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Am I assessing these Speedmasters correctly?

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Hi all,

I am looking for my first vintage Speedmaster. Originally I was planning on buying a birth year watch, but realised I much prefer the appearance of the step dial. And it is nice to have a watch from around the time of the landings.

I will order Moonwatch Only, but in the meantime I would be interested in hearing whether I have assessed these watches correctly. I don’t have a huge budget, but would like to end up with a watch that I could wear regularly.

Watch 1:

IMG_0919.webp IMG_0920.webp

  • Dial and lume look quite nice.
  • Some discolouration on hands.
  • Case looks ok
  • Incorrect bezel
  • No bracelet

Watch 2

IMG_0921.webp IMG_0922.webp


  • Wrong hands and bezel
  • Dial, movement and case look nice otherwise
  • No bracelet
  • Maybe will sell cheaply?

Watch 3

IMG_0923.webp IMG_0924.webp

  • Looks nice overall but I think it has lost the step dial? Hard to tell in pictures.
  • Quoted serial number is much too late.
  • Bracelet.

Watch 4

IMG_0927.webp IMG_0928.webp

  • To my eye looks nice if a little faded.
  • All components seem correct.
  • Most expensive of the five watches.

Watch 5

IMG_0929.webp

  • Needs tidying up.
  • Lume is washed from dial? Uncertain.
  • All components seem original.
  • Case could be over polished?
  • Maybe will sell cheaply?


Please can you let me know your thoughts on these and whether I have judged them correctly? I am working on a tighter budget, but of course I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by buying the wrong one.

Thanks in advance!
 
Larry S
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There is a reason why #3 is the most expensive. It’s the best one.
 
Dan S
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It's a lot to look through so I just took a quick glance. It seems that you have learned a lot, and if you continue to follow some auctions to completion and keep records, I think that you will have as good of a market sense as anyone. FWIW, it would be helpful to narrow it down to a smaller number of watches, provide more information (e.g. sub-reference, serial numbers, and prices if applicable), more photos (e.g. to evaluate case condition, crown and pushers) and fine-tune your questions.

Hopefully one of the Speedmaster experts will deign to assist a newbie.

Why do you say the bezel is wrong on #1?
Edited:
 
Dan S
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Larry S Larry S
There is a reason why #3 is the most expensive. It’s the best one.
There is a lot to wade through, but I think that #4 is the most expensive, the one with the ugly hands and the bracelet.

#3 looks nice, but seems to be a franken based on the partial information provided.
 
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Dan S Dan S
It's a lot to look through so I just took a quick glance. It seems that you have learned a lot, and if you continue to follow some auctions to completion and keep records, I think that you will have as good of a market sense as anyone. FWIW, it would be helpful to narrow it down to a smaller number of watches, provide more information (e.g. sub-reference, serial numbers, and prices if applicable), more photos (e.g. to evaluate case condition, crown and pushers) and fine-tune your questions.

Hopefully one of the Speedmaster experts will deign to assist a newbie.

Why do you say the bezel is wrong on #1?
That is good advice. Thanks! For the moment I am more observing, unless a great watch comes up, so just wanted to get confirmation thank was at least getting the basics correct.

For the bezel on #1 is the font not wrong? From what I researched I think this is one from the 90s.
 
Davidt
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I’ll have a quick look later but I do think it’s a bit much asking people to critique five watches, especially when you’re omitting vital information such as the reference and price, which means people have to first decipher the reference and date, then assess condition and correctness.
 
Larry S
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Dan S Dan S
There is a lot to wade through, but I think that #4 is the most expensive, the one with the ugly hands and the bracelet.

#3 looks nice, but seems to be a franken based on the partial information provided.
Ah … looking back …I meant 4 … it’s a bit much to ask a question like this.
 
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Davidt Davidt
I’ll have a quick look later but I do think it’s a bit much asking people to critique five watches, especially when you’re omitting vital information such as the reference and price, which means people have to first decipher the reference and date, then assess condition and correctness.
I appreciate the help. Apologies for the number of watches! I wasn’t expecting people to give an in-depth response I was more just to check whether my basic observations where correct on a quick glance.

I can delete the thread and provide more details on a couple of watches if that would be better?
 
