Speedmaster 125 - stem will not come out. Advice, please.

First time poster here; any advice would be very much appreciated (I searched in the forums, but to no avail).
My father left me his Speedmaster 125 which needs service. It winds and runs OK, but I cannot pull out the winding stem. At first, it would pull out only to the first stop (date adjust), but not the second stop (time adjust). I remember feeling some resistance, so did not want to force anything. But after pushing in the stem, it will not pull out at all.
---> Any advice on how much damage there might be?
A collector friend will take me to his recommended watchmaker in New York City, who is a former Rolex specialist.
I live in CT; the Omega service center in NJ predicts $1500 for starters on their service / "restoration," which I will avoid. I'd like to keep it for sentimentality's sake.
My Father bought his Speedmaster 125 new, and I’m sure he had it serviced by Omega, but probably last time 10-15 years ago. Omega in NYC has no service record under his name.
---> Have you any thoughts, advice with respect to asking my friend's watchmaker to repair / service it? WatchWorks Inc. (co-located with Stanley & Sons Jewelers) 1006 6th Avenue, 2nd floor NYC
or Grand Central Watch in Grand Central Station?
or any recommended vintage Omega specialists? Does the 1041 movement require a specialist?
Thank you from this newbie.

Hi, I think it might be the setting lever/spring issue, sure you will need a watchmaker to fix it. As ca 1041 is basically Lemania 1340 movement, every watchmaker skilled in servicing mechanical watches should be able to do the job, if he is also able to source the faulty parts.

Hi, You should contact @Andy K - he is the specialist here regarding the Speedmaster 125 and might have some helpful advice regarding your problem.

If you want to read some very interesting stuff beside that take a look here:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/176...-the-speedmaster-125-conspiracy-theory.38904/

Hope that you will find somebody with moderate prices for the repair of your beauty!

I appreciate the kind words but I'm no watchmaker. My advice would be to leave it alone and get it to a watchmaker to repair it, preferably not Omega, as they charge a really high price and tend to replace too many parts. Good luck!

Sorry Andy, I didn't meant it in the way that you are a watchmaker - I thought that you might know somebody in the US based on the experience you have made around the 125.

Well, I have a watchmaker but they require a LOT of instruction (don't relume the hands, don't polish the case, etc.) and have more than once returned watches to me with dust under the crystal that I had to send back...so I don't really recommend them...Maybe it's time I found a new watchmaker! 😁

But as @Knudsen1971 said it's a common enough movement. I've never had to wait too long for parts when needed.

Many thanks Knudsen1971, xeasygoingx and Andy K for your replies, references and helpful suggestions. I plan to head into NYC to see my friend's recommended watchmaker Jack Karamikian at WatchWorks, and possibly also Daniele Watchmaker in Greenwich, CT to see if either can work on it. I feel relieved with your advice that the 1041 movement is fairly common, but now hold no faith in the myth about a limited series of 2000 watches!

It is a myth, there were around 15000 of this cal1041 watches made. And even more with the cal1040, which is basically the same without chronometer parameters. Both base on Lemania 1340, some differences like Lemania uses KIF ballance wheel housing, Omega Incablok, but most parts are 1:1 if I remeber well.

The Omega archives confirmed at minimum 17,400 Speedmaster 125s were produced. But we continue to observe additional serials that are missing from the archives. The real production total is likely over 20,000, just as my statistical model predicted. https://speedmaster125.com/

Brilliant web page, thank you.