I managed to win an eBay listing on Christmas Day last year. (EDIT - Actually 4th of January this year, I was confusing it with my last purchase in 2016 ). The pictures were rather vague as was the description and even with the poor pics, I could see a wrecked crystal and possible dial damage. Well, fortune favours the brave as they say so I jumped on it. Not only did it come in under USD$500, I also scored another Speidel Flexi bracelet to boot. Sellers best photo. Today I managed to set some time aside to see what I had. After removing the bracelet I had a good look at the case. Wear was consistent with a tool watch that had been well used, but I couldn't see any evidence of polishing. Before I opened the case, I had a look at the back and the amount of crud prompted me to get some pegwood and a damp toothbrush to get rid of anything that could get into the case on opening. After a good scrub, it was ready to start the serious work. The caseback is nicely worn and mostly scratch free. So now to remove the caseback. A squishy ball and even the Kong toy had no effect so it was off to the proper tool. That at least would save the tips of my circlip pliers . With the movement exposed I found a nicely preserved Caliber 865 with a serial number dating the movement to about 1968. It's a shame the seller or previous "opener" had taken more care with cleanliness, there are a number of specks of crud inside the movement but luckily very little corrosion and most of the screws and parts are unmutilated. The movement looks like a good clean and oiling will be all that's needed. On the dial side, I can see the hands are in very good condition for their age with complete and nicely aged lume. The markers are slightly tarnished and the lume dots mostly intact. There are two major spots on the dial (sweat? sneeze?) that may clean off taking lots of care. So now that I know what I have, it's back into the case (safest place for it) until I can start on it without interruption. In the meantime, these: are winging their way to me all the way from Seattle via Erlanger and apparently, Upper West Ghana . I don't know WTF is going on there so I'll just have to trust Pitney Bowes. More to follow.
I thought Aus was upside down, not sideways! Nice find, dial looks good. Here's mine with a more usual orientation.
I love mine, got it as my wedding day gift. I don't wear it that but it is a very comfortable watch to wear.
The only real issue with these is the 34mm width. Just shows how small a case the Speedy movement would have actually fitted since the 865 these use and 861 in the MW are close cousins and the same diameter. Luckily the long tonneau shape gives these a bit more wrist presence than the bare statistics suggest.
@JimInOz Just wondering if there is a difference in the position of the dial feet between the normal version & drivers' version?
Yep that's it. The only difference is location of dial feet and case number in caseback, though some of these hedge their bets by stamping both 145.009 and 145.010.
Belated reply to an old post, but I could only nod knowingly at the three and a half weeks it takes for USP’s PRIORITY international post to reach Australia. I also lucked in with my Driver purchase this year that got me started on Omega watches.