Speedmaster 145.022-69 ST Straight Writing

Last week I won an auction for a Speedmaster 145.022-69 “Straight Writing”. The auction website pictures were not good, and after requesting additional pictures from the auction house, I recieved images that were slightly better/more informative, but still did not give a full picture of the watch. I went ahead and bid with my max being $5k USD as the watch is from the original owner and looked to be in overall good condition.

The watch arrived today and while not necessarily disappointed, I am surprised by some things.

I paid $4500 USD for the watch after all buyers fees and shipping. I feel the price was fine…not a steal but i also do not feel i got ripped off.

My surprises (i.e concerns) are as follows:

-The watch has been polished, and not very nicely. I am especially bothered by the 5 o’clock lug (lug on the left in the pictures) as the brushed section appears a bit too thick. The case looks very thick still but i wonder if any of you can advise on if it would be worthwhile getting the case properly refinished/polished?

-The lume on the indices and on the hands: I have not seen many vintage Speedmasters in person, but from what i have read on this forum and images i have seen online, it seems lume breakdown on the hands of vintage Speedmasters is normal. This is not a washed dial, but if you look at the 10x loupe images you can see some of the pumpkin color lume is gone and there is a whiteish base underneath. Is this common?

Yes sorry, the original post was from my phone and I did not see the "add photos" button.

I think you’re facing an uphill battle in terms of your personal enjoyment of the watch if you’re immediately unhappy with it’s condition. LA watchworks does great work but I’m not sure how often they’ve done Speedmasters - and that doesn’t address the lume you don’t like… what’s there is not atypical and probably more than most would clear off for a relume…

My $0.02:

Sell it - put it on eBay with lots of photos and no reserve to ensure it sells (those auctions generally perform well even though it’s a bit scary). You may well get your money back; or you may lose $1,000…. but chalk that up to a learning experience and buy the watch you really want, only bidding when you’re fully comfortable and excited about the condition of what you’re getting. Sometimes handling things and seeing them with your own eyes is worth a loss on a first time purchase.

+1

Get the original lume on the hands stabilised by laquering the back-side by an experienced good PRO. Don´ t relume!

It s a tool-watch 👍 enjoy!

Thank you all for the responses! These have been helpful in my processing as to what to do with the watch.

At this time I am going to keep it and wear it. As Aludic said, this is a 50 year old watch with what I think are all original parts. It is unrealistic of me to expect a museum quality watch for $4500! After scouring the Web yesterday and today for pictures of vintage Speedmaster’s I realize that lume loss on these is common. The lume loss is much less of a bother. The poorly polished case is a bit more of a bother, but honestly the more I look at it the less it’s bothering me. All areas of the case are still very thick and I believe this was just a one off polish that an inexperienced person did.

A little back story: I purchased the new Speedmaster 3861 hesalite last year and will give this watch to my son in the future. The 3861 was my first Speedmaster and lit the Speedy fire! Shortly before I purchased the 3861 I added a 1984 Tudor Submariner 94010 to my collection as my first vintage/neo vintage watch. This Tudor lit the fire for vintage. So now I had a perfect storm: a love for Speedmaster’s and a love for vintage. Over the last year I have been considering a vintage Speedy off and on but as it has been stated, the top quality examples are expensive and frankