Hi gents,

I was wondering if there are any 'rules' pertaining to caseback finishing on pre pro speedies?

I've seen some that appear smooth and others that have concentric circles brushed into the metal.

Was the original factory finish the concentric circles? Or was smooth a factory finish for a time?

It seems to be that the earlier references more often have the smooth and the later references the circles, but I'm guessing the circles were just rubbed away more on older watches.

Thoughts?

 

The concentric circles are from refinishing the back on a lathe.

I believe it should be smooth.

I did once see a small collection of very rare speedmaters in Paris offered to me with a frosted, or sand blasted finish on the case back. The vendor challenged me when I rejected them all, saying that this was the original omega finish. As I have never before or since seen it, I assume this well known dealer was completely wrong. However I have always remained open to the idea he might have been right - I have not seen a mid 1960's speed master in untouched condition so I am only 90% sure he was talking nonscence.

 

AFAIK they are finely concentric circled - but not so coarse like in the second pic from the OP - this was clearly ground to much using a lathe...

Mike (MSN) will know it for sure as he has a NOS example - let us wait until he chimes in

 

Thanks gents.

@mac_omega, do you mean that all refs (well, 2998+) should have those lighter concentric circles? Or was it introduced at some point along the way?

Would love to see a caseback pic of @MSNWatch's if he's amenable, or failing that, comments.

 

I can not tell you if they all had the circular pattern, but for example my 2998-4 has and also my 66 CB.
I have also checked my Railmaster (which is in untouched condition) and there is this pattern also.

 

Bumping in hopes of more feedback..

Leaning towards the finer concentric circles being original, but then Mr. Spacefruits opinion weighs heavily in this instance.

 

Lighter concentric circles.

 

+1 for fine concentric circles. The ones thats are semi polished or appear to have no distinct type of finish have simply been worn a lot or refinished in the past IMO.

 

Concentric circles!

 

Now I don't know for sure. Because I don't know everything. But can tell you this. I would not buy a speed master as NOS if it had any circles on it.

Maybe my money knows best....

 

Perhaps MSN and Space are right about the early double step case backs. It might be interesting to note that the new case back that Omega supplies for the 145.012 does have the satin finish to the centre with a polished bevel. It is a VERY light finish though. The other case backs they reproduce seem to be as far as I can tell, faithful to the originals. Eg the flight master, memomatic, soccer timer, SM300 etc.

 

Maybe someone can come up with a pic of another case back like the one oddboy posted with rings on it.
I won't be holding my breath waiting.

 

Not as pronounced, but still there..

 

Just talked to a friend of mine who knows quite a lot about Speedies (and has a nice collection).

His comment: The first models had smooth backs and the fine concentric circles seem to have appeared around 1963

This would match perfectly with Mike´s (MSN) NOS 2998-1 which has a smooth back and my 2998-4 which has already remnants of fine circles.
So does my Railmaster 135.004 from 1963... while his 2914-1 has a smooth back

The transition might have happened around 1962-64 depending on model or maybe case maker?

Hope this helps to shed some light on the topic

 

Thanks guys! Very interesting!

 

I can confirm the circles at least for the 145.012.

 

here the caseback of my 2998-62...of course i can not say if its the original finish or not.