Hi, a friend of mine, who is a retired flight instructor, wears a Speedmaster he traded against a debt during the seventies and he has used it daily ever since. I recently noticed the strange lugs and snapped a quick picture of it. My friend said the original owner had purchased the watch during the 50's, which I didn't initially believe, but now looking at the picture and realizing it might be a 2998, this could actually be correct. The current owner was flying a Yak-51 in the early 90's and broke the crystal against the seat belt buckle. At the point of repair he had the second hand replaced with a new one to actually see it while flying at night. He was not sure, if there were any other hands replaced at that time. The case back was covered by the bund type of strap, so I didn't get a view of it. I'll make sure to take proper pictures next time I meet him, as I am now fairly curious to learn more about the watch. But any comments so far or anything special to look for next time see the watch would be really great. Thanks!
We actually punctured a tire during landing last week, run of the runway and ended up 180 degrees to our original landing direction, so that Speedmaster is definitely still living it...=) I really like the story, as it might also be the Speedmaster with the highest number of accumulated flight hours and landings, as the current owner has logged over 20000 hours of flying time (all with single engine piston, so no coffee drinking while glancing bored at the watch) and it should be a fairly straightforward task to document the actual flight time it has spent in the air.
Hi, I finally had a chance to hear a few more flight stories from the owner and take a closer look at the watch. MSNWatch was correct, it was a late 2998 and it is actually in really good shape. But it could use a thorough cleaning and new strap =) This watch has around 15000 recorded flight hours and it was two weeks ago the last time in the air. I now plan to document the hours including the # of landings and flown aircraft types, because I doubt there is another Speedmaster that comes even close! Please enjoy the pictures!
Great example of a Speedy 2998! Attractive patina. Reminds me very much of my 2998-62 (now gone to Chicago) I think the owner should be aware of that these has become quite valuable, so tell him to take good care of it, if he wants to maintain that. Has this watch lived its life in Sweden, or did it just visit Kebnekaise once (or once in a while)?
Nice that you noticed =) Yes, the watch has been to Kebnekaise around 20 times (once per year) for high altitude wave soaring, but it has lived in Finland from the very beginning. The current owner has received a very special honorary title "Flight Captain" from the Finnish president, which was given for his long history in Finland's aviation and for instructing so many new pilots. Including myself in the mid 90's!
