a lot of different Speedmaster boxes out there. I believe this is it:



I believe you will find this link very enlightening,
http://www.watchcarefully.com/articles/speedmaster.html

 

According to the tables in AJTT the correct box is the one pictured in the extract I posted above. It is different to the more common type of box pictured elsewhere in the book.

Edit : I missed the pics in Steve's post. That box is the right one according to AJTT.

 

Yes, same photo that I posted , just cropped and less detail. In the correct box you can see the moon detail is actually raised in 3D. Very unique.