My first, a 145.022-74, cost me $225, from pawn shop, in 1982 No box, no papers. Still have it. Rarely wear it anymore, although it was my daily watch for years. It’s one of those -74’s with an early serial number. Wore it the day I married my wife, Timed her contractions with it too.
My first Speedy was a 145.022-69-ST with an 1171/1 bracelet and replacement bezel. Bought it for $2500 back around 2008. See picture below. Sold it and replaced it with a 145.022-68-ST watch.
Bought it in 2002 for $800 from a collector with the original 1171. that’s what they were worth. Beat the crap out of it as my daily until a few years ago, finally got a new crystal and service bezel for it (DNN is in storage). He presented 2 cases full of watches and I also bought my 16750 from him for $2k....also what they were worth. If only I had a crystal ball I would have cleaned that dude out.
Brand new, 30 years ago. Dealer cost less 20%, since I worked for an Omega AD. Image shows the hang tag with the MSRP, so about the best deal one might expect for a brand new watch.
$0 for my first. It was a high school graduation gift from my parents back in 1976. I think that the retail price would have been around $325 USD. And thus began the addiction . . .
Gbp1.9k With box in March 2013, from a bricks and mortar store in Stratford Upon Avon (C Poel, hope they are still there?) love it, got the EOA later
My first Speedmaster was a Mark II with the racing dial. I bought it in the mid to late 1980s for $125. Back in those days, watch dealers mailed you a paper listing of their inventory. The listings were pretty bare bones and seldom contained any pictures of the watches. I purchased the Mark II having no idea of what the variant even looked like. That was very naive but it was a very different time then for collectors and I knew I wanted a Speedmaster. Upon arrival, I thought the watch was very ugly and eventually traded it for a "real Speedmaster".
Oh dear. I wish I was a collector in the 80's. My first speedmaster was the mk4.5 with the lemania based movement. Payed 1000 Euros.
Don't feel too bad, if you were anything like me you would have sold or traded them all off and be regretting about a dozen of those long lost pieces today.
This was my second Speedmaster. The original sales receipt was included when I purchased this in 2014. I was very happy with the price, it was just as if I have bought it new from the AD in 2005/06.
A friend bought a broken 1970s vintage Speedmaster for $800. He brought it to me with a problem of the hour counter operating erratically. I serviced it and identified the problem with the hour counter, and fixed that.
My first one was a high school graduation gift from my Uncle Art who was an Omega AD. He asked me to come to his store and he surprised me with a new Speedmaster and he fitted the bracelet to my wrist right on the spot. He showed me how to wind it properly and told me to make sure I kept the all boxes and papers. I wore it all summer except when I went swimming or played golf. I went off to college, The University of Louisville on a golf scholarship. I left my dorm room one afternoon to play in a match and of course I left my watch in the box in my top dresser drawer. Needless to say it was long gone when I returned. I was too embarrassed to tell him what happened to my watch. BTW: I graduated from high school in 1965