Love the pationa
You may know that Tuesday, July 20 will mark 41 years since man first walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins all used Omega Speedmasters on their Apollo 11 flight, as we've told you many times.
When Neil and Buzz took the lunar module down the surface, Neil left his Speedy on board because the mission timer in the module had failed, while Buzz wore his Speedy to the surface of the moon. After returning to earth, Buzz mailed his Speedy to the Smithsonian, but it was unfortunately lost or stolen in transit, never having surfaced to this day. Keep your eyes open for it!
We do, however, know the reference and serial numbers of Neil’s Speedy, which is in the collection of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: reference number 105.012-65 (the first asymmetric Speedy case with crown-guards and “PROFESSIONAL” written on the dial) and serial number 24002981.
The watch appears to have the original dial and original bezel, but the minute hand has degraded. This Speedy is quite cool and the odds of Speedy coming up with a number any closer to Neil Armstrong’s watch are unlikely.

 

Hello ALL
Love my Omega and want to share with you
Please let me know if the Dial and hands l looks Original to you

 

Hi,

Hands and dial look original, BUT it seems that you have a case from 105.012-66 CB (what I call "twisted flat lugs") and the problem is that this movement number is too early for a 105.012-66 and too early to have a dial with spaced T. In summary, it seems that:
- Dial is from late 105.012-65 or 105.012-66
- Case is from 105.012-66 CB
- Movement is clearly in the mid-range of 105.012-65
- Hands are OK
- Bezel is OK

How is the caseback?

 

Case is 105-012-65

 

The movement is from 1967 while the case is from 1965.. weird..

 

Kringkily: To my knowledge and observations, 105.012 with movements in 24.00x.xxx have been produced in 1966, not 1967. On the contrary, those special cases (I am not talking about the caseback) have been installed on models produced in 1967

 

Some info about the 24.... movements

s/n watch purchase date date from extract of the archives model year model source
24.001.xxx 105.003-65 1965 chrono 24
24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Armstrong
24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Bean
24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Brand
24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Cernan
24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Brand
24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Carr
24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Conrad
24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Mattingly
24.005.831 105.003-65 1965 ebay
24.011.781 105.003-65 17-Oct-66 1965 antiquourum
24.012.525 105.012-65 1965 antiquourum
24.013.716 105.012-65 1965 antiquourum
24.014.028 105.003-63 1963 ebay
24.530.376 105.005-65 1965 seamaster antiquourum
24.531.788 105.003-65 1965 antiquourum
24.532.022 105.003-65 1965 antiquourum
24.532.337 105.003-65 1965 antiquourum
24.950.xxx 105.012-66 01-Jun-67 1966 forum
24.951.xxx 105.012-66 27-Jun-67 1966 forum
24.952.916 105.012-66 1966 antiquourum
24.954.583 105.003-65 1965 antiquourum
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Bean
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Borman
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Gibson
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Gordon
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Schweickart
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Slayton
24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Slayton
24.959.758 105.003-65 1965 ebay

Here's what I've collected for 105.012s

ID s/n watch purchase date date from extract of the archives model year model source
21 18.945.447 105.012-66 1966 antiquourum
51 22.089.xxx 105.012 06-Dec-65 NASA
52 22.089.xxx 105.012 20-Dec-65 NASA Cernan
53 22.824.217 105.012-64 1964 antiquourum
56 24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Armstrong
57 24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Bean
58 24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Brand
59 24.002.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Cernan
60 24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Brand
61 24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Carr
62 24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Conrad
63 24.003.xxx 105.012 12-Aug-66 NASA Mattingly
66 24.012.525 105.012-65 1965 antiquourum
67 24.013.716 105.012-65 1965 antiquourum
73 24.950.xxx 105.012-66 01-Jun-67 1966 forum
74 24.951.xxx 105.012-66 27-Jun-67 1966 forum
75 24.952.916 105.012-66 1966 antiquourum
77 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Bean
78 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Borman
79 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Gibson
80 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Gordon
81 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Schweickart
82 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Slayton
83 24.957.xxx 105.012 07-Nov-67 NASA Slayton
85 25.447.907 105.012-63 18-Mar-68 1963 antiquourum

Attribution: Data collected and arranged by richardew

 

That sure looks a lot like the data base I've been collecting and have posted in various forms on this and other forums. It is interesting that you set up a database with the exact same headings and the entries have the same I/Ds.

