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Jones in LA
··Not in LA anymore.Wow! Just within the last hour I had an extraordinary "in-the-wild" experience. I was standing in the ordering line in a local fast food restaurant (called Farmer Bros) in a decidedly gritty, blue-collar part of Los Angeles, when I noticed the guy in front of me in line was wearing a Mark II Speedmaster. Nope, there was no doubt what it was. So I had to make a quick decision: do I attempt to strike up a conversation, or do I avoid the possibility of precipitating the kind of debacle described here (remarkably, also a Mark II sighting):
https://omegaforums.net/threads/doh...f-that-you’ve-said.159601/page-2#post-2180231
Finally determining that nothing is gained if nothing is ventured, I tapped the guy on his shoulder. He turned toward me and I said, with a grin, "Wow, that's a very unusual watch you're wearing!". He looked at his watch, then looked back at me, smiling! He said, "Yes it is, it's the same watch the astronauts wore on the moon!". Of course, I wasn't going to nitpick about the Mark II not being the actual Moonwatch. I replied "Yes, that's right! It's so cool looking!". Then I showed him my watch, which happened to be a 3861 Hesalite Speedmaster and explained: "And this is kind of the modern version of your watch". He went on to say that he bought his watch in the mid-1970s from its original owner, and has worn it almost continuously ever since. He even had it serviced recently by an independent watchmaker. The watch looked fantastic, not polished, but not very beat up either.
He asked me: "Do you mind telling me how much your watch costs now?" I said: "About $7,000 new". He replied, "Yeah, someone told me my old watch was worth $5,000 [a bit of a stretch, in reality] can you believe it?" I have been looking for just the right cal.861 Mark II for a very long time, so I could complete my goal of owning at least one each of the 321, 861, 1861, and 3861 Speedmasters. But before I could say anything along the lines of maybe offering to buy his watch, he completed his thought by saying: "But I think I'll pass it on to my son someday", to which I replied: "Yes, that would be an awesome thing to do." Then we shook hands and each went to our respective seats in the restaurant (he was there with another guy).
https://omegaforums.net/threads/doh...f-that-you’ve-said.159601/page-2#post-2180231
Finally determining that nothing is gained if nothing is ventured, I tapped the guy on his shoulder. He turned toward me and I said, with a grin, "Wow, that's a very unusual watch you're wearing!". He looked at his watch, then looked back at me, smiling! He said, "Yes it is, it's the same watch the astronauts wore on the moon!". Of course, I wasn't going to nitpick about the Mark II not being the actual Moonwatch. I replied "Yes, that's right! It's so cool looking!". Then I showed him my watch, which happened to be a 3861 Hesalite Speedmaster and explained: "And this is kind of the modern version of your watch". He went on to say that he bought his watch in the mid-1970s from its original owner, and has worn it almost continuously ever since. He even had it serviced recently by an independent watchmaker. The watch looked fantastic, not polished, but not very beat up either.
He asked me: "Do you mind telling me how much your watch costs now?" I said: "About $7,000 new". He replied, "Yeah, someone told me my old watch was worth $5,000 [a bit of a stretch, in reality] can you believe it?" I have been looking for just the right cal.861 Mark II for a very long time, so I could complete my goal of owning at least one each of the 321, 861, 1861, and 3861 Speedmasters. But before I could say anything along the lines of maybe offering to buy his watch, he completed his thought by saying: "But I think I'll pass it on to my son someday", to which I replied: "Yes, that would be an awesome thing to do." Then we shook hands and each went to our respective seats in the restaurant (he was there with another guy).
