Hi guys,

I hope you can help me as I'm kind of new to buying vintage watches. I found an old 145.022 from approx. 1970. Looks good for me (although the bracelet and paperwork is missing). Movement No. is 3099xxxx, on ilovemyspeedmaster it says this should be a 145.022-69, but the the engraving says 145.022-71. Also I'm not sure: is that case polished? What price in $ would be acceptable you think?

Cheers,

Bernhard

 

Case has seen a polish but not terrible and generally to be expected on a 50 Year old watch.

Dial looks original.

Bezel is not original.

Take the price from speedmaster101 and deduct for modern bezel etc.

 

Service bezel also.

 

Thank you so much for your help. It resulted in buying a beautiful brand new 310.30.42.50.01.001 just because I didn't want to make a mistake. And it's a beauty:

As much as I'm pleased with this one, I still (or even more now) want a vintage Speedy. These days I was offered a Cal. 321 which I'm not sure what to make of, but have a look first:



I mean, there are obvious flaws. Doesn't have the DON, the original case back is missing. Seller claims it's a 145.022, but according to ilovemyspeedmaster it should be a 145.012 (movement ° starts with 2499). Case looks a bit to new for me. Dial and movement appear to be ok I guess.
Would you buy this watch? And if so - what would be a good pricing? Thanks for your help. Reading this forum is a pleasure and ended up getting pretty expensive...

 

The lack of a DON bezel is problematic and finding a suitable replacement in good condition would be very expensive. As you note, there are other issues as well. The sense that I get from your posts is that you've caught a good case of Speedmaster fever. That's nothing to be embarrassed about as it has infected most of us here at OF at one time or another. That being said, there is only one cure: accumulating knowledge and PATIENCE before buying. Slow down, take your time, learn everything that you can on this forum and from other sources, ask questions and view prospective purchases with a very critical eye. Buying the wrong vintage Speedmaster can be a very expensive mistake.

 

You're exactly right I guess. There is so much to be learned about this beautiful watch. Guess I should skip this one

 

This is great advice.

Sometimes you really get attached and fall hard for the watch that's in front of you -- because it's in front of you. You've had a couple of watches come into consideration over the past few months and that's great, seeing them/trying them on is a great way to get an understanding of what they are like. From the pictures above and from reading into your reactions, I'm not sure you're 100% convinced of any of these vintage examples. Keep reading, keep hunting. Once you see or handle a good vintage example I think you'll be enlightened a bit -- you'll have the reaction of "oh, wow, for something that's 50-60 years old this is really pleasing", etc.

I'm not a 321 Speedy expert, but the watch above as you noted (caseback, bezel) plus a 321 service could set you back ~$5kUSD or more to get it right. Unless this is being offered for cheap (I'm not sure what that would be for a 321 Speedy) and don't care about collectability, I don't think I'd go for it.

 

321 ...It's a 105.012, a good DON bezel $2k, $2k for a bracelet a case back $1k would be needed, looks like a washed dial (no lume) a good relume $700 a service $600, then you have a nice watch... I would pay $4000 for it, as the case looks good as do the original pushers and crown... hands look a bit newer to me .......as it stands the seller will be asking at least $7k I reckon... he will take £6k as he would be silly not too. After all the work is done it would be a good watch possibly worth $10-12k but you would have to keep a few years to make it worth while.