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A Speedmaster for £66? - well it was 1969

Peemacgee
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I thought I had this souvenir of the moon landing squirrelled away somewhere. (Produced by my hometown newspaper in Newcastle) So I thought it the appropriate time to dig it out. Love the groovy font.

A couple of moon pics and of course, the obligatory Speedmaster advert.

“A pressbutton calculating watch that will help you determine speeds, output rates - even a patient‘s heartbeat”

Enjoy.

233A1120-0426-406E-B50C-504211802F18.jpeg 93FF1305-86BF-4B2A-966E-C4D6AA85DD56.jpeg 54295BA5-BB22-44B7-A32E-AC580FF6C7A3.jpeg 868DAC45-0A9C-4159-A485-D8FDC70F521C.jpeg
 
WatchCor
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Very nice find. 👍 Even accounting for inflation that would be around 1000£ today. That would be still be a bargain.

Source:
 
gemini4
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Newspaper ad shows a pre professional dial in a professional case. Case appears to lack crown guards as well.
Wacky artist renderings were common back then.
Edited:
 
Peemacgee
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gemini4 gemini4
Newspaper ad shows a pro pro dial in a professional case. Case appears to lack crown guards as well.
Wacky artist rendering was common back then.

Bloody Stanley Kubrik - couldn’t even get the watch details right.....
 
gatorcpa
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WatchCor WatchCor
Very nice find. 👍 Even accounting for inflation that would be around 1000£ today. That would be still be a bargain.

Source:
However both the £ and US$ have devalued by 4 times against the Swiss Franc.

So you are looking at about £4,000. What does a similar Speedmaster sell for today after adjusting for VAT?

Pretty close I think.
gatorcpa
 
eugeneandresson
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The thing which jumps out most to me is the ever-present-marketing-milking of the whole 'watch in space' thing ... 50 years later and still that cow is gripped strongly by the udders via the machine ...

I wonder who will milk Mars...

175651-cow.jpe
(Mars-the-cow also wonders)
 
Peemacgee
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
The thing which jumps out most to me is the ever-present-marketing-milking of the whole 'watch in space' thing

Bearing in mind I’ve no dog in this fight - since it was just a few days after the event and in a souvenir publication, what surprises me is that the advert was only 2”x3” as opposed to half a page.
 
WatchCor
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
However both the £ and US$ have devalued by 4 times against the Swiss Franc.

So you are looking at about £4,000. What does a similar Speedmaster sell for today after adjusting for VAT?

Pretty close I think.
gatorcpa

I didn't know that, good point. So basically a new speedy is as valuable now as it was in the sixties.
 
Peemacgee
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WatchCor WatchCor
I didn't know that, good point. So basically a new speedy is as valuable now as it was in the sixties.

Interesting that the UK average weekly wage in 1969 was around £30 and today it’s around £700
Edited:
 
Risto
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But, what did 66 GBP bought back then?
I mean like other things besides nice watches.
To put it in perspective.

Today, new Speedy Pro (005) costs 4500+ EUR and for this money, you can get a lot.
In my country that is almost 4 average monthly salaries.
For example, the rent for a new apartment in the city is 500 EUR monthly.
You get a decent apartment just outside of the city for 200 EUR.
Also, about 10 YO car, although cars cannot be compared probably to 1969 equivalent.
 
MRC
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Risto Risto
But, what did 66 GBP bought back then?
I mean like other things besides nice watches.
To put it in perspective.

660 pints of beer,
or 200 gallons of petrol
or 15 top of the range sliderules,
or 2 Heuer Carreras.

I was a student at the time 😉
 
MCC
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gemini4 gemini4
Newspaper ad shows a pre professional dial in a professional case. Case appears to lack crown guards as well.
Wacky artist renderings were common back then.
The rendering looks no different to many Frankens that you might see on ebay or Chrono 24 nowadays. The artists simply had foresight 😉
 
Risto
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MRC MRC
660 pints of beer,
or 200 gallons of petrol
or 15 top of the range sliderules,
or 2 Heuer Carreras.
I was a student at the time 😉

If that's true, then watches were definitely relatively cheap back then and definitely overpriced today.
Speedy should cost around 1k now 😀
 
MRC
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Back then they were just "tool" watches and rather unfashionable, you only bought a chrono to time things, a Sub to dive and a GMT if you did a lot of traveling. Now they are fashion, life-style and not used much as tools.
 
ilayd
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Risto Risto
But, what did 66 GBP bought back then?
I mean like other things besides nice watches.
To put it in perspective.

Today, new Speedy Pro (005) costs 4500+ EUR and for this money, you can get a lot.
In my country that is almost 4 average monthly salaries.
For example, the rent for a new apartment in the city is 500 EUR monthly.
You get a decent apartment just outside of the city for 200 EUR.
Also, about 10 YO car, although cars cannot be compared probably to 1969 equivalent.

Like you've said, its definitely relative. I live in Los Angeles, where average apartment rent is $2,384 a month (the range is pretty extreme though going from $1200-$4700 depending on the neighborhood). That being said, a Hesalite Speedy costs $5,350 from an AD or OB... or about 2 months worth of rent and for most people just one months salary. On the grey market that price is even lower... with some people paying more in rent a month than it would cost to grab a new speedy. But our housing is extremely expensive.
 
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