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I Guess It's Wasn't Uncommon to Switch Case Backs on Speedmasters

Marsimaxam
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I have been looking for quite some time to find the correct case back for my Omega Speedmaster 105.012-66 HF as it has a CB case back. I search eBay and even look at the 105s that they have for sale. Yesterday I found two CB versions for sale that both had the incorrect HF case back. Yes, I wrote both sellers to see if interested in a swap... no replies yet.

I guess Omega wasn't too careful when reinstalling the case backs on this particular version Speedmaster with two different case manufacturers.
Edited:
 
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sheepdoll
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Sadly yes. Mine came with two case backs one engraved one not. I misplaced the engraved back, so the not engraved back is on the watch.

These were working every day watches. I used to wear mine a lot till I scratched the crystal. (So well desinged I never realized how large it is.)
 
Larry S
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sheepdoll sheepdoll
Sadly yes. Mine came with two case backs one engraved one not. I misplaced the engraved back, so the not engraved back is on the watch.

These were working every day watches. I used to wear mine a lot till I scratched the crystal. (So well desinged I never realized how large it is.)
Yes…Its common knowledge that watchmakers were pretty careless with these casebacks. None thought these tool watches were a) going to survive 50+ years and B) selling for insane money in the future where every aspect would be examined in minute detail.
 
Marsimaxam
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Larry S Larry S
Yes…Its common knowledge that watchmakers were pretty careless with these casebacks. None thought these tool watches were a) going to survive 50+ years and B) selling for insane money in the future where every aspect would be examined in minute detail.
You’d think a watchmaker would keep all the parts separate from another watch that they’d be working on at the same time… obviously the case back were not a priority.
 
STANDY
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Funny thing is I think most of these caseback shenanigans were not watchmaker stuff ups like most think.

Even though the internet machine thinks it’s true because it was written once.

Maybe you have the right caseback because it came from the factory like that 😗


(Knowing with the Shonkey Shite that goes on nowadays that these are worth serious money)
 
Dan S
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STANDY STANDY
Funny thing is I think most of these caseback shenanigans were not watchmaker stuff ups like most think.

Even though the internet machine thinks it’s true because it was written once.

Maybe you have the right caseback because it came from the factory like that 😗


(Knowing with the Shonkey Shite that goes on nowadays that these are worth serious money)

I agree entirely. Many of the watches I see with swapped case-backs have other questionable parts as well. People are optimizing watches left and right to sell to suckers. Usually they don't get caught, but occasionally there are tells, as in this case.
 
nonuffinkbloke
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I agree with @STANDY . I wonder if Omega were any where near as concerned about the stamp on the inside of the case back, as we are.

They didn't provide me with much detail regarding the watch case in the Extract of the Archives. It just states that it's made of steel and that it's an ST105.012. Nothing about who made the case. In contrast, the information provided, regarding the movement, is very clear.

The previous 3 years of this reference all had double step HF case backs. Maybe, as long as the case backs on the bench for the 66 run had a single step and were stamped 105.012-66, they just screwed them on??? They both fit, so maybe they were not too bothered if it had a CB or an HF stamp??? 50 plus years later, It's difficult to know for sure.
 
Marsimaxam
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nonuffinkbloke nonuffinkbloke
I agree with @STANDY . I wonder if Omega were any where near as concerned about the stamp on the inside of the case back, as we are.

They didn't provide me with much detail regarding the watch case in the Extract of the Archives. It just states that it's made of steel and that it's an ST105.012. Nothing about who made the case. In contrast, the information provided, regarding the movement, is very clear.

The previous 3 years of this reference all had double step HF case backs. Maybe, as long as the case backs on the bench for the 66 run had a single step and were stamped 105.012-66, they just screwed them on??? They both fit, so maybe they were not too bothered if it had a CB or an HF stamp??? 50 plus years later, It's difficult to know for sure.
Interesting... well my HF's CB case back matches the rest of the case in terms of wear and tear...maybe? No way to know, but, definitely odd that there are quite a few that are mismatched.
 
STANDY
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Marsimaxam Marsimaxam
Interesting... well my HF's CB case back matches the rest of the case in terms of wear and tear...maybe? No way to know, but, definitely odd that there are quite a few that are mismatched.

