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1981 speed master

philkimber
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Hi all
In the market for my first “real” watch. Like other posts I’ve read I’m wanting my birth year, 1981.

As I’ve zero experience with watches can anyone give me some indication of what to look for when viewing a potential watch?

I’m in northern England but willing to travel so need to make sure I’m buying correctly!

Thanks in advance
 
Dan S
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Just make sure that you start with a realistic budget. It seems like virtually every new member is wanting to buy a Speedmaster for 75% of the actual cost for a decent example.

So you can start by indicating which Speedmaster model you are referring to, and what you are willing to spend.
 
Davidt
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Start with reading Speedmaster101. It’s primarily concerned with models up to 145.022-78 but a) some of these would have been sold in ‘81 and b) many of the skills in assessing 60’s and 70’s watches also apply to 80’s examples as they’re little changed from late 70’s ones.

Also consider the Moonwatch only book. It’s not cheap but it’s excellent and could well save you multiples of the purchase price by giving you the tools to identify an incorrect watch.

Read through this forum, sales posts, articles, general discussion on 145.022 Speedmasters etx
 
philkimber
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Thanks for the reply - will take a look at the suggested.
Thanks again
 
Davidt
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The best advice would be to take your time. When I first started looking at vintage speedmasters I put pressure on myself thinking ‘this is the last Speedmaster that will ever be for sale, I must buy it before someone else does!!’.

There’s a steady supply of 80’s speedmasters and they’re a great balance between good value but still having a vintage charm. Some of the 80’s ones have lovely yellow/custard aged luminous so I’d be sure to find an example like that and not one with the mint green lume.
 
Scarecrow Boat
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Alex Cheers Alex Cheers
And of course use https://www.ilovemyspeedmaster.com/productiondateprediction/ to check serial numbers 😉

My '81 Speedmaster:
Did you receive an extract to confirm that date? I only ask because if I recall correctly, Eugene has said his site is more of a best guess prediction for 80’s references. I believe he said his prediction is more reliable for the more popular vintage references as he’s received an abundance of extracts. Whereas, he’s received extracts for 80’s references but nowhere near the amount that he’s received for the earlier references. For example, his site predicted my Speedy was from 85, which was close but the extract dated it to 84. Not a big deal as his site was close and I wasn’t after a birth year watch.

OP- finding a ‘81 birth year Speedy can be a long process. To really zero in on that year, you’ll need an extract, which is something Omega no longer issues for the foreseeable future.
 
Dan S
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Scarecrow Boat Scarecrow Boat
Did you receive an extract to confirm that date? I only ask because if I recall correctly, Eugene has said his site is more of a best guess prediction for 80’s references. I believe he said his prediction is more reliable for the more popular vintage references as he’s received an abundance of extracts. Whereas, he’s received extracts for 80’s references but nowhere near the amount that he’s received for the earlier references. For example, his site predicted my Speedy was from 85, which was close but the extract dated it to 84. Not a big deal as his site was close and I wasn’t after a birth year watch.

OP- finding a ‘81 birth year Speedy can be a long process. To really zero in on that year, you’ll need an extract, which is something Omega no longer issues for the foreseeable future.
And I'm guessing relatively few people request an extract for 1980s watches, since they're not terribly collectible.
 
Alex Cheers
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Scarecrow Boat Scarecrow Boat
Did you receive an extract to confirm that date? I only ask because if I recall correctly, Eugene has said his site is more of a best guess prediction for 80’s references. I believe he said his prediction is more reliable for the more popular vintage references as he’s received an abundance of extracts. Whereas, he’s received extracts for 80’s references but nowhere near the amount that he’s received for the earlier references. For example, his site predicted my Speedy was from 85, which was close but the extract dated it to 84. Not a big deal as his site was close and I wasn’t after a birth year watch.
Yes, in my case the prediction was pretty much perfect and maybe more safe because we are talking about mid of '81.

Screenshot_20240919_061531_Chrome.jpg Screenshot_20240919_061431_Xodo.jpg
 
padders
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As the posts above hint at, your big problem will be in confirming 1981. You need to decide how you are going to date it, by ILMS, by extract (not currently available or by papers (if present). Many have bought their birth year watch only to find out later than one or other of these is a year or more out. The contributor above was lucky, indeed it may have been his extract data that ILMS is using and is only one data point after all. It is a bit of a fools errand really. I guess if you find a Speedy with a 45,581,XXX or 45,582,XXX serial you might be most of the way there but you'll only know for sure when the extract service resumes (if ever). Note when you use the ILMS birthdate (ie reverse) lookup for June 1981, you get a totally different nonsensical answer, indicating that there isn't much data to go on in that range, possibly only one or 2 extracts only.

It is a little easier with the models where there is a year iteration in the back, the last of which was 145.022-78. That can be used as birth year justification but there the problem is that typically the watch was assembled a year or more after the iteration. It is even worse in the early 70s, there many watches were assembled out of sequence it seems and can be 2 or more out from expectation.

One tip that might help. The code in the back changed to 145.0022 (extra zero) at some point in the early 1980s, circa 1982-3 so if you see a model with that caseback, it is deffo too late for 1981.
Edited:
 
Davidt
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I think we might’ve worked together years ago. I’ll send you a DM
 
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