I've been on the hunt for a pre-moon 321 cal Omega for quite some time now, but haven't found anything reasonably priced at the moment. Until now. I found this 145.012 that claims to be all original, with an amazing dial and grey/blue bezel. I wanted to share with all of you to get your opinion on the overall condition, originality, and overall thoughts and price range. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this piece. Thanks in advance.
Love the lume especially on the hands set and under certain light conditions, bezel appears to have some very light red hues which i find very attractive BUT the case is a somewhat overpolished for me. Is the S/N at 24M? Looks a little too low for a 67 if it is.
First blush looks good... upon reflection, I'm going to be a little harsh and say its a put together watch (but would be happy to be wrong and frequently am). My untrained observations: the lume (or should I say relume) seems too perfect and doesn't match the faded bezel and polished case (which obviously was well worn prior to polish). Serial not right for a '67... can we get a shot of the caseback ? pushers kinda look 67, dial looks 67. Something just don't seem right here.
I always question perfectly even ghost bezels. Should have less wear on the inner edge. But that’s my personal opinion. Not everyone agrees. My -76 ghost has less wear on the inner side. My theory is it’s from wear on shirt cuffs. Then again that doesn’t explain blues from this period. That dial and hands are begging for a perfect bezel... the whole thing looks a bit off from those pictures. But that’s doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with it.
Have a look at this one... to me, its a better example, and a good contrast to the watch posted in this thread. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Omega-Spee...935034?hash=item1ca2c579ba:g:1QwAAOSwrbtalF2kPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
Yeah I agree with the above comments. The dial feels too clean with patina that doesn't really feel like it matches the bezel. Also I did verify in my Moonwatch Only book that the serial on the cal isn't correct. That seems really odd. I need to request caseback pics.
Lume is suspiciously nice and the serial being off (not by much admittedly) is a red flag to me. I wonder if this is one of those Italian prepared watches? It sure looks nice but isn’t consistent. There is also a chap in the UK who does a very nice relume job which often looks exactly like that...
I often think people are too quick to question lume but in this case, the lume does jump out immediately as being not quite right. I'd want to see it in person, under a loupe before buying (unless of course it's cheap enough that it doesn't matter).
I'd bring a geiger counter to check the lume... Also, that's an old logo crown, no? AFAIK it's incorrect for this reference, but you could stick it up on ebay for an extra 500$.
I wouldn't bother, tritium won't be measurably radioactive after 50 years will it? Its not like radium which is virtually constant over our lifetimes. In tritium it is the radioactive excitement which 'wears out’ and 50 years is about 4 half lives so only 1/16th of the activity when new.
Yep! On my 52 year old 105.012-65 I get about 10 bright seconds then about 5 dull seconds out of the lume on the hour indices then it gradually fades away to 'four fiths of fakk all'. The lume on the aged, vintage correct hands supplied and fitted by Swiss Time Services has a different glow to the original lume on the dial of my watch. But I can see, from your post @padders, that is about right for the age, and a similar decay time should be expected from the watch in question in this thread... if the lume was original??? The lume shot in this thread shows the hands and hour indices displaying a fairly even glow (although a bit dull in the lower part of the photograph??? Maybe it's relative to the position of the light source)???