 

That is a beautiful watch and a bit of an oddity. Bezel and hands are correct. The case has the vertical facets that are characteristic of the 105.012-66. The dial is beautiful and has the stretched out T SWISS MADE T. That also seems to first appear with the 105.012-66. The movement and the caseback seem to be 105.012-65. So the key issue is, are these parts all original to this watch? My kneejerk response is no they're not, but I gave it some more thought and did a little cruising around the web. The parts all seem to have similar amounts of wear, and all of these are in very good condition. My unscientific observation of watches that get parted out is that they aren't in the best of shape. I found a 105.012 on chrono24 that has almost the same composition. It has the -66 case but the back has two steps and that makes it a -65 or earlier. The movement is a 22.8xx.xxx and I've spotted 2 105.012-64s with similar movement s/n. The dial however has the narrow T SWISS MADE T. As many wiser folk have pointed out, there didn't seem to be any rules about putting watches together. Perhaps these two represent a transitional period when the dials, cases and case backs were actively evolving into the 105.012-66 and then the 145.012 and some that we consider to be mismatched were created.

 

Nice watch! The 105.012 is my personal favourite reference. Mine is a -65 and also has a 2400**** movement and a double bevelled case-back. Its being serviced at STS as we speak and I look forward to posting some pics when it gets back.

 

Some extra Pics i just took

 

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and am reading the different threads with great interest.
Since one year I own a wonderful 105.012-66 Speedmaster with serial 24.950.xxx. I wear it almost every day.

It is an interesting discussion about the differences in date that belong to housings, movements and other parts of the watches. I learned that Omega at that time just took a random part from the shelf and used it to build a watch. For that reason a 24.95x.xxx watch could have an older 105.003-65 housing. Is that correct?
I recently found an interesting watch for sale which has a 24.01x.xxx serial and a 145-012-67 housing but has straight lugs. Could this be right too? Didn't all watches in '67 have crown guards?

Ton

 

You have to keep in mind that many pre-moon are frankenwatches, not rarities from Omega.

 

That is the interesting part about the discussion isn't it? There are probably many Frankenstein watches (although it is not completely clear to me why so many watches would change from housing or movement), but on the other hand these watches could also come straight from the Omega shelf.
I dont want to pretend to know all this stuff, I just have been reading about the Speedmasters for the last five years or so. There are as many opinions as there are people. Makes it an interesting watch. I love to read about them.

I understood from Omega that the watch presented here by Omega321 (great watch by the way) could just as well be straight from Omega with a 24.002.xxx serial and a 105.012-65 housing.
The watch that I am currently following on eBay makes me frown a little bit more. That is a pre-Professional face with a 24.001.xxx movement and a 145.012-67 housing. I would be interested to hear your opinions.

What is a CB case?

 

Oh wow! That looks like an awesome book. Great work!
I am only an enthusiast who likes reading about these watches. Great to meet you guys on this forum.

 

Ton67: CB is the initials of a case maker: La Centrale Boites in Bienne, Switzerland. For the Speedmaster, they did only some of the 105.012-66 and those are characterized by a small difference at the top of the lugs, which are flat. In the book, we will call them "twisted flat lugs" and I'm sure collectors will call them TFL.

 

Here's a couple of my 105.012's for comparison of the cases/dials. The one on the left is the 105.012-65 (serial 2400*****), case maker 'HF' and the dial with the closer together 'TSwissT' and thinner hour marker batons, bracelet 1506/16.
On the right the 105.012-66, case maker 'CB' (see second photo showing the flat upper part on the lugs - difficult to see in photos), wider apart 'T Swiss T' and fatter hour baton dial, bracelet 1039/516.

 

Nice bezel on the 66.

FYI, there are 66 with close T and 66 with HF case.