Hi. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Thanks to all for creating and keeping this forum vibrant. I'm getting close to deciding to buy a vintage Speedmaster. Currently I'm fixated on the 345.0808 display-back model and love the look of the copper 863 movement, as opposed to the ones that are a more yellow-gold color. (For example, like this one that sold here two years ago.) I'm having difficulty determining which vintages of the 863 had this coppery color, and I'm not sure how exactly it comes across in photos, so it's hard to determine from some photographs what the color of the movement is. Am I only looking for one of the 999 watches from 1985? Or are there other "copper" 863s? Thanks!
There were more than that, there was also a limited edition of 2000 pieces & another that wasn't numbered. Mine is from the latter group.
Beautiful watch. Would you say it's the same rose / copper color as the 999 piece first edition of the 345.0808? In this photo it looks more yellow gold, but as I said, that's some of the trouble I'm having in figuring out from photos.
The image posted here was one of the gold-colored movements. IMO it should be pretty easy to distinguish between the copper and the gold colors. Whatever's distinctly reddish will be copper, and whatever seems pretty yellow will probably be gold. Just keep an eye out for low-res pictures with yellow lighting, and don't forget to ask sellers for more pictures in different lighting.
well there is the yellow gilded but the copper reddish tone is from the mid 80's and quite rare on the first 1000 models of the sapphire see through casebacks. Gluck!
An alert reminded me of this thread. I did end up finding one of the red copper 863s a few months ago, one of just 1000 watches with this movement. I'm very pleased with it.
An absolute stunner ! The copper movement 345.0808 is a true collector piece and by far the most difficult to find from the 80s trinity
Beautiful it is! I own a numbered edition gilt colored 3592.50 but would love to "upgrade" to the copper one!