Does Anyone Know How Many Straight Writing Speedmasters Were Produced?

I see more standard SW with a 32 xx number then with 31 xx number on C24 if that helps. All / most ? Apollo XI here are with a 31 xx number.

In an article about the origins of the Rolex Space-Dweller, Jose Pereztroika writes:

"A lot has been written in the past about how these watches were made for the Japanese market after John Glenn spent a couple of weeks in Japan in 1963. If the watches were indeed produced for the Japanese market, there would be specific marketing material, advertisements, etc. in existence."

--https://perezcope.com/2023/12/24/space-junk-the-reality-of-the-infamous-rolex-space-dweller/

Jose suggests that all the current Space-Dwellers were not produced by Rolex. I am not suggesting that the Omega SW were not originally from Omega. The one intersection between his article and Omega is his comment about the watches being produced for the Japanese market. It would be very interesting to find any advertisements of the SW Speedmaster from that era, particularly any from Japan. While perhaps not widely published, therd must have some, as Omega was very (rightfully) proud of their watch.

Again, I am not suggesting that there is anything nefarious about the Omega SW such as is suggested by Jose about the Space-Dweller. Only that there may be further information hidden in an old advertisement, waiting to be discovered.

[Link to post that notes a likely cause for the growth of interest in Japan about the Moon and Speedmaster: https://omegaforums.net/threads/anyone-have-a-sales-receipt-for-sw-apollo-xi.165362/#post-2257005]

“Omega, costarring in Columbia Pictures’ film Escape from Space
Omega Speedmaster, the astronaut’s watch, is a wrist computer. Comes with four dials, including 1/5 second (?), 12-hour, and 30-minute registers and a tachymeter, plus stainless steel bracelet — ¥96,000

The Omega Speedmaster watch worn by the astronauts in the film, identical to that worn by all NASA astronauts, can be viewed at the EXPO’s American Plaza. And not just the Speedmaster, but all Omega watches have ultra-high-precision capabilities. See the rich Omega Collection for yourself at your nearby authorized dealer. • The film premieres April 11—Theatre Tokyo in Tokyo and OS Theater in Osaka. Don’t miss it!”

I saw Marooned, with Gene Hackman, on the brilliant Mystery Science Theater 3000 show on Comedy Central.

Interesting. The Expo appears again. The same World's Fair Expo that appeared March 15, 1970, in Osaka, Japan, which @mountainunder previously told us introduced moon fever to Japan.

I have thought a lot about this statement. The 145.022-69 caseback varieties have confused me. I expected an evolution in design, with changes connected to previous versions, but instead it seemed Omega was jumping back and forth in their design.

There are two primary data sets that help determine the timeline for when a Speedmaster was developed: one is the movement serial number and the other is the production date. These can be problematic for several reasons. The movements are made separately from the watches and the manufacturer can grab whatever is available; they are not added to a watch in numerical order. Some of the movements numbers may just be incorrect, as they may not have actually left the factory in that watch. As for production dates, watches are known to sit on shelves long after they have been produced. These two data sets are informative, but can lead to inaccurate conclusions.

What I realized recently is that I have been ignoring another data set, which is the design of the watches themselves. Looking the design elements alone, I think I finally have made sense of these and think I understand when they were produced.

Here's a chart for what I believe is the timeline:


Starting with the 145.022-68, it is the first 861 caliber in a Speedy. It includes the DON bezel, AML, 1116 bracelet and pre-moon caseback.
Coming soon after that is the 145.022-69 with 861, DON that soon changes to DNN, painted Omega logo, 1116 bracelet available, and pre-moon caseback.

We know that on Nov. 25th, 1969, Omega presented gold speedmasters to the Apollo astronauts. These gold watches led to the development of the BA 145.022-69 for sale to the public. These watches had DON bezels, AML, and 1116 bracelets. Some had crater moon boxes.

These gold speedmasters were the first time we saw the SW casebacks with the Apollo XI. What's more there were three variants, with the first one a thin font and the other two with fatter fonts. The first variant is an identical match to the same thin font on the steel SW Apollo XI that came later.

To present the gold speedys on Nov 25, 1969, Omega obviously had to begin designing much earlier. The question is whether they began the design using the 145.022-68 or the 145.022-69 pre-moon. It could be either, but I think the 145.022-68 is likely as it has the AML, which made it into the BA 145.022-69, as well as the DON and 1116 bracelet. Still, there's valid reasons for why they could have based it off the dash 69.

Here's where it gets less clear. I think the steel SW A-XI came next. The World's Fair EXPO 70 took place in Japan on Mar 15, 1970 and the Apollo 12 astronauts visited EXPO 70 on Mar 25th, 1970. The EXPO had a moon rock that was seen by 14 million visitors. This EXPO added to the space and moon craze. It is believed that the Japanese distributor for Omega ordered the SW Apollo XI watches. The 145.022-69 pre-moon casebacks were the normal steel Speedmaster that was then commonly available. It makes sense that after the EXPO 70, the distributor would order special editions using the BA 145.022-69 caseback design. It's thought that the movements used in the SW A-11 watches are between 31.000.xxx and 31.310.xxx, putting them around March 1971 to May 1971. The timeline fits. What's more , there was a printed moon box that came with these SW A-11 watches, which was similar to the crater moon boxes that came with the gold speedmasters.

