Hello everyone! My name is Tyler Simon and I am a 19 year old watch enthusiast studying mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. First time poster here and I wanted to share with you an interesting build that I have been working on for the past few months. I realize that it may not be up the alley of the Omega Purists, (I totally understand) but this watch is 100% for me. I like to build and tweak things to make them my own for my own purposes. So I hope you can look at it that way and appreciate it in its own way! Thanks for taking the time to read, and I am excited to join this community. I do also have a completely original Omega Project that I will be sharing as well when it is done, for those looking for something a bit more factory spec (and 80's!!).


The final result of my "Perfect Speedmaster mk.II Build"

Introduction:
As a mechanical engineer in training, I especially love a mechanical chronograph. The complexity and the beauty that they harness to provide such a simple function as timing things is mesmerizing. I set out to make a Speedmaster that was mine to the core. I have no fear around anything "Franken", in fact I like the satisfaction of making something my own. For this build I wanted to make my perfect Speedmaster, and that my friends is the somewhat unloved Mark.II


Case and Bracelet:
I began with a lot of Speedmaster cases I bought on Ebay. One was a 145.014 with a broken bracelet and a broken mineral glass, and the other was a 154.034. I began by repairing the bracelet with some parts that I had from other builds and got it back to working condition.


Crystal Design:
For the crystal design I started by removing the glass from the 145.014 and took a look at the design of glass and found it quite strange. It was a crystal with a ring gasket wrapped around it. This was a different design from the 145.034 which had the more traditional glass and gasket, I decided this was a better route to go so I went with this design. I also loved the look of the maroon crystal so I wanted to incorporate this crystal instead of the black one into the final design.

An exemplar 145.034

I ordered a new maroon crystal. Once it arrived, I got the dimensions that I would need to make my custom gasket to adapt the crystal to my case and CADed it up so I could 3D print it on the schools J750 printer.

The gasket that I made in Autodesk 360.

Once I had everything that I needed, I put the printed crystal gasket and crystal into the case, it looked just like I had hoped and fit perfectly! No Omega specific tooling require, my standard crystal press did the job just fine.


Movement:
This is where it gets a bit controversial, I wanted a new movement that was identical to the original but I knew would be in perfect condition. What I mean by this is that I would not have any question of its service history, it would not suffer from hour register creep or any of the other problems that some of the 861 movements do when they age (what I mean is that these 861s are 30+ years old and sometimes haven't been serviced yet). So I went with a new Lemania 1873 that I got out of a Lorentz chronograph. It was perfect, operated at chronometer standards and I knew it wouldn't need service for a long long time because well, it was new.

It wasn't as easy as just dropping it in though. I had to machine some custom parts to lengthen the 1873 pushers to work properly in the context of the Mk.II case. This took days, and many failed parts until I finally had what I needed with perfect function.

However, the result was totally worth it. I had a modern engine inside this chronograph that would serve me well for years to come. I will never be selling this so the value is not a concern to me. In my head this is just part of my perfect Mk.II.

The rest and assembly:
All the rest of the parts are genuine sourced Mk.II parts, Dial, Movement spacer, you name it. Once everything finally arrived at my house (this took two months thanks to customs) assembling the watch was easy, and when I finally sealed up the watch and looked at it, I was so proud. This was the new crown piece of my collection, and a great representation of my style in watches. Classic watches with a twist, my twist.


First day with my speedy on my wrist, shame its not Tuesday

I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave any comments below. If you are on instagram I would love to connect with you to chat about anything, I love meeting new people in this community and learning about their collection, their grails, and how it started for them.

You can find me as @simonwatchcompany , DM me and lets chat about anything!

Sincerely, Tyler Simon

 

Nice work, thanks for sharing!

 

Thank you very much! Happy to meet everyone!

 

Now put it on a Staib mesh bracelet for that 70's vintage vibe!

 

I do have a nice mesh bracelet left over from my long gone Heuer Super Pro. I put that on and loved the look. Will post pictures eventually.

 

Nice write up! And really appreciated your enthusiasm, you seem to really like and enjoy the watch, that's what matters the most!
Thanks for sharing!

 

Cool project and nice to see someone from near the D!

Any interest in doing a custom FOIS to hesalite project?

I’m just across the river in Canada.

 

Great build!

Why do you think a lemania 1873 will not potentially develop chrono creep though? Or am I miss reading your statement?

Also why not take the pusher extensions out of the donor 861?

 

Hello, you have done a very nice work!
What do you mean for hour register creep?

 

If something is not set right in the movement on the 861 and I believe 321 movements can have the hour hand creep a little while the chrono is off, this can be a sign of needing a service. I assume it can happen to some other chronos.

 

Yes, not necessarily the most efficient way of doing it, but the end result looks good.

The hour recorder creeping is inherent in the design, so there's nothing in the 1873 that will prevent this from happening in the future, but again this is typically taken care of in a service, so not a big deal.

 

I understand that I just wanted to hear the OP’s thinking. I own a 1873 powered watch and an 861 and understand they are identical except for finishing etc.

 

Thanks boss! I sure do!

 

I certainly didn't mean to imply that it wouldn't be an issue, I know I can adjust the brake later as well, isn't too hard of a fix. However, having a brand new movement makes it a problem that is farther out. (I'm pretty sure??) I know you are the expert!

 

I hear it is an issue with most all chronograph movements that use the same hour register design as the 321, 861 etc. Luckily, I don't think it is too hard of a fix.

 

I could have taken the push registers off a 861, you are certainly right. I was feeling ambitious so I wanted to make the parts myself. And yes, I do feel I wasn't clear. It will eventually get creep, but because it is a new movement, the date where it will start to develop is pushed off!

Does that make a bit more sense?

 

Sounds fun! I'm a bit out of the loop on the lingo though! What do you mean by FOIS?

 

I cleared up and added an edit to the post to try and firm up my statement around hour register creep. Hopefully that makes more sense for everyone!

 

FOISis the FIrst Omega In Space, basically a modern straight lug tribute to the Ed White. It only comes with a Sapphire Crystal. As the hesalite and sapphire cases differ machining is needed to fit a hesalite crystal. A few have been moded as it’s more correct, and looks better to most.

 

Gotcha, makes sense!