Hello everyone,

I've been lurking here for about 6 months now and have been admiring everyone's wonderful Omegas. I just want to say this site is a wealth of knowledge and hope everyone realizes its importance to the new and old collector alike.

I have two other vintage omegas, but for now would like to concentrate on the one I bought today. I have always admired the speedmaster and found one at a local jewelry store. They took it in on trade a few years ago and found it in their safe. Anyway, I've been bugging them to show it to me and today they did.

I forgot to take a picture of the case back while it was open but it was marked 144.022-78 and had a dust cover. It's a cal 861 and the serial number is 39925898.

To me it looks like it was barely worn. The movement looks crisp. There is only a few scratches on the omega marked crystal. Are the pushers new? The dial and hands look vintage and have patina. The lume does fluoresce.

The serial number puts it at a late 1979 according to chronomaddox.com.
Is that common to have an older case and slightly newer serial number?

My birthday is 01/1980, so it's really close to a birthday watch by accident. Hope I did ok. Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated and thanks for your time.

Craig

 

Looks Aok to me

 

Looks to be extremely clean with all correct parts for the reference. You also got the thumbs up from the Speedmaster guru @gemini4 so you should feel very good about that. Highly recommend a service ASAP if you plan to wear it regularly. You might have noticed the gasket beginning to deteriorate and some residue inside the movement. Get that taken care of now before it potentially becomes a big problem down the line. The serial number doesn't necessarily correspond to a specific date of production and you won't know unless you order an extract from Omega. Very nice purchase, enjoy it!!

 

Please pardon @sky21 's cheerleading. I am not a Speedie guru. I know about them, have studied them, own a few however there are many members who have been collecting longer than I have and know more than I.

 

Thanks guys, I will get it serviced. I thought that was some kind of grease sealant not the gasket deteriorating lol. Man, I have lots to learn. I'll try to contribute more as I learn.

 

Btw, it's crazy how much better they look in hand than crappy cell phone pics

 

39 m serials check out for 76 and 78 speedies. There was no 77

 

Cracking catch, well done, I have a birth year 145.022-76 in very similar original condition, a love it!

 

Not much I can add to what the knowledgeable folks above have already said, except congratulations on a great find!

 

Great looking watch! I just might be the pics but was the lume removed on the dial?

 

Thanks for the kind comments. The Lume lights up pretty well still. Lasts for a few minutes after I shot it with a flashlight to charge it up.

 

One last question. Do these Speedmasters have a wind stop? I can wind mine about 35 times and not feel any resistance then I stop because I don't to over wind. Is that possible? Sorry I'm a newbie. Thanks!

Craig

 

Wind it until you feel the resistance rise sharply. You won't hurt it by fully winding it, just don't crank on the crown once you reach full wind. If you never reach the point where the crown doesn't want to turn anymore, no matter how many times you wind it, the mainspring is broken. Although many would tell you the watch won't run with a broken mainspring, it depends where the break is - if it's in the right spot (out at the tang end of the spring) the watch can run with a full reserve and keep time quite well also.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks for this info Al - I actually just used it the other day, as I hadn't been doing this - rather winding 35-40 times and then stopping (this is on my find that I posted about here: https://omegaforums.net/threads/i-took-an-ebay-gamble-and-the-speedmaster-gods-smiled-upon-me.40335/). I wound it till I started to feel resistance and then let it run till it stopped. Took 48.5 hours, which as I understand is right where it should be for power reserve.
Chris

 

How many turns depends on how long your winding stroke is so varies from person to person. My daily 78 takes ~20 turns from fully unwound. ~10 turns daily. Nice purchase, enjoy and wear it well. Marcus