Hi, I have purchased a Speedmaster 145.022 transitional, and it is currently in line to get serviced by Nico Rijsman. He advised me to replace the crown with a new example to improve the water resistance. Since I live in The Netherlands and it's raining here a lot it seemed like a good idea to me. How common is this? And does it ruin the appeal of the watch in your opinion? This is the speedmaster btw https://omegaforums.net/threads/197...re-moon-with-don-bezel-head-only-5-900.76920/
This is not a transitional model, it's a regular pre-moon 145.022-69 with painted logo and DON bezel. Nice watch. See the links below for a description of the transitional model; notably they have an applied metal logo. http://speedmaster101.com/145-022-transitional/ http://www.moonwatchonly.com/omega-...-reviews/speedmaster-145-022-68-transitional/ In any case, your watch appears to have an A3 wide-Omega 24-tooth crown, so it may already be a service replacement, in which case replacing it wouldn't be a problem. If it had been an A2, I would definitely have recommended keeping it, even if it meant sacrificing water resistance. Here is the current crown on your watch, so others can see and give you their opinions. You should ask the seller his opinion, he is extremely knowledgable.
I think that the crown currently on the watch is not a modern service crown, and is a period correct one. Technically, this crown is the same as current production speedmaster crowns. I say that the current crown is period correct because in my experience the modern production crowns have more “melted” edges, whereas the originals were a little more sharp in areas. The crown currently on the watch appears to have sharper edges that I would expect on the older version. Otherwise the older versions are identical to modern production. IMO, replacing the crown wouldn’t impact the value much, just hang on to the original just in case you ever want it.