A simpler way to sift through the serial-number-to-watch-reference tables, and you get an estimated production date as well as links to the Speedmaster101 website.

@uwsearch illustrated a nice way to date Lemania's based on serial number. I have found this table very useful in looking at vintage Lemania's (especially issued ones, that may have dates stamped on them).

@WurstEver later proposed a nice idea about using extracts to create a similar table as above, thus guessing the production date more accurately than Hartmann's table .

For y'all : www.ilovemyspeedmaster.com

This is a tool that implements a unique algorithm to give a slightly more accurate result than any methods suggested (or freely available on the internet). It deals with overlapping data much better than the simple methods provided...and as it gets more extracts, so the data gets more crazy, especially later on. I digress...

Enter a movement number (321, 861 and 1861 Moonwatches only) and get a predicted production date based on the current available extracts (or enter a birthdate and get a range of SN's).
You also get the matching entries in the MWO Tables (which came out a week after creating this thread ).
And then it uses the reference(s) found to provide 'current market value' using the Speedmaster101 price chart, with a link to the excellent pages about the particular watch.

You can anonymously upload archive extracts too : please help make this tool as good as possible for all your fellow horologists.

Thanks to Greg for giving his permission to use the MWO tables.
Thanks to William for giving his permission to use the Speedmaster101 price tables.
Thanks to all the members who have uploaded their extracts.

 

Great job!

 

Well done! thank you

 

Glad to see you want watches from the 90s included. Will upload the extract later today.

 

Hi @eugeneandresson

Awesome job, very, very clever indeed.
This is another great tool for us all to use and continue to add value too. I have a couple of Speedies that I'm due to order extracts for, I'll share my extracts with you as soon as I receive them.
As always I have a few questions:-
I have a couple of "Mark" Speedmasters, will/could the tool be extended to incorporate those too?
This might be a bit pie in the sky, but could your skills extend themselves to say, a measure of rarity, that is prediction of specific Speedmaster references still in existence, for example?

Thank you so much, this is an absolute godsend.

Nathan

 

Hey thanks for that...what a cool device. Nice to have a ball park idea without the expense of an extract! Very much appreciated. hope you get your own thread with this...

 

Thanks to @WurstEver for starting the idea.
Congrats to @eugeneandresson for developing it into the application.

with help from many other speedmaster fans

 

Fantastic job! Site looks awesome! Really appreciate the effort that you guys have put into this.

 

It's working perfect for my Speedmasters (of course!)
But quick check says 1-3 months away for others 321 and 861, and up to one year for 550, 565, 1002,...

 

Thanks, that's great news you'll get my Mk 2 extract as soon as it's available.



"Not sure I understand what you mean. We are already inferring a lot from available information and even that is limited i.e. the archives extracts themselves give a reference, and a date, but no sub-reference or any other unique defining attribute. For instance, and Alaska III from '78 is a very rare and unique model, but the extract simply lists it as a 145.022.[/QUOTE]

My question wasn't necessarily one that might involve extracts, it was more along the lines of, are you able to utilise your skills to estimate the surviving population of specific Speedmaster references. I believe that something statistically is done to estimate the population of a specific species of wildlife based on number of known and unknown animal "sitings". But Like I said "pie in the sky"!

 

My question wasn't necessarily one that might involve extracts, it was more along the lines of, are you able to utilise your skills to estimate the surviving population of specific Speedmaster references. I believe that something statistically is done to estimate the population of a specific species of wildlife based on number of known and unknown animal "sitings". But Like I said "pie in the sky"![/QUOTE]

Man there's a thread here somewhere where someone did that on one model. There was conflicting information where Omega stated only 2000 existed but the data didn't match. It was fairly active about a year ago.

 

Nicely done! Thank you for creating the site.

 

Just a QA feedback: Checked four Speedies, 2x 145.022s, 1x 105.012, 1x 145.012...all on spot, year and month!

 

Ok, if I can add anything else , I'll let you know, but from what @Foo2rama says data an issue...inaccurate and you say ie super complicated, So i think that the pie should probably stay where it belongs l.e. In the sky!
What you've done here is awesome thankyou

 

It would be difficult to predict both how many of a given reference still exist or how many were even produced from extract data. The best I've been able to determine from other published data is that only 0.7% of the possible serial numbers between 1957 and 1969 were issued to 321 caliber Speedmasters and between 1968 and 1997 1% of the possible serial numbers were issued to 861 caliber Speedmasters. Average production of both was about 6200 per year but as can be seen from the MWO site the yearly production of 321's varied a lot: 1300 - 13000 per year depending on reference!

 

Just submitted my 1990 3590.50, purchased to commemorate my daughter's birth year.

 

Brilliant resource. Thank you.

 

Hi Mods- can this Post or a link to the tool be turned into a "sticky" please?

 

Great resource, and I'm a little surprised @WurstEver isn't sharing more of the credit for this. Wasn't the original notion his?

 

Lovely!
Extract prediction matched my Extract of the Archive record.