To me, just too good to be true, so despite my vows, I had to grab it. I have to admit the bezel is what I fell in love with, along with the correct pushers. But the best part is I’ll be able to wear it as an everyday watch because, with luminova hands and face, I’ll be able to read it at night. The case looks a little abused but not too polished. The movement looks clean and unabused. I love the feedback I get when I do this, so have at it/me! I always learn stuff. Tell me you don’t love the bezel. Shame about the dial and hands. But don’t you love that bezel! Sorry, first flush of love and all. Oh, almost forgot. It was USD 5,500.
You've got a 105.012-66CB not a 150.012. (Title correction) The question about whether or not you've got a bad deal at that price depends on the cost of any corrections you may or may not want to make. I can see why you were impressed with the bezel. Very neat and clean. That'll be going up in price. One of the most important things about a 105.012, with a CB case, has to be clearly visible facet lines on the lugs. Your 321 serial is correct. Your pushers look a bit tall and the tubes look a bit thin to be original for this reference. You're aware of the hands but I think the crown should be 24 tooth. (According to the chaps at STS UK) Correct me if I'm wrong but, it would seem that (at some point) it's had a service where they fitted a new dial, new hands, crown and pushers. If you decide to keep it as a daily wearer, why not to get hold of a cheap DNN service bezel. You could sell that Dot over 90 bezel and recover a chunk of the money that you paid for the watch. http://speedmaster101.com/105-012/
I would say more or less you paid what it is in parts. Problem will be to complete it with the dial. Hardly anyone is selling dials themselves. If they are. They are asking a pretty penny.
Those are service pushers which negatively affect the value as well. The bezel is indeed very nice but it will take a lot of time and money to return this to the correct spec
The bezel alone is worth more than half the price you paid, so all things considered, you did well. You may have trouble selling it on down the line unless you are able to find dial and hands (and dust cover). Those items alone will cost you close to what you paid for the rest of the watch... All that said, wear the hell out of it!
I’ve wanted to have a 321 I could travel with. (I travel every month.) I love how the pushers feel different when you operate them than a 861. (Yeah, good catch the spotting the service pushers!) A luminova dial and hands make that easier. This is another calculated gamble of mine. I thought I saw something in the watch and, adding up the bits, including the bezel and the 321 movement, I figured the risk was tolerable. Maybe the case turns out better than the photos show. We’ll see, but I doubt I’ll be rushing to correct the dial and hands. I’ll know once I hand polish the crystal to see what impression the dial and hands make in person. But even with all my protesting about only owning what I’m willing to wear, I do have a hard time feeling comfortable wearing a very valuable watch, even a sturdy Omega. This watch works for me that way too. It’s not perfect by any means, but it could be a keeper the way it is. I’m certainly not going to separate the bezel from the watch. I’m hoping to accumulate hours just staring at it.
But, I’m assuming it was a sympathetic service, at least to some degree, because the bezel wasn’t stripped away and the case doesn’t appear to have been polished at the same time.
!!! Fixed My dyslexia. I reverse digits ALL the time. I have to listen to phone numbers repeatedly to be sure I’ve got them right. That’s a big way to mess up. Thanks! A good catch.
Yeah you've got a point... but it would have been even more "sympathetic" if they had put all the old bits in a bag and returned them. Anyway I think it's a great watch for you to wear and at some point in time you may even get your money back by selling the bezel.
Good pick up! I was looking at this one too! I have a narrow T dial so was interested but don't think it suits this reference, only the earlier 105.012s, hence the pass. The DoN is killer and facet lines intact.
At the price you paid, it’s a decent daily wearer due to the bezel. However, as above, dial, hands, crown, dust cover and pushers are service replacement (although the pushers are the correct modern service items). The case also appears to have had a bit of a polish. If you wanted to go full on resto, you’d obviously need a vintage dial etc. However, if you’re coming from a value stand point, I feel you’d need to put more in to obtain the items than you’d get back in finish value. I’m personally a big hater of service dials, as they take all the charm and individuality out of a watch, so at the very least I would age the dial and hands but if you need the lume this may not be an option. Then again, if lume was important I’d just wear a modern watch and keep vintage for when it wasn’t.
I think you did fine. The watch has had a life and things have been done to it that might offend purist collectors, but that's the way these things have often come down to us if they've been used and "looked after" by previous owners who understandably thought that the best thing to do for their faithful watch was to have it serviced by Omega. Enjoy it for its honesty and think of the service dial and hands as long service badges. Great watch.
We see narrow T dials on 105.012-66s, but more often on HFs than on CBs for some reason. Still, I don't think that I'd consider a narrow T dial on a CB to be incorrect
It's a modern service replacement. https://omegaforums.net/threads/speedmaster-dust-cover-evolution.13504/
Yeah, not all the watches that come to us are perfect and many of those flawed ones won’t be really ‘fixable’. I’ve looked at really nice 105.012-66 CB’s, including some listed for sale in OF; they all start at around twice as much as this watch and climb from there. For half the money, I hope to have one I’m comfortable wearing regularly. As we all fear, one really good accident can diminish one of those ‘perfect’ -66 CB’s by thousands of dollars, which would flash through my mind every morning when contemplating putting one of them on. Not everything needs to be improved or fixed; some things are better enjoyed the way you found them. Thank goodness my wife mostly agrees with this sentiment.
Example: I have a perfect, unused early Waterman fountain pen from around 1893 that cost me an arm and a leg at a pen show 28 years ago. It’s a black hard rubber size 5 straight cap with gold-filled bands, a rare half moon vent hole 5 nib and the original fissure feed. (Sorry, I went to look for it for a photo, but it’s in the vault.). The pen, upon close inspection, has never been used or filled with ink. The 14k gold nib has that long-untouched reddish rainbow of colors. The pen is crisp, and stunning, if you collect such things. Any Waterman from that era is exceedingly rare, but an unused one? In the hundreds of thousands of early Watermans that I’ve seen, nothing even close has come my way. At least five times in the years I’ve owned it, I’ve sat at my bench, with the pen open and a bottle of ink ready to pour into it. The same way I love wearing my watches, I love writing with old Watermans. (My daily writers, that I carry with me when I travel, are three size 16 Waterman hard rubber, eye dropper filled fountain pens from before WWI.) I am SO curious to feel what that nib is like to write with. But, so far, every time, I’ve capped the ink bottle and put the pen away.
Hell, that's an excellent purchase...well done, and wear in good health. I know you seem to want to 'read it at night' but what you could do to make it 'perfect' (and imho this will increase the visual pleasure even more at a fraction of the cost) is 1) get a correct service replacement chrono hand 2) then get it all relumed to look vintage...