Frankenstein Speedmaster?

This watch was sent to me for my opinion. The case style number is 145.022-71ST which I assume refers to the year. The S# of the movement fits that era. The movement is a bronze coloured calibre 861. Notice the bezel. Not only is it misaligned, but it is a dot over 9 bezel which I believe to be earlier than the watch. It very much appears to me that someone has tried to make this watch into something it isn’t. The owner wants an appraisal which (under the circumstances), I am not prepared to do. Is it possible that the bezel could be correct for that era, and for the 1971 serial number?

Crystal took a nice clip at 5 o'clock. You'd expect the bezel at 130 to show nicks. Unlikely that bezel came with that watch.

Nice nick on the crown. Somebody wore that watch for work.

Bezel is genuine,

"Owner wants an Appraisal"

If you mean a quick opinion, no harm in telling him it's a Fair condition -71 with an earlier, more valuable bezel.

It may squeak upwards a category when in hand, toward "Good".

Appraisal is a loaded term, which as someone who has given appraisals in another field for 45 years, and you need to be very careful what is being asked.

That being said, I love doing this sort of thing, and since I am not being paid I can't be sued, so I say:

To buy in: $2500
Fair collector to collector value: $3300
Insurance replacement : $6600
Famous London Watch dealer: £7,000

All subject to no nasty surprises in the back side, and the movement getting an extract

Thank you for your carefully considered opinion. My feeling on a fair value for this watch might be described as trying to appraise a pedigreed dog which is wearing a platinum collar. That dog is not likely any more valuable than another pedigreed dog of the same breed. The appraisal should be based on what it IS, rather than to be based on what some “switcher” is trying to make it appear to be. I have declined the request to do an appraisal on it. If the watch were to come back to me with the correct bezel, I’d consider doing an appraisal. Appraising the theoretical platinum dog collar is much like appraising the dot over nine bezel….a separate issue.

I agree with @Spacefruit but I’d give it another $500 on the collecter price as I’d get a DNN and flip the DON for a little recoup.


Although without a serial number there is a possibility it’s a 145.022-69 with the wrong caseback.

That would make sense if the watch had been offered to me to buy. But it is someone else’s watch! The subject of Frankenwatches is often discussed on the message board, and they are usually not held in high regard. I would not be doing the owner a favour if I was to place a value on it equivalent to a correct watch with a DON bezel. And otherwise, if he was in the know as to the subterfuge of the switched bezel, and if I was place a high value on this “mongrel”, he would have reason to wonder if I knew what I was talking about! I have told the owner that I am unable to offer to do an appraisal on it.

Moreover, suppose this guy just bought this watch after having paid a premium price for it because someone did a selling job on the added value of the DON bezel! I don’t want to fall into a trap by placing a valuation lower than what he may have paid! I plan on bowing out, but I have told him the watch is not correct.

AND, if the owner wants an inflated appraisal so he can pawn it off on some other unwary sucker, I don’t want to be party to that kind of fraud!