I'll wager that most will be 1965 (most plentiful) and 1966 (unique case) and a few 1963 (first Professional dial, first protected crown and pushers) BUT hardly any 1964.

 

66-HF

 

66 HF here

 

66 - CB case.

 

This speaks for itself

 

I see a trend forming

 

65-HF

also, hi!

 

65
66-CB

 

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

105.012-66 = 6
105.012-65 = 2

Plenty of districts still have not reported in.

 

65-HF (now with a broken main spring )

 

105.012-66 CB x 2

 

66-HF

 

Currently
-63
-63
-65
-66CB

Previously owned:
-63
-64
-65
-66hf
-66cb

 

-63
-65
-66
-66CB

(I have a missing one that's killing me)

Gratuitous link for more 105.012 info:

http://www.speedmaster101.com/105-012/

 

Thanks for all the participants.
I suppose I should answer my own survey

1963
1964 (I'm so far the lone survey participant in present ownership of this reference)
1965
1966 CB

I thought I had all the casebacks covered but I didn't realize that HF case was also made in 1966. I thought CB had all the cases that year.

I recently bought a1964. It was hard to locate. Am I correct in calling it "rare". It seems that there was a healthy number of movement serial numbers which could have been installed in the 105.012-64. Did most of those movements find their way into the 105.003?

My other question is why the 105.012-63 is not more popular among collectors. The first Professional dial, the first asymetrical case with pusher and crown protection. Is it the first T SwissMade T dial as well. It's movement serial number precede the 105.003-63. It would appear the the 105.012-63 was produced first and was a short run of only 3000 watches (20.520xxx - 20.522xxx)

The 105.012-63 has many firsts but, in collectibility, seems to be overshadowed by the 105.012-66 CB and its special case.

Opinions?

 

You are not correct on the last point: 63 is popular but simply hard to catch, thus very few have it, whereas there are tons of 66 CB and HF, hence many collectors have it and talk about it in the forums.

 

Good question.

I assume that the first half of the reference is the most important when said ref is available over several years. Especially when there aren't any significant cosmetic differences.

So unless a collector wants an example from every year (let's be honest, why wouldn't you?!), for most people, any HF cased 105.012 will suffice. if the later models are more plentiful, you're more likely to find one of those in good condition and that will probably be the deciding factor.