Dear community,

after I posted my first answers and hints a few days ago in the forum, a few members and I came to the conclusion, that we should open a „Build Your Own Speedmaster – BYOS“ thread. So, this will the opening of the thread, and, as a new member with my very first thread, I hope, that I do everything in the correct way, and the admins will agree to this thread and a lot of members will join to this thread.

First a short indroduction of my person:

I am 54 years old and located in Germany. My first name is Dirk
I am collecting Omega watches – only Speedmaster – for more than 25 years.
My very first Speedmaster was the Mk II from my father.

My first vintage Speedy was a 105.003 and a 2998. I payed DM 800,--/EURO 400,-- for the 105.003 or DM 1.600,--/EURO 800,-- for the 2998. Unbelievable today….
Then came a 105.002, a 105.012-65, 105.012-66, 145.012, another 105.003, etc …
I mention this, just to proof, that I have (hopefull)y enough experience with vintage Speedmaster watches.

Of course I am able to proof all this – there is still a lot of correspondence left between Mr. John R. Diethlem and me. In those years it was very easy, to get information from Omega about a Speedmaster - e.g. when the watch was produced and to which country it was delivered or if the movement no. is compatible to the watch(case etc.). And this without any costs. Good old time….

But then came a period of buying and selling watches, not only Speedmasters but also other brands…and to start a family and to build a house…
And I am no psychic – so I didn’t hold the Speedys – bad luck for me – but that’s life…the life of a watch collector maybe – watches come and go …

To come to an end: this introduction was not to bore you or to be arrogant – it is just to show you, that I have the heart in the right place and that I am a real Speedy fan.

Hopefully this works!

To come to the topic of the thread:

As we all know, vintage Speedys are very expensive.

To wear them everyday is possible, but what I learned with my vintage Speedys was – one daily rocker – ok – but keep the rest away from dust and water – so, stay at home with the watch.

That was the very first moment to think about an alternative – to build my own Speedmaster – which is much more cheaper – looks like I want it to have it or looks like some of the very rare models. And this Speedy will be not a fake. I know the discussion about fake and Franken Speedys. But I think, there are room for different ways of collecting: to be a purist and collect original vintage Speedmaster watches or to be one of us crazy BYOS guys are two of them. AND: I don’t want to blame anybody, never mind what a category of watch collector he/she is.

I am the lucky guy to have a AD with a watchmaker here in Germany (highest Rolex level and Omega level 3). This man is really a wizard and supports me in all my projects – and with him there is the chance to get the original Speedmaser parts for a reasonable price. Of course I bought and still buying parts all over the www – vintage items are only available along this way - as all the members of this forum know.

I will come to an end now and posting some pictures of my project watches or of my BYOS watches.

The watches have all a cal 861/1861 – starts with 26‘, 28‘, 48‘ or 78‘ movement #.

So, feel free to have a lock on all the following watches, and please, I hope you will be gentle with me – with me, my watches and my English.

My BYOS:

As a rule, all watches hold something special which you will NOT find on the original watch e.g. a special sweep second hand or else.

All the reluming (or colouring of the hands) were done by my friend James Hyman, who is really a wizard too and very kind, skilled and helpful man. Short: a gentleman. Many thanks again James!

...the "Ed White" (former FOIS) with its hesalite crystal...

...the "1968" Racing Speedy:


...then a 1969 Speedy....




...another Speedy...1970....


...then the Japan Racing...


and finally the Tintin...

 

I am looking to build a Japanese Racing dialled Speedy for everyday wear - don’t have to worry about the odd knock or pull my wrist in every time that go near a door which I do when wearing the .002... The dials a s handsets appear to be service parts and are otherwise available - just thinking about what would make a good ‘donor’ watch...?

 

What do you mean with "donor" watch
And yes, the dials and handsets are all service parts....

 

I don't like it or WatchCo but hey to each their own.
If you are happy that is all that matter.

 

Welcome Dirk!!

Does your '69 speedy have a stepped dial?