They probably aren’t mismatched…they are just what people think is more appealing to there collection/watch
 
Donn Chambers
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STANDY STANDY
They probably aren’t mismatched…they are just what people think is more appealing to there collection/watch

This. Until Omega makes an official statement that they matched casebacks with the CF/HF designation to specific cases, then I am of the opinion this was most likely done at the factory.
 
Dan S
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IMO, this idea that HF mid-cases and CB case-backs (and vice versa) were mismatched at the factory is just wishful thinking. I'd suggest that Occam's Razor is a useful principle at times like this. The most obvious explanation is that they were assembled later by people who were "optimizing" their watches and didn't care (or didn't know) that the parts were mismatched. Given the number of frankenized 50-year-old Speedmasters we see, it's not at all surprising that we see many with mismatched case-backs.
 
STANDY
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Dan S Dan S
IMO, this idea that HF mid-cases and CB case-backs (and vice versa) were mismatched at the factory is just wishful thinking. I'd suggest that Occam's Razor is a useful principle at times like this. The most obvious explanation is that they were assembled later by people who were "optimizing" their watches and didn't care (or didn't know) that the parts were mismatched. Given the number of frankenized 50-year-old Speedmasters we see, it's not at all surprising that we see many with mismatched case-backs.

Frankenized we see now maybe….But in 2012-13 these weren’t even bought on eBay by only a few. They were a rare watch seen here (with probably only 4-5 people that were interested) and a 321 was $1000 all day every day on EBay.
The notion that watchmakers had 20 Speedmasters in at once with casebacks laying everywhere and they mixed them is a Online Myth…

Also when Speedmasters were made in the 60s different companies made cases, casebacks hands, dials, crowns and pushers. Wouldn’t put it past a factory thing.

The occasional put together now Yes, but on the scale people who bought them prior to the cobbled together watches we see now.. No
Plenty of one owner watches seen like this so it can’t be the watchmaker myth on all of them.
 
Dan S
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STANDY STANDY
Frankenized we see now maybe….But in 2012-13 these weren’t even bought on eBay by only a few. They were a rare watch seen here (with probably only 4-5 people that were interested) and a 321 was $1000 all day every day on EBay.
The notion that watchmakers had 20 Speedmasters in at once with casebacks laying everywhere and they mixed them is a Online Myth…

Also when Speedmasters were made in the 60s different companies made cases, casebacks hands, dials, crowns and pushers. Wouldn’t put it past a factory thing.

The occasional put together now Yes, but on the scale people who bought them prior to the cobbled together watches we see now.. No
Plenty of one owner watches seen like this so it can’t be the watchmaker myth on all of them.

Yup, you've made your opinion crystal clear. Just to clarify mine, I'm definitely not saying they were accidentally done by a watchmaker. Regardless of value, people have been optimizing their watches for decades.
 
kaplan
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Dan S Dan S
I did a trade like that once.

I think it's quite a feat

I was once looking for correct endlinks and offered several sellers to send my endlinks to them first, money on top, and cover their costs, so basically all they had to do was wait for my endlinks, do the swap and profit, but no one took me up on my offer

So hard to reason with a seller / seller mindset, but good luck finding a collector and solving 2 problems with one swap
 
Dan S
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kaplan kaplan
I think it's quite a feat

I was once looking for correct endlinks and offered several sellers to send my endlinks to them first, money on top, and cover their costs, so basically all they had to do was wait for my endlinks, do the swap and profit, but no one took me up on my offer

So hard to reason with a seller / seller mindset, but good luck finding a collector and solving 2 problems with one swap

It was total serendipity. I saw a watch for sale on eBay that was mismatched in the opposite way as mine. I am in the US and the other seller was in Mexico. Initially I considered buying it, but the condition wasn't good overall and the price was too high for a purchase to make sense. So I reached out through the messaging system. We eventually found a way to connect off the site by email and I set about convincing him that a trade would be favorable for both of us. He truly wasn't aware that he had the wrong case-back initially, so I had to provide evidence for him. During the conversation we found that we both worked in the same field, which was helpful in establishing trust. In the end, we agreed to ship the case-backs simultaneously, and we both took a leap of faith.
 
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