The 145.022-69 pre-moon caseback was sold through about Sept. 1971, based on what people have reported. Looking at the SW FQ (flight qualified) casebacks, it appears they have movement numbers from 31.62xx.xxx to 32.857.xxx, making them first appear around June, 1971. They had a long run, with some reportedly sold as late as Oct. 1974. It makes sense that the Omega designers would be thinking about a longer lasted caseback inscription, as the SW A-11 had the Apollo XI on it. By now, there had been other Apollo missions and they did not want to be limited to only 1969. So they developed the flight qualified by NASA language and started selling these world wide.

Around Oct 1971, the first medallion no NASA casebacks appeared, based on the movement numbers. These seem to have only been available two months. It's been said that these new medallion casebacks did not have inscriptions on them because NASA may have not approved of the text that was on the SW FQ.

Right after this came the 145.022-71 medallion flight qualified casebacks. These are a natural design progression. There is a problematic element, which is that some 145.022-71s supposedly have movements that came from as early as April, 1971. I think this can be explained by the watchmaker grabbing an older movement that had been not yet used.

This all may have been obvious to everyone and I am only now figuring it out. Even so, it now makes sense to me and Omega wasn't haphazardly producing casebacks for the 145.022-69.

If you made it all the way through this post, congrats. Comments and constructive criticism is encouraged.

Happy almost New Year's to everyone.

Well written and explained, thanks !

Here is a 31.617.xx SW FQ from june 1971

https://www.chrono24.nl/omega/speed...ng-june-1971-archive-serviced--id30453521.htm

Good idea to look for more numbers on chrono24. (That’s a nice looking watch, too).

Using your example, here's another:

https://chrono24.app/omega/omega-sp...nal-moonwatch-full-set-1970s--id29171881.htm?

SW FQ 30.992 with sale date April 1971 (early) and production delivery date of Oct 1970. This is before the earliest reported 31.00x.xxx, per MWO but with a sale date of April, as opposed to the March 71 date of production for the SW A-11.

It could mean that the SW FQ was already in design by Omega when the SW A-11 was ordered. The early 30.992 movement can be explained away as being a movement that had been made but not yet used, but the April 1971 sales receipt can't be explained away.

Pure conjecture, the SW A-11 could have been ordered by Japan distributors ( who at this time had moved their HQ to Zurich), which prompted Omega to think they should also develop a SW steel watch for the public. Or, it could mean Omega was already working on the SW FQ design when the order came in for the SW A-11.

This a problematic for my beautiful chart. Unless there are earlier movements/sales dates for the SW A-11 then it's not logical to say with certainly that the SW A-11 came before the SW FQ. The only thing that is logical is that the BA 145.022-69 SW A-11 was designed first and likely led to the SW FQ design. (No news there.)

It also doesn't address the OPs question of how many SW steel watches were produced.

Great find with that sales booklet !
Joint production time for FQ and A-11 cases seems plausible, and the design for the 18K one was already there.
Movement production date can seriously put us on the wrong foot here, I am aware of a 1970 production date Speedmaster that was gifted new to the owner, in 1978.....and it was his wedding gift so i doubt he is mistaken the year. And 8 years in a shop window seems unlikely too so the wait is for the new EoA that is coming according to Omega ;

We are in the process of enhancing our Extract from the Archives offer to ensure that it aligns with the current needs of our clients, all while preserving the timeless values and traditions that define our brand.

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this temporary suspension may cause. Your patience and understanding during this time are highly appreciated.

We are excited to share that the new OMEGA Extract from the Archives will be unveiled in 2024. To ensure you are among the first to benefit from it, we encourage you to follow us across our various communication channels.

Not that i am very understanding about their refusal to share the delivery country while i am waiting.....

Do we even have a good estimate on total annual production of Speedmasters in 1970/1 ? 10K units world wide ? Japan being 10% of that ? Were all Speedies given a SW in 1971 and was the SW A-11 the total for Japan that year or did they also receive the SW FQ ? To many unknowns but a good puzzle to keep looking at !

Im not convinced that’s true to any significant extent. I know there’s hearsay that flat link bracelets were added at the point of sale and can be a year or two newer than the watch but of the watches I’ve bought recently that appeared in barn find, seemingly original condition, the bracelets were within a couple of months of the production date of the watch.

Thanks @pdxleaf for the chronology proposal ; I like the idea of the special request following the Japan Expo ; logical, very probable, it is even for me the only explanation. But a lot of fog remains for the rest of the parameters... 😗

Super interesting and informative thread. I've owned (and sold) a few of these. All at serials in the 31.61X.XXX to 31.62X.XXX range with July 1 or 2 delivery to Japan. My most recent is 31.619.XXX, delivered to Japan on July 2, 1971. At home with my BA 😉

3 likes: 🥰 🥰 🥰