Hello Forum, Second post here. I thought I would show my example of a Speedmaster CK 2998 from 1960. The example was purchased in Berlin in 1960 by it's long term owner, before his son put the watch onto the market earlier this year. It has the lovely cal.321 inside It was an example that remained original, apart from a service replacement bezel from 1971 onwards. This is obviously a bit of an issue with such a reference, with bezels being of major importance. Still, here are the photos before and after restoration! I stumbled upon a NOS crystal which was lucky. It looks exceptional, framing the aged "chocolate" dial, with silver insert. Regards, Bill Penaluna
Hi Bill, congrats, a very fine watch. Sorry to interfere here but what you wrote above is impossible. The DNN bezel didn’t exist in 1967. Whoever told you that did not know what he was talking about
You can pick any year you like from 1971 up to early nineties - at the end it doesn’t matter - I simply was mentioning this little something inconsistent in what you wrote above
The main challenge will be to find a Base 1000 bezel if you want to bring it back to how it was produced back then. beware ! Fakes and repros out there. A cheap one is not an option... And a pair of #6s
The bezel is next on my agenda. There is one on the Bay at the moment for £6500, which I accept I will have to pay that or above to find one. However the bezel in question is "ghosted" to the extreme with no black tone remaining... They seem to come up, a couple every year. It's probably best I get one whilst they still come to the market.
Perhaps I’m missing something but what is the subreference of your watch?. I ask because your dial is consistent for a 2998-1 or 2, which would feature a black base 1000 bezel. Your dial type has also been seen on a 2998-3 which normally had a DON bezel. Regarding the ghosted base 1000 for sale, this is common on the 2nd style base 1000, DNN in my opinion. The first style is a DON and tend to hold their color much better. Either style is generally acceptable but I believe that the DON style came first and is best appropriate for a 2915-3 and 2998-1. 2998-2 had the latter DNN style. Below is an example of a 2915-3 and 2998-2 showing the different styles. 2915-3, DON Base 1000 2998-2 Faded DNN base 1000
Any bezel made for a Moonwatch case will fit a 321 Moonwatch. I didn't say it's correct. Read the whole thread again. OP has a bezel that is from the period I mentioned and claimed it to be fitted on that watch in 1967 when that bezel didn't yet exist ;-) I said that the service could have happened somewhen between 1971 and 1990s for this bezel to be fitted; I didn't say that those years were correct for a 321
Thank you for sharing. Regardless of the issues the watch has, it’s wonderful. Time is on your side...
