Inherited speedmaster

Hello,

My father recently passed away and he left me his Omega Speedmaster that he purchased prior to the Moon Landing. I have no way of opening the watch up so unfortunately I cannot get to the serial number and movement. I was wondering if anyone can tell me anything about the watch and possibly guess on a reference number.

I do know that it has been serviced at least once: He did a lot of kayaking back in the early 2000s and he had an accident one time where he capsized and he was wearing the timepiece. He had it sent to Omega to be fixed up and all I know is that it had to be sent to Switzerland for repairs. From doing my research, it seems that sending a vintage piece to Omega is a big no no. I remember him mentioning that they replaced the hands, but it seems they never replaced the dial. I do recall they had to do repairs on the movement (What they did exactly I do not know).

few nice watches turning up today

My sympathy for your loss.
It would definitely help, as you are aware, if you could open the caseback and post images of the movement and the inside of the caseback.

Step dial with main hour markers going thru the minute track is indicative of a pre 1969 reference. You stated watch was purchased prior to the moon landing. The crown has been replaced (maybe), the DON bezel looks excellent, and depending on the reference the pushers could be original or replacements. The hands are obvious replacements and by the early 2000s Omega would not have replaced the chronograph hand with a tear drop. So, your possibilities are:

145.022-68
145.012-67,68
105.012-66

Let us know when you get that caseback off.

Thank you everyone for your responses and your condolences! I will bring the watch to an expert when I can.

I noticed a couple of responses about the crown: Is there any difference between a crown on my watch compared to what would have been on it originally?

It is, original crown would have looked like that:



or that:

What kind of bracelet would the watch come with originally?

Am sorry for your loss!

It might help if you could state where you're based so the folks can point you in the direction of a good watchmaker

Thank you! I am in NYC.