Dan S
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A AHW
I appreciate the help. Apologies for the number of watches! I wasn’t expecting people to give an in-depth response I was more just to check whether my basic observations where correct on a quick glance.

I can delete the thread and provide more details on a couple of watches if that would be better?
Personally I don't think there's any need to delete, I was just making suggestions for the future. And they're just my suggestions. Others might feel differently.
 
Davidt
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No Ned to delete. People are happy to help, but help us help you. it would be worth updating with the reference for each and price.
 
Dan S
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A AHW
For the bezel on #1 is the font not wrong? From what I researched I think this is one from the 90s.
Yes, that's correct. I missed that while trying to look quickly through the watches. Good luck with the search.
 
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Ok thanks everyone! I don’t seem to have the option to edit or delete the original post (I assume as I am a new member).

So please just ignore this post and I will come back later with an improved one based on this feedback!
 
SOG53
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No need to delete anything at all. Narrow things down a bit and continue the thread is fine.

Have you reviewed the information on speedmaster101.com? There is also a very helpful Price guide there for different reference based on prior sales.
Gives a full step by step guide how to assess in general, and also specific references. You may have already looked there.

If you want step dial for first Speedmaster you will be looking at 145.022-69 and also 145.022-71. There is a transitional 145.022-68 which is desired by collectors but more expensive so I would stick to the first 2.

Watch the OH Private Sales instead of EB and Chrono they pop up frequently and when you know how to assess each reference you can make a decision as good ones at good prices tend to sell quickly on OF Private sales.

Good luck and stick around!
 
SOG53
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Watch 4 looks like decent -69 more pictures needed- what is asking price?
Watch 5 is -71 ongoing auction from known reliable estate seller

Both will need service. Do a deeper dive comparing those 2.

I would forget about watches 1-3

On OF Advanced Search- do this to see number of sales here on OF- prices are included

Search threads
keywords: Omega Speedmaster 145.022
Prefixes: Any
Thread: Private watch sales
Search
Edited:
 
A
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SOG53 SOG53
No need to delete anything at all. Narrow things down a bit and continue the thread is fine.

Have you reviewed the information on speedmaster101.com? There is also a very helpful Price guide there for different reference based on prior sales.
Gives a full step by step guide how to assess in general, and also specific references. You may have already looked there.

If you want step dial for first Speedmaster you will be looking at 145.022-69 and also 145.022-71. There is a transitional 145.022-68 which is desired by collectors but more expensive so I would stick to the first 2.

Watch the OH Private Sales instead of EB and Chrono they pop up frequently and when you know how to assess each reference you can make a decision as good ones at good prices tend to sell quickly on OF Private sales.

Good luck and stick around!
Thank you! Speedmaster101 is what I have mostly been using for research so far. It’s a really great resource.

145.022 is the reference I have been considering. Ideally I would prefer a 69, but I will focus on getting the best condition possible.

I was looking through the sold watches on here and there have been some very nice watches at good prices. So maybe I will need to be a bit patient. There are very few watches for sale in the country I live unfortunately, plus there is a 25% import tax which is a bit of a pain.

Watch 1 was the only one for sale here, but the asking price is around $6500 USD which seems very high for the condition.
 
A
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SOG53 SOG53
Watch 4 looks like decent -69 more pictures needed- what is asking price?
Watch 5 is -71 ongoing auction from known reliable estate seller

Both will need service. Do a deeper dive comparing those 2.

I would forget about watches 1-3

On OF Advanced Search- do this to see number of sales here on OF- prices are included

Search threads
keywords: Omega Speedmaster 145.022
Prefixes: Any
Thread: Private watch sales
Search
Watch 5 was probably my favourite out of them as I think it would look quite nice after it was serviced. Plus from what I can identify all the correct parts are there. The serial dates to around mid 72 so that also seems correct.

The main negatives for me was that the lume is not a particularly attractive colour. And I was struggling to see if there was even any lume left on the dial. Plus I felt like the case was lacking definition, but it could just be the lighting/background.


I assume this would safely fit into the poor condition category so isn’t worth any more than around 2500 USD?

Watch 4 looked ok, but I wasn’t so keen on the lume lume/fade. It did have an archive extract which along with the originality is why I included it. That is around 4800 USD on Chrono24. But after I pay 25% VAT and for a service I don’t think I like it enough to justify the cost.
 
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