Dear All - As an engineer, I've been fascinated by precision mechanical instruments and have various vintage clocks and music boxes which are all used for the purposes for which they were originally intended. I've gravitated towards watches in recent years and have started a small collection - again, all are used as watches.

In terms of vintage watches, I have:
- a 1963 Omega mechanical cal 269 - quite polished and more than likely re-finished face but I love wearing it and it keeps great time.
- a 1963 Omega automatic Seamaster cal 552 - recently purchased from Alpha. Love wearing this one too and it also keeps great time (photos better than I could hope to take still on the forum) - compliments the 269 nicely.
- a 1950's vintage ladies cocktail cal 481 - stunning watch which my wife wears on special occasions.
- a 1943 Omega Officer - recently purchased via the forum from "Northernman" - I love the associated history - the watch is stunning for 70 years old (fantastic photos still on the forum).
- a 1923 gold Rolex Tonneau complete with box and original guarantee - quite polished and likely a re-finished dial but, again, I love it and I do wear it to special occasions. Again - I just wonder who originally owned that - was it somebody (an officer perhaps) who survived WW 1 and what it may have seen in the last 90 years…… If only they could talk.

More modern watches include; ladies and gents Cartier (quartz movement) Tanks, JS Watch Co (Iceland) Sif black helicopter pilot edition and Omega PO GoodPlanet GMT. All worn on a regular basis with my GoodPlanet being my daily wearer right now.

I will post photos on a separate thread (promise!).

So - my question is… What next? In terms of watches, I have most definitely gravitated to the Omega brand - great designs, great craftsmanship, great history, relatively affordable. My gut feeling for my next target is a "Moonwatch" - but what should I aim for? I love vintage watches but am concerned that, especially for a Moonwatch, it's a bit of a minefield for a novice like me. So, what I'm thinking (until I gain more knowledge and experience at least) is to maybe shoot for one of the limited edition Apollo versions. Again - quite a bit of choice even narrowed down to that. I'm not in a position to buy right now as the funds are a bit low but, as soon as I've built up a reserve, I'll be on the lookout and would therefore like some advice to help to decide where to set my sights…...

So - experienced and respected Omega Forum members - does my next purchase strategy make sense and, in terms of a limited edition Moonwatch - what would you recommend I take into consideration to nail down my decision? Or, is the truly vintage Moonwatch route not as much a complex minefield as I imagine?….

Finally - HUGE thanks to the staff who manage and take care of this forum and to the loyal members who keep it honest.

Regards,
Jon

 

Speedmasters are a whole world to themselves! The leading resource on this is chuck maddox's website, chronomaddox. Start there!

 

To add a few more things. If you are an engineer, and interested from that perspective, a key question for you is which caliber -321, 861 or the modern 1861. 321s are obviously more expensive, being the caliber that actually went to the moon.