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twiza
·Greetings all. This is my first time to post on a forum, so please forgive me if my post isn’t done properly - and please forgive the poor photographs taken with my phone.
I would really appreciate some advice from you fine people. I have recently inherited a Speedmaster 145.022-69 from my father. He inherited it from my uncle when my uncle died in about 1982. My Uncle bought the watch new as far as I was told.
According to ‘ilovemyspeedmaster.com’, my watch was built in about March 1970 - serial no 291*****. Apparently my uncle wore the watch regularly, but I know my father never wore it. I remember this watch from my youth (I’m in my 50’s now) sitting in our safe, and I remember my father telling me that it was the type of watch worn on the moon and worth a bit. He said it was due a service, and so he would never wear it. I remember it had a black leather strap when it was in the safe - but when I received the watch recently there was no strap, and no bezel - so I am not sure what happened in the last few years of my fathers life - he may have worn the watch then, I’m not sure as I was in a different country. I have wound the watch twice since receiving it, and it runs fine; however I downloaded some timegrapher software (from https://tg.ciovil.li/; found through these forums ), and according to that and also according to an android app (“Watch Accuracy Meter”), my watch has an amplitude of between 190 and 240, a beat error of around 2.9, and face down it gains around 4 seconds a day, and face up loses around 25 or 30 seconds a day. So that, and the fact that I am sure that the watch has never been serviced, at least since my father received it some forty or so years ago, and possibly not even when my uncle owned it, means that I would like to get the watch professionally serviced. (The scratches in the case from a wrong tool to open it were there when I received it - so I’m guessing it was opened by someone at some stage previously)
So here are my questions:
1) From the (bad) photographs, and the timegrapher figures above, are you able to tell me what condition you consider this watch to be in. Should I get it restored, or just serviced?
2) I live in Southern Africa (not South Africa), and I do not know of any professional or competent watchmaker in my country. I would like to know if any of you on this forum happen to know of any suitable watchmakers that could service my Speedmaster anywhere here in Southern Africa. (Shipping the Watch out of Africa would be risky and complicated with our customs, so I would like to avoid that if it is possible to make another plan.)
On the internet I found an Omega agent in Johannesburg South Africa, but on looking through these fine forums, I have seen that an official Omega service centre is not the way to go with a vintage speedy, so I would like to use an independent watchmaker who knows these watches and can be trusted.
3) Are any of you able to advise me where I can get another bezel to replace the missing one?
4) How easy is it to fit a bezel to a speedy?
5) If I can’t find a suitable watchmaker in Southern Africa to service my speedy, what do you think the chances of damaging this watch are if I run it as it is. (I think I already know the answer to this one…😀
Thank you, I look forward to hearing what you all think...
I would really appreciate some advice from you fine people. I have recently inherited a Speedmaster 145.022-69 from my father. He inherited it from my uncle when my uncle died in about 1982. My Uncle bought the watch new as far as I was told.
According to ‘ilovemyspeedmaster.com’, my watch was built in about March 1970 - serial no 291*****. Apparently my uncle wore the watch regularly, but I know my father never wore it. I remember this watch from my youth (I’m in my 50’s now) sitting in our safe, and I remember my father telling me that it was the type of watch worn on the moon and worth a bit. He said it was due a service, and so he would never wear it. I remember it had a black leather strap when it was in the safe - but when I received the watch recently there was no strap, and no bezel - so I am not sure what happened in the last few years of my fathers life - he may have worn the watch then, I’m not sure as I was in a different country. I have wound the watch twice since receiving it, and it runs fine; however I downloaded some timegrapher software (from https://tg.ciovil.li/; found through these forums ), and according to that and also according to an android app (“Watch Accuracy Meter”), my watch has an amplitude of between 190 and 240, a beat error of around 2.9, and face down it gains around 4 seconds a day, and face up loses around 25 or 30 seconds a day. So that, and the fact that I am sure that the watch has never been serviced, at least since my father received it some forty or so years ago, and possibly not even when my uncle owned it, means that I would like to get the watch professionally serviced. (The scratches in the case from a wrong tool to open it were there when I received it - so I’m guessing it was opened by someone at some stage previously)
So here are my questions:
1) From the (bad) photographs, and the timegrapher figures above, are you able to tell me what condition you consider this watch to be in. Should I get it restored, or just serviced?
2) I live in Southern Africa (not South Africa), and I do not know of any professional or competent watchmaker in my country. I would like to know if any of you on this forum happen to know of any suitable watchmakers that could service my Speedmaster anywhere here in Southern Africa. (Shipping the Watch out of Africa would be risky and complicated with our customs, so I would like to avoid that if it is possible to make another plan.)
On the internet I found an Omega agent in Johannesburg South Africa, but on looking through these fine forums, I have seen that an official Omega service centre is not the way to go with a vintage speedy, so I would like to use an independent watchmaker who knows these watches and can be trusted.
3) Are any of you able to advise me where I can get another bezel to replace the missing one?
4) How easy is it to fit a bezel to a speedy?
5) If I can’t find a suitable watchmaker in Southern Africa to service my speedy, what do you think the chances of damaging this watch are if I run it as it is. (I think I already know the answer to this one…😀
Thank you, I look forward to hearing what you all think...
