Advice Needed: Purchased Vintage Speedmaster

WatchCor

I'd like to commend the OP for his/hers first post and thread. Absolutely wonderful post and even more wonderful find.

I am also constantly amazed at the experience and expertise of the people on this forum. You not only knew the ref but the serial range @ndgal. Well played sir. *claps

GreekOmega

Hi again everyone, I know like myself, the anticipation was building.. For those of you watching at home, I just wanted to say that I decided to have another go at it and be very calculated and meticulous about it. (I am a musician, woodworker, and very detail oriented by hobby so I felt up for the job lol). I protected everything and used the pushers as a gauge to see if the notches on the caseback were turning at all. Just like I would tune a drum, I alternated where I applied any pressure and alternated the notches. After some successful pushes, it edged free and spun freely. So it turns out everybody was right:

It is a 145.012-67 SP, HF case! It has the 321 movement (OXG) and is serial number 26.0XX.XXX just like ndgal said. Not what I originally hoped for, being the 145.012, but the value in these are going up and this one is in pretty good condition and by the looks of the seal/gunk in the caseback, was rarely serviced.

So here are the pictures. I then carefully removed the dust cover (with gloves of course) and this may sound corny to you seasoned veterans, but seeing that 321 Movement ticking away and shimmering in the light was absolute beautiful and breath-taking. It truly made me fall in love. Please excuse the cellphone quality below:

EDIT: So there are two etchings inside of the caseback. One is a number that doesn't make sense date-wise or serial-wise. The other on the bottom is a mixture of a letter, two numbers, hyphen, two numbers, two letters. Not sure if you've seen free-hand engraving inside the caseback and what that could mean. Thanks!

I couldn't upload the video here, but here is a screenshot of the video. I blurred the Serial not knowing what is kosher of posting that.

befobe

Waouh, v e r y nice! Beautiful bezel... !
You can compete for the top 10 best deals of 2020!

loniscup

Nice catch φίλε 😉👍👍

GreekOmega

Wow thank you so much for the compliment, that really makes me feel good with what I found!! Glad I listened to my gut to go for it!

1st speedy

Another Greek? Makes 3 of us.

GreekOmega

Hi again everyone, I know like myself, the anticipation was building.. For those of you watching at home, I just wanted to say that I decided to have another go at it and be very calculated and meticulous about it. (I am a musician, woodworker, and very detail oriented by hobby so I felt up for the job lol). I protected everything and used the pushers as a gauge to see if the notches on the caseback were turning at all. Just like I would tune a drum, I alternated where I applied any pressure and alternated the notches. After some successful pushes, it edged free and spun freely. So it turns out everybody was right:

It is a 145.012-67 SP, HF case! It has the 321 movement (OXG) and is serial number 26.0XX.XXX just like ndgal said. Not what I originally hoped for, being the 145.012, but the value in these are going up and this one is in pretty good condition and by the looks of the seal/gunk in the caseback, was rarely serviced.

So here are the pictures. I then carefully removed the dust cover (with gloves of course) and this may sound corny to you seasoned veterans, but seeing that 321 Movement ticking away and shimmering in the light was absolute beautiful and breath-taking. It truly made me fall in love. Please excuse the cellphone quality below:

EDIT: So there are two etchings inside of the caseback. One is a number that doesn't make sense date-wise or serial-wise. The other on the bottom is a mixture of a letter, two numbers, hyphen, two numbers, two letters. Not sure if you've seen free-hand engraving inside the caseback and what that could mean. Thanks!

I couldn't upload the video here, but here is a screenshot of the video. I blurred the Serial not knowing what is kosher of posting that.

GreekOmega

This may sound corny to you seasoned veterans, but seeing that 321 Movement ticking away and shimmering in the light was absolute beautiful and breath-taking. It truly made me fall in love.

airansun

It does not. I suspect many of us still have that reaction. These are beautiful movements.