Omega Speedmaster 145.022-69 on an auction last week!

Well, today has been a crapy day, raining cats and dogs here in Sweden, no fun stuff outdoors…

So I have some spare time to write about an auction that I followed last week!!
😀

This time it is a 145.022-69.
Serial nr 29 mil, so that would be correct for a 69.
No service record or history of the owner/owners.

I am actually not hunting for this reference right now, but it's always fun to read, learn and study more.

The auction house only had one picture, so I had to call and ask for more.
And they arrived after a few days.

And the watch looked nice at a first glance!
No obvious defects or other dealer stuff.

It is very hard to see the condition of the dial based on the pictures,
so there is one HUGE reason that some watches have to be seen in the flesh?

Zooming in and out, the lume plots looks nice and are almost complete, maybe som loss on a few.
The DON bezel looked good, a big chip (above 300) and some normal dings and scratches.
The hands matches the lume plots, but the minute hand has some loss of lume.
There was a possible chrono creep which a service would have fixes?
Case and caseback are also in a nice condition, with sharp and nice edges.
There were some marks and scratches..

The only picture I received of the movement showed a LOT of dirt on the edge of the caseback..(@Seaborg 😉)!!

And its hard to see the crown (no picture from that side), and I didn't ask for more pictures.
Sadly the crystal was cracked.

So a full service and a new crystal would be needed.
This watch would be between good and very good, maybe closer to good (after service etc),
following Speedmaster 101´s price chart (thanks @Spacefruit !!).
It all depends on the condition of the dial?

After some time, looking and looking at the few pictures, I actually really liked the watch, but I wasnt going to bid on this one…(must not ..must not ..must not..)

The estimate was 3000-4ooo € /3290-4385 $ plus the 28 % premium,
After some biding, most of them from the room, the hammer went down at 4300 €, 5505 € with the premium,
4715$, 6035$ with the premium
And the winner was in the room, so he had held the watch and could make a better assessment.

I do think that the price was ok, what do you Guys think?
Maybe this proves that Speedys are still holding their value?

Cracked Hesalite.
Chrono creep.
Great DON bezel.
A hint of brown on the dial but from the photos hard to tell.
At 6k US slightly over priced IMHO.

Nice piece. At least a solid “good” and possibly “very good” if you ask me. Dirty, honest and unmolested. I was actually one of the bidders, but backed out as I’m not desperately looking to add another 145.022-69. I do still think it made for a decent buy at this price.

Perhaps even a very good one if the dial indeed proves to be as slightly brown as it seemed in the pictures. I’ve seen it before in 2963xxxx serials, although not nearly as common as in the 2911xxxx range. Tricky to judge without having the watch in hand.

Nice that you also followed the watch!
And the pictures they had were really hard to assess regarding the dial, but if wanting this kind of watch,
a trip to the auction house had to be in the Masterplan?

The buyer had the watch in his hands...

Yepp, nice condition, and dirty!
I think that the ultra-bargains won't be found on these kind of auctions anymore??

Had me thinking for a while, never heard of a watchmaker named Keats...😁
But there might be one??

Great assessment. Probably a really nice watch, but so hard to tell how attractive that dial is in the flesh. Without holding it I would have had to keep the bids low.

The case and bezel both look good but as a few have mentioned the dial could go either way. It could be a lovely rich dial and very attractive or it could be dull and lifeless ruining the appeal of the watch. Those pictures aren’t good enough to tell.
If it sold to someone in the room I’d guess it looked better in the flesh.

I struggle to understand how many auction houses are so poor at taking good, well lit photos that accurately represent the watch.

Yepp, the dial would be the deal breaker!
And I don't mind paying more if the watch had a lovely dial,
but if I would want this one, a quicky trip with my wife would have been the solution?
But then she would go shopping, so not so smart maybe?😁

Cheers Guys!

I don't think any amount of lighting will raise the quality of this dial. However, as a whole, it is indeed a good watch.

I liked it - its not fine but it could clean up well.

At first a bit suspicious of the bezel - lack of dings on the carrier ring and very clean appearance, but it does have the font tells, and it also does have some dings disguised by the over processed images. So bezel is ok.

No (value) bracelet means that all the money is the head. Strong money for the dial quality unless it shows better in real life, but all in all not a bad buy.

Nowadays, there is no such thing as a stolen auction, and so the best we can hope for is not to overpay, and in this case it is not over paid.

I would examine closely for case corrosion at the case back seal, but I think it's OK.