A new Aquisition (Speedmaster)

Recently I acquired this watch from a gentleman from USA who bought this speedmaster from a local jeweler.

I would not call him a Speedmaster collector like some of us, rather an vintage watch enthusiast. Unfortunately he fell out of love with the watch and returned it to the jeweler who offered him a little over half what he paid. It is one of the situations I was hoping to help people prevent when I made the site www.speedmaster101.com

I bought the watch, for what we all considered a fair price, and now we can learn, and I can have some fun by restoring it, gently. It can be more interesting to go through a watch with issues, rather than a perfect one with nothing to learn from.

Although part of the collapse of the attraction in this watch must have been the excessive price, now that has been addressed, albeit painfully for the seller, its still a good watch. Now the seller can move on in his watch journey, without the constant reminder of overpaying (and perhaps being oversold by a dealer).

This watch, by chance, has all the right characteristics that allows it to be traded at a price higher than its worth. I would go so far to say it is the perfect dealer watch, as it ticks the right originality boxes and its quality issues are hidden to novice buyers.



The first step is to identify it.

Dial is long indices, Applied Metal Logo and stepped.
Pushers are standard size
Asymmetric case.

So we can see if it is original specification it is a 145.012 or a Transitional 145.022-68....



We can see its a Transitional.

The interesting thing about this watch is that it photographs better than it is in real life.



The bezel looks better in this photo than in real life. There is a dent at 75/80 but that isn't the issue, its the general decay that looks more of a snowstorm than it does here in the photo.

The dial, however is fabulous - except for one issue. There is a dark mark on the once o'clock marker, and that is the only thing i can find to fault it. By my grading, that stops it being an "Excellent" dial, but it is a "Very Good+"


Here we can see the dial, which is flawless, except for the marker. Any other marks you might see are on the (original Vintage) crystal:



The next issue on this watch is the case. It has been polished, so that the outlines are no longer stock.

Subsequently it has acquired some damage, one of which is unsightly and irreparable. A sharp ding right in the middle of the case band:




That little ding is deep - too deep to polish out and lasering would require an entire case refinish. So its here to stay.

The photo below clearly shows the loss of definition along the lugs, from the previous polish. As I mentioned, this doesn't look as bad in photos as it does in real life. This is the first time I have had this where a watch doesn't look as good in real life, at least where no deception is intended.



If we flip it over we see the case back has some cross hatching polish - why? Sometimes I see this when an engraving has been removed, but this doesn't look deep, and I cant see any vestiges of engraving - perhaps just carelessness.




The movement is ok - its not excellent, as we see several screw heads damaged.




While we are looking at the above photo, we can see the crown looks a bit off to me, and may not be correct - I will replace it with the correct crown, and one of the pushers is dirty and the other clean - I would rather have two matching pushers, so that's on the list.

So here are the issues that downgrade this watch, in order of value influence:

The case: This case is actually terrible. Deep damage, previous polish, change of outlines. Cross hitch damage to back

The bezel: A snowstorm, dry looking and not nice.

It is my intention to restore this in the following way.

Polish the case back. We have to be super-careful not to lose the definition of the hippocampus or the circumference of the flat.

replace the pushers and crown.

Things I am NOT going to do:

try to remove the dark patch on one o'clock
Polish the mid case.

It will be a while until I can get this to Simon, but when he does it I will post an update.

It appears to be quite a wearable watch at the right price.

absolutely. In fact my favourite kind as I can wear it around tough environments and not worry about the case and bezel

Very kind of you to help the owner to come to a satisfactory deal.
I wouldn`t mind that ding or the spot on the one o`clock marker, good signs of living, but the case side and bevel are not to my liking.

These assessments are always enjoyable and you’re kind to be so transparent with your evaluative process.

For comparisons here is one sold recently for comparison on OF for CHF7500

Everything about this one is better I think - maybe the dial on mine is more attractive to me, but an infinitesimal and arbitrary judgement.

Certainly I can safely say the value is much higher, with the bezel being so much better and the case being clean.

Which is what this hobby is all about. I must say this one deservedly sold quickly - with the right combination of attraction price and condition.

If you have a GOOD watch with a POOR bezel, just start with the value of a GOOD watch and subtract the difference in value of the bezel. There is an active market for loose bezels, so that's an easy adjustment to make.

I think you always need to be flexible and make adjustments to any price guide. In this case, the bezel is probably the easiest adjustment to make because bezels are frequently sold loose. Other things are much harder, e.g. how much to deduct for a polished case or minor lume loss.

Great write up as usual. Learned a lot from watching your Youtube videos this week. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Don't get better than yours.

Hard to capture the dark dial but here's my recent capture.

I don't know, I think they look better in person. 😁

Thanks for the inside view of your thinking and process, looking forward to your future report(s)!

Great analysis. I completely missed the polished inner lugs. Probably because I'm so focused on the dial and bezel. Good to know for future purchases.