Hi all-
I've been lurking for a few weeks, and finally found a preowned 1861 Hesalite Speedmaster Pro on Ebay that should be showing up in another week. I'm not much of a watch guy, only having a Citzen Skyhawk Blue Angels that is pretty beat up (and doesn't really charge right anymore), and recently a Hamilton Field Khaki mechanical-date that I've been wearing for a few months now.

I love the look and history of the Speedmaster, so after a bunch of hunting on the various variants, came down on a pro.

I doubt I'll be posting much, but figured I'd say hi anyway!

-Erich

 

Hello

 

Where in OR?

 

I'm a bit out of Portland, in a small town called Gaston. I have quite a few acres and room for quite a few other hobbies! I mostly do WFH, else I work in Hillsboro.

 

Hello from Portland.

1861 is a great Speedy. Sweet spot for price and movement.

Expect to see some wrist shots with vineyards in the background.

 

Thanks! I'' have to do something like that. I see from your name that you're likely not far from me, I was wondering if there is a good watchmaker/horologist in the area for service that you can recommend? Google is tough, since all the reviews tend to be positives for a battery change.

 

I'll pm you.

-Dave

 

Welcome to the forum! A lot of very good, very knowledgeable people here.
Be sure to post some picture of your new watch! We love photos.

 

So I don't have it yet, but I figured I'd share the listing pictures. I picked this up on Ebay and got what I believe to be a good deal on a 'make an offer', its a 311.30.42.30.01.005, so I believe it is quite recent, just the last generation. It is currently set to be delivered to ebay's authenticator tomorrow morning, then on its way to me! I realize the ebay authenticator has some mixed reviews on treatment, but as you'll see, its a little scratched in places anyway... sort of on purpose!

I considered an antique one, but as this is my first really nice watch, I didn't feel comfortable wearing an important piece of history like that. I plan on wearing this quite a bit, so damaging a 68 would be heartbreaking, whereas this one is mass-produced enough that if I destroy it, I'm only out money (not history!). Additionally, I didn't want 'new', as I intend to wear this, and I know from past big purchases, the first scratch is always the worst... now someone else has made them for me

To the pictures!


One of the most important things to me was an undented bezel all the way around. As nice as a well-worn bezel looks, I want to do that myself.





As you can see here, there are a handful of scratches on the glass. I'm hopeful those are just super obvious under macro lens, and invisible under normal use. Either way, it'll get worse on my wrist, so *shrug*.

I don't mind a handful of desk-diver marks, I'm likely to make my own as well, and these are not significant. And again, someone else cried over the first ding instead of me!

Bracelet looks good, though I typically am not a fan of metal bracelets. I've been eyeing the 310.32.42.50.01.001 which comes with a black nylon strap, which I might try to find a clone/original of, and put this bracelet in storage.


Comes with what appears to be SOME of the casework, but all teh tools/etc. Not sure how important most of this is to me, but I guess a nice to have?


So thats it! I'm not much of a photographer, so the ones when I get it are going to likely be much less quality photos, so I figured I'd share these so you can wait with me.

 

From one Erich to another: welcome. I'm in Vancouver, WA, just across the river from you. I commented in your other thread, but congrats on the Speedy and welcome to the forum.

 

Hey, thanks! I saw your name elsewhere, definitely rare, I didn't realize you were as close as well!