A huge leap from a modern to a vintage 321: my 105.012-66 HF up close

Here's the latest addition to my collection: this wonderful Omega Speedmaster 105.012-66 HF on a 1506/16 bracelet, in a near perfect condition. It was produced on the 1st of September 1967 and delivered to Italy. I bought it at Watchfid, the sales platform of Moonwatch Only writers Anthony Marquié and Grégoire Rossier. Watchfid sells amazing vintage pieces coming from a network of collectors. All watches are curated by Anthony and Grégoire (and their team) and the whole experience was just amazing. Anthony was very quick in responding and has been very friendly and accommodating from start to finish. I hope this thread may come in handy for anyone who is searching for one. This is as original as it gets!

So why has this purchase been a huge leap to me? I bought the modern steel 321 two years ago, after owning many modern Speedmasters and this turned out to be an unexpected gateway to vintage. I was too often afraid to really go deep into vintage, as I had little knowledge and for example didn't know how to recognize Frankenwatches. Often I would overlook the little details that matter so much and that could result in a very costly mistake. Moonwatch Only has been of great help, but they don't cover the snakepit of re-luming, fake parts and quality assessment. "Buy the seller" I hear you say. Yes ofcourse, but buying vintage online is very risky and they all seem to sell vintage as unpolished and often overpriced as well. So the modern 321 was perfect for me at that time.

Modern 321:

Last year I also bought the platinum 321, which has been my grail for many years. It's the Speedmaster Moonwatch in a black tie tuxedo.

My first babystep into vintage was acquiring a 1990 3590.50 Moonwatch in excellent condition. I bought it from @iamvr with the amazing help of @Aludic

This year I took a slightly deeper plunge in the world of vintage, as I bought a mint 1987 Speedymoon 345.0809. Specials thanks for the very friendly Frank (not on this forum), who is a big Speedmaster collector.

After speaking with many vintage collectors at the Speedmaster GTG’s I organised, I eventually got sucked into the rabbit hole. I decided sell my modern steel 321 to fund a 105.012 (or a 105.003 which is harder at this budget). After months of exploring the internet and endless fun discussions with collectors, I noticed a perfect 105.012-66HF for sale. Matteo Leoni (Master of Speed) pointed me towards Watchfid where this particular 105.012 was listed. The watch was given a score of 9.3 and rightfully so! Everything is original or at least timeperiod accurate. No shortcuts were taken, I needed this watch in my life! So I bought it!


The watch arrived on a Speedy Tuesday :-D
At first there wasn’t that wow factor I expected it to have, but in the sun it immediately came to life. Yes!!! I love it now. I've been wearing it for over a week and it's amazing. I compared the modern 321 with the vintage 321 (see photo below) and at a first glimpse it's hard to keep them apart. That's the main reason why I decided to sell the modern 321.

Left the modern 321EW, right the 105.012-66HF

Some impressions:

It's time to explore
The best way to explore a new watch is to look at it up close. So here are some macro shots showing the condition of this particular watch and why it's all original.

Dial
The dial is a close T, which is more rare for reference 105.012-66. The tritium is still original, as you can see from the brittle texture. So no re-lume and the hands are the correct ones with the same tritium color. Funny that the 105.012 of @hansaboy has the same discoloration of the minute hand and the serials are just 89 numbers apart.



Bezel
It ofcourse has a DON bezel and this one is in an amazing condition. Not mint, but very good!



Hesalite
It has the first gen hesalite with the flat foot logo. It surprised me how much flatter this hesalite is and most vintage collectors didn't know this either. I first thought it was polished to death, but other collectors checked and it's indeed correct and in good condition! Funny how this was overlooked by so many.



Left: 105.012, right Speedymoon


Left: 105.003, right 145.022

Case
It's got nice thick lugs and a strong case profile. It has the original crown and pushers. The hippocampus engraving in the single bevel caseback is still very clear. The inside shows the correct reference and it's funny how the last engraved 6 has a different size. I guess they made a large batch and engraved the last digit to fit the reference.



Movement:
Thanks to @Pahawi's caseback opener, I could inspect the inside. It's the correct 2nd generation 321 movement, which looks to be in great condition. The screw heads all look to be in pristine condition. It runs quite well but the amplitude is low at 214 (lift angle 40).


Bracelet:
It's got the 1506/16 bracelet is a perfect condition, if you ignore the engraving of the clasp cover. It has hardly any stretch, which is amazing. The date doesn't match the production date of the watch, but they were often replaced.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks guys!

Then you should look out for a 105.012-65 and that's the actual reference worn on the moon by Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) so they tend to be a bit more expensive.

Thanks Hans! I'm looking forward to comparing both in person!

It's a feature in this serial range 🙃

Fantastic photos. I'm sure this thread will be bookmarked by many people. Reference photo gold!

Same for me, I own modern 321 and hesalite sandwich 3592.50, and looking for a 68 transitional.

Congrats 🚀 Wear them in a good health ⚙️