I have read somewhere that there is a speedmaster bezel that got misprinted .Is that true ? instead of 225 there is a 200 or 220 ? show me some pictures ?
Where do these stand in the hierarchy of bezels? ( I promise this isn't an attempt to start a whole new thread! )
I put this bezel on my -65 Speedy in place of the original dot over 90 as I wear the watch every day. Only recently realised it's actually a rarer bezel than the original! Looking for a new sacrificial bezel now.
It was fitted to a few 145.022-69 'pre moon' models. They evidently realised their mistake fairly quickly.
From what I’ve researched 220 bezel was in production for about 7weeks before Omega realised there was an error, how rare are they to the DON we are really unsure . Do they command a premium price you will have to ask the experts on the forum, Personal I prefer the 220 bezel because its diffract.
As mention on another thread, the difference between DON and 220 bezel is that 220 fits only one model, probably in a narrow time frame whereas DON fits a number of models over several years, so the latter is more useful and more valuable. If you don't have a 145.022-69 in the right serial number range, then a 220 bezel is of limited use to you... from a purist point of view.
I mentioned earlier that I accept that a DON bezel is the way to go for my 105.003. An alternative for me is a pulsometre bezel. Looking into it i see bezels seem to be listed as 40mm, 39.5mm, 39.6mm etc. I've not been able to find a resource that lists bezel size according to model number. I'm interested to see that even within a specific model number bezel sizes can differ between serial number ranges. If you retrofit a bezel do you sometimes have to mill the bezel / watch to fit or is it the depth of bezel etc that matters? Many resources seem to indicate that generally one size fits all but that seems not to be the case?
The 2915 bezels will not fit the later models and vice versa - other than this all later bezel should be interchangeable...
Thank you mac_omega. The reason I ask is that I have just bought a pulsometre from the watchco ebay auction with the intention of putting it on a 105.012 65 with DON ( when I find a nice one ), put the pulsometre on that and the DON from the 105.012 on my 105.003 - I don't think I can afford a DON AND 105.012 as I mentioned before! ( also no other watch would have its DON bezel removed to put on my 105.003 ) I'd be happy with a pulsometre for various reasons. I asked watchco if the pulsometre bezels would fit a 105.003 and they said no.....I've taken a punt on it anyway. If wrong I suspect it will end up on the FS forum!
There are exceptions...certain cases have issues with current replacement bezels. I think I have posted this somewhere here before...
if you were in the market to buy a 220 bezel for your 145.022-69 what type of money would these bezel's command Just queries ?
I don't know about price. It seems they sometime command a slight premium. There's some interesting threads around about them, including one that has a response from Omega Museum on the topic. For example, http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?235856-New-old-Omega-Speedmaster-from-1969
@rogart an extract of my book, p121-122 regarding the 220 bezel: “instead of the usual graduations marked 225 200 190 on the scale, these bezels are inscribed 225 220 190. It’s not a special version but a genuine mistake because the positions of the corresponding marker dots are the same as in other bezels. We have classified it as type B2bis, because it is an unintended and unique aberration of the type B2. The examples we have recorded were fitted only on the reference 145.022-69 with movement numbers between 30.589.xxx and 31.008.xxx, produced in the fall of 1970. It is possible that the B2bis. 220 variant was the first bezel without an accent on the E. We can assume that once the mistake had been discovered it was quickly put right (type B2). Any other scenario would be more difficult to explain” Copyright: Moonwatch Only - watchprint.com Please not the updated upper range serial number (was 31.000.xxx in the book)
Are you folks publishing updated information like this anywhere besides posts here? I don't see it on the web site. Would be nice.
@flyingout yes it is planned to published update information as well as typos directly on our website. It is in the to-do list... I will inform the forum when done.