I have two types of vintage crystals (flat feet) for the Speedmaster. There are two versions: black ring which seems to be a little bit smaller and the "normal" white ring which is polished and - compared to the white ring - a little bit thicker.

For which Speedmaster was the black ring-version used?

 

105.003 and onwards as far as I know.

 

Thanks, so the silver ring-version is for 2998 and 2915?

 

The last of the silver tension ring was the 105.002

 

Thank you. Good to know!

 

Don't you have one of those in your stable?

 

Why, yes I do. Two in fact.

 

Now you're just showing off!! That one looks like it might have a little blue-gray color to it, yes??

 

In some light, or from certain angles, it does look a bit blue.. but I wouldn't sell it as a blue bezel.

It's a nice wearing watch though! One of my favs.

 

I think it would be one of almost anyone on this forums favorites. Except for @ulackfocus.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm hoping to follow up to understand some more about the different speedy tension rings:

1) Is the silver tension ring actually a bit wider than the black version, i.e. it's not just a visual artefact?

2) How does that correspond with dial dimensions across the models? Did earlier models have a slightly smaller dial? Or was there some degree of dial overlap / occlusion by the tension ring that happened with the silver ring but not (or less so) with the black ring?

 

From my observations, there are two types of silver tension rings, one very large and a smaller one.
I've had two 105.002 with a smaller one and seen some early 105.003 with it as well.
I have only observed the larger ring on earlier models (I have only handled 2998s), but this wide ring is also correct for 105.002 as highlighted before.

Concerning the black ring, I think it is smaller than the two types of silver rings. The dials with silver rings look smaller due to that, even if they are not for real. The silver ring covers a part of the edge of the dial (the larger the ring, the more important the coverage).

Even if the black ring gives a "wider" look to the dial, the silver ring makes a watch look completely different, in a good way ! I have put a wide silver ring on one of my 105.002s and it completely transformed the watch !

Cheers.

 

Gee I'd love to see a side by side of these. So many subtle differences to learn about!

 

Thanks for your response to this, very helpful! I suspected the dial sizes didn't change along with the tension rings - one reason why I was asking is after seeing an example where the 'swiss made' text was partly occluded by the (silver) tension ring.

I'd also be interested to know if anyone's ever had occasion to measure the width of the different rings for comparison purposes?