The person I bought it from (who was super awesome), said that someone he showed it to thought the dial was a replacement, and possible the bezel (I mixed them up in the original post), but he thought it was original (but kindly didn't want to lie by omission). It's great to hear that it's era appropriate. It was originally sold in Japan, and then he bought it a few years back in the UK.
All the movements the Astronauts wore are well out of my price range (as is a new watch), but I've wanted a Speedmaster since I was a kid. I bought a Bulova Lunar Pilot as a way to scratch that itch, and I love it, but it only made me want a speedmaster more. I started to consider Moonswatchs and Pogues, and other spaceworn watches, but I realised that all of that would just put a Speedmaster even further away, so I held fire until this. My entire watch collection is just a metal Casio, a Lunar Pilot and now this.
Kindly my partner understood how much it mattered to me and supported the decision. I guess, as a midlife crisis can go, it's not too bad.
I was excited for a 145.022 because it was used as part of a thermal physics experiment in Apollo 17, in 1972, which is, tangentially, related to my PhD from back in the day, and they kept making the 145.022 until my birth, so this is both a birth year, and a pretty close version to a version that flew, whilst simultaneously, being one of the cheapest ways to pick one up.
Unfortunately It's packed away now until nearer xmas and I can't stop thinking about it. Ha ha.
