Hello everyone! First time poster, long time lurker. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the wealth of knowledge on this board. I have been looking for a nice vintage Speedmaster for about 3 years now, and finally found one I feel comfortable buying. I have talked the seller down to $1700, but before I pull the trigger I wanted to see if any of you would be willing to share your thoughts. It all look corrects to me except for the hour hand for some reason - I think it's too wide vs the minute hand. I don't know the service history. It has the 220 bezel and the logo back. inside the case it is stamped "145.022 69 ST", which appears correct to me for the vintage. I let my jeweler put the back on again before I thought to take pictures of the movement, but I confirmed it is an 861. I will take the back off the next time I see it and try to get some pictures for everyone to look at.

Here is a link to the album

And a couple of pictures:



I'd really be interested in opinions as to overall condition and what I should check before purchase. Again, thanks to everyone that can find the time to respond! I'm looking forward to being an active member of the community!

 

P.S.: Watch photography is tough! I don't know how some of you guys get those incredible shots!!

 

For $1700 you should own it by now.

Hands are for a mark 2 I believe.

Buy. It. Now.

Watch is worth at least x2 FYI. At least.

 

That's what I'm thinking, Ben. Thanks so much! A Mark II, huh? I'll look to see if there is any resale value for those hands...want this one to be as correct as possible. Also, the "Omega Signature" is on the crystal, not sure if that shows up in any of my pictures.

 

Buy it. Nice 220 bezel

 

That's what I'm leaning toward, thanks for the advice!

 

You should not be leaning towards it - this thing should be in your hand right now! It is worth many times the price being offered.

The Hour/Min hand are MKII hands, but the others look correct. For the 220 bezel to be correct, expect the serial number to start with 31,xxx,xxx.

 

Outside of hands everything is consistent with a -69 220 error bezel.

 

Don't be such a tight wad!

Never mind messing around seeing if mk2 hands have any value (they don't and these aren't actually mk2 hands anyway), just buy the watch before someone else does.

 

How realistic is it to find tritium hands these days? And at what price?

 

Ok, great advice! I’ll check that out first thing.

 

Buy it now. Or just connect me with the seller and I'll do it for you

 

Who is the seller? Hopefully it's not a private seller who is trusting you to provide a fair price as this is under market.

 

Haha! Fair enough! Going now to get it. You guys have made the decision easy for me!

 

Pawn Shop that deals in higher-end jewelry, starting to get into watches. I really don’t think they know what they have here...

 

No chance, lol . But thanks for the advice!

 

Just trying to make it an easy decision for ya!

 

I appreciate that! Thanks everyone- really enjoying being involved on the forum!

 

Not so easy to find a set in good condition. The most recent sets I have seen have had at least small levels of damage or lume loss, and have gone for around $700-800. But I bet that a set with the perfect color or patina would fetch much more. Speedmaster hands just don't age attractively very often... I have a set in what I would call a pretty decent state that I am probably putting up soon.

 

Done deal! $1696 out the door! Will be posting more pics of the movement as soon as my wrench gets here. Thanks again, everyone- the advice was much appreciated!