So, really excited yesterday when my Omega extract of archives arrived in the post... Yes, some think it’s expensive but it’s all relative if you have a vintage Omega and well worth it to me to know some of the history of my Speedmaster, lovely presentation too!

Okay so I have a question that hopefully can be answered by the knowledgeable folk here..
The watch is a April 9th 1974 (83 days younger than me!) and was delivered to the US, it says the bracelet was a 1039 and 516 end links, I thought by this date the 1039 had been replaced by the 1171/633 which I have purchased separately and looks correct for this age watch.

So was there a choice of bracelet back then and the original owner chose the earlier bracelet??

I’m happy with the 1171 but it would be great to make it original to the archive, 1039/516 is quite pricey and lots seem to be very worn so is it worth it and is it correct?

 

In my experience it is unusual to have the bracelet mentioned in the Exract so in that you are lucky.
On the information provided I’m guessing your watch is a ref.145.022-71. If that is the case MWO confirms that three different types of bracelet were issued with this reference. These being 1039/516, 1175/640, and 1171/633, in true Omega tradition I’m sure allocations would have been entirely random, depending on what was to hand at time of manufacture.
I’ll leave you to decide whether the expense of a 1039/516 is justified to bring it in line with the archive.
Whatever you decide enjoy your watch and wear in good health.

 

Bracelets wore out and were replaced. That is part of the natural life cycle of a watch. I wouldn't be hung up on that.

What I would be hung up on is this watch was made 83 days before you were you born. That is seriously cool.

Congratulations man. What an excellent find.

 

Thank you for your responses..

Yes it is a 145.022-71 and what you have said (SouthernScot) has confirmed what I thought I read elsewhere about the watch being available with a choice of bracelets. I'm not too bothered about not having the original as I imagine the value it would increase by would be the value of what it would cost me to buy the bracelet so just happy with my 1171/633 and leather.

The birth year is a lucky bonus for me, when I purchased the watch I was told it was a 1974 and some other websites suggested it should be given the 32xxxxxx serial, so to have it confirmed that I was just 2.5 months old when this Speedy came off production was great, also has a step dial which I believe is towards the end of the step dial watches?

Regardless of all this, I absolutely love the look of this vintage and its a joy to wear..

 

Interesting that it says what type of bracelet it came with, none of the four extracts that I have mention a bracelet.

Dave