TL;DR - Bought a recently serviced -78 speedy. There's some problems with the chrono hand that it's getting stuck. I had to send it again for repairs. Watch repairer said the chrono wheels are bent and he's not sure why this wasn't picked up on the previous service. Got it straightened now and a new mainspring. AU$770 bill and a now fixed watch. I am not sure if this has been discussed before or what, but just want to point out a couple of things when buying vintage / pre-owned watches. There are two things I want to cover. Who serviced the watch Movement pictures of watches (more specifically speedmasters) So a few months ago, I purchased my first vintage speedmaster, a 145.022-78. It's AU$4,350 (US$3000 during that time), serviced in 2017, clean movement, with a 1171 bracelet, seems like all original, and will be provided with an extract when it arrives and etc. Easy decision to buy it. One of the things that I didn't get to take note till it arrived was, "who serviced the watch?". It did come with a receipt so I did manage to google the person, company and check the history. Place looks legit, main watch maker has 20 years experience and that's it. However, notes on receipt seemed to show that it wasn't him who serviced but could be his assistant. Not a biggie since it runs. Watch got here, tested it on a timegrapher and running +8s/d face up. Chrono runs and I left it to run 24 hours to get the oil spreading and seemed to be good. So one time I did leave the chrono running while wearing the watch and I noticed that chrono would stop because I would turn the chrono on at the same location with the seconds hand. I thought it's just the oil stagnant again so i let it run static and no issues. Again the issue showed up only when I picked it up and on certain indices. Got the watch sent to a better service person. I am not sure if it's a thing, but he also did it previously that he would let the watch run first and diagnose prior to opening the caseback. I guess this works the same as running the car before opening the hood. He couldn't find the issue with the wheel after 8 hours until he picked it and it also stopped. That was a month ago. I got a call a few hours ago and told me that the problem was a bent wheel in the chrono that's why it's getting stuck. He's also wondering how it came pass the person who serviced this. In addition, mainspring has been changed and old one will be returned to me. There were also no polishing and mentioned that the watch is not water resistant and that the pushers hasn't been changed. So the point number 2 comes down to - the movement may look clean, but there will be underlying issues that can only be seen when breaking apart or running. Moreover, when buying watche even if a watch is serviced, it will only take a few seconds to ask who serviced it, receipts, and any underlying issues that was noted. PS: The extract arrived to him a month ago, but still hasn't sent it yet as he's busy moving houses and got lost in the moving. he found it now though.
I've learned not to be bothered by 'recent service' claims on sales listings. I'll simply assume it's in a running condition. Also for older watches, I believe pusher replacements and polishing are personal preferences.