I am not against the idea of a modification, it's a good alternative as you say, to create what you want if the original is out of reach financially or just too difficult to find. I had a regular speedmaster modified to match the Mitsukoshi speedmaster with a panda dial.



Thank for sharing!

 

Thanks for this answer.

 

Unfortunately no stepped dial. I still hold a stepped service dial for a cal. 321 with a handset....for a future 321 project which I can fulfill perhaps one day..

...and...very nice watch...

 

I think this is super cool actually. Very well done, or as a novice German student, sehr gut gemacht!

 

Vielen Dank

 

I think I get the idea, and I like the look of a lot of the watches you have built. But do you wear any of them as 'beaters'? Which is what I took your original motivation to be. I may already know the answer as I have one that Adam Lewis at Lewis Watch Co built. I thought it would be great to have Speedy I could thrash about in without worry. But truth to be told, I am reluctant to let it get scratched it up as it is a very nice watch, imho.

I am interested to know why you have built so many.

Picture of mine:

 

But, I wouldn’t feel comfortable making a habit of this.

I really liked those cream dials, but just thought there was too much black in the original version.

 

Very interesting .

I thought this thread was going to be about one of those magazines you can buy that allow you to build something over a long period of time - with a cheaper first edition, then monthly copies with other components and instructions

 

This is a great combo! Did you source this all from lewis watch co? Which white dial is this? Haven't seen a fully printed white dial before.

 

I mean the Speedy that will have the dial and handset fitted to it in place of whatever is original (could try and find movement, case, caseback etc as parts and go from there of course...)
Would want to use a nice tritium watch for example - so assume modern reference as donor or base for modification...

 

Dial and hands, from a UK parts supplier


Chrono hand, from same supplier


Bezel, from an Australian supplier, as I recall.


All done two years ago. The parts are going to be much harder to come by now.

 

My suggestion would be to get a standard 3570.50 (e.g. 2000's model) for this mod. Same base model as the actual Japan racing so you can make it 100% faithful to the original if you wish.

It's always nice to get something more interesting for the donor (e.g. older tritium model) - but then you can't use the same (tritium) hands, you might need to swap out that more expensive older bezel, etc etc...

 

Here are some other neat ones:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/custom-project-omega-speedmaster-“engineer”.116266/
https://omegaforums.net/threads/speedmaster-dial-customisation.110011/#post-1448275
https://omegaforums.net/threads/doing-a-mitsukoshi-mod.51999/

 

I do wonder if there is a difference between building you ‘own’ speedy - and having someone construct a modified version for you.

I say this as I’ve had this exact conversation with my 7old daughter tonite. I am going to build her a watch - an 861. She will get to choose the dial / hands combo - with some ‘influence’ - and when she is older, I’m thinking 21. This will be her watch and I don’t expect that to leave the family.

Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a few threads where folks are constructing a watch from old/new parts. Are we saying we need to align on a designation - not franken - but custom. Where custom is completely open about what it is.

The question in my mind - how does that align with vintage collecting. Do we just say - custom - move on. As we see more of these?

I think this is a great discussion. Thank you OP!!

 

If I'm reading your reference correctly, the issue in the other thread is that people are marrying genuine Omega parts (e.g. movement) with fake parts, ie parts not made by Omega but are stamped with Omega logos etc. This thread is about using genuine Omega service parts to generate something different from the standard model.

I agree @BatDad with the designation of custom or mod rather than franken. It seems there are a few distinguishing factors such as a) using genuine vs fake parts, b) not necessarily trying to replicate an existing model design, and c) being transparent about the modified status. This last one seems critical - nothing wrong with creating a japan racing, mitsukoshi etc until you try to sell it off as one!

 

Hey Dirk,

I like the watches that you created with spare parts a lot! They are looking cool, oriented on the originals,
but not too close. Great idea and chapeau for your way of arranging the new looks. That is a great way to
get an old fashioned daily wearer without destroying an Original - I got your point and support that - I see
that you are a true Speedy-Lover! First class!

Ich bin begeistert! Beste Grüße aus Österreich,
Hans