Speedmaster 145.022 - 69 barn find

I probably had a lucky day and wanted to confirm with the community. While picking up some watches from service at my watchmaker yesterday, he told me that some person had just come by that day and brought him some watches with the intent to sell. Apparently, some grandfather died and when they opened his safe, they found watches that nobody was aware of, so they must have been lying there for 30 years or so. Amongst them was this Speedmaster 145.022-69 that I immediately jumped upon. I love the story and looks, so I immediately made a fair offer (-service cost) that the seller accepted.

To my eyes, the watch is all original and unmolested. It is well worn, with most of the wear on the bezel. The dial and hands are at least “good”, the case is sharp and quite certainly unpolished and in good nick too. The movement is working, even with decent amplitude and all chrono functions. The serial number of the movement seems to be in the right range (264 or 284… I believe. I only made a bad photo and now cannot get the dust cap off) and the movement is visually in very good condition. A service is scheduled, before I am going to wear it. The end links are 633 and the bracelet is 1171, as I am sure you can tell.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the purchase and would love to hear some comments on how you think I did. I was looking for an affordable example for quite some time and it almost seemed like I was priced out of the market a year ago, so I am very happy.

Nice! Extra cheesy as well. Always a good sign!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words so far. I agree that the bezel is the weak link, but I also believe that it allowed me to negotiate a good price based on the poor visual appearance it creates to a layman. We are able to look beyond that and see the contrasting conditions of dial, case, hands, lume...and how easy it is to polish the crystal, clean the case, bracelet and make a ton of difference.

The bezel, at least when it comes to the shiny spots, is chipped it seems. You can see that it bubbles at spots and then, I assume, chips away. Should be due to corrosion on the metal underneath the paint and not (only) dings. Painted aluminium parts on vintage cars do that unfortunately as well.
Otherwise, the case and outer bezel would not be in that condition anymore.

Beauty! Big congrats on this one.

After a little visit to the spa, it should be perfect for daily wear! I love that bezel.

Thank you, the dial is indeed pristine and do I dare to see a hint of brown? 🥰

I have to admit that I did not evaluate the watch entirely correctly in the shop and only realised how nice it actually is, when I took the dial out into the sunlight and compared the condition of the case to other examples. I was too focused on examining the parts and looking for damages, overall appearance. Given the situation at hand, I was more focused on getting the deal closed. Had a hard night in between offer and acceptance from the seller.

The whole situation is interesting, because had I not come into that shop that day, another person (not collector) would have bought it, who thought that it was just a beat up moonwatch and wanted it as a beater. So I approached the seller, not hiding my full appreciation and enthusiasm for the watch. Educated the seller on the subject and made an honest offer.

The longer I look at it, the more spectacular I find it.

I suppose that stabilising the lume of the hands would be a good idea?

Based on what does it need to be stabilized? I thought this only needs to be done if the lume is cracked?

that is an enviably nice looking example! congrats 😀

The ceramic bezel on my dad's gmt-ii was all banged up too, chips down to the metal in one or two places. And here we are just putting them in a box. lol

That was exactly my point. I was responding to @JayBe s comment that stabilising the lume would be a good idea.

Yes, thank you for your comments on that. My practical experience with Speedmasters of that age is very limited, but what I observed is that many have problems with lume of the hands (missing, replaced or cracked). So I was just considering getting ahead of that potential problem.
I unfortunately do not trust watchmakers to make decisions on these kind of things and prefer to give them precise instructions on what to do and what not to do.

After careful consideration, I will only have them do:
- movement CLA
- new gaskets
- ultrasound cleaning of case and bracelet
- polishing of crystal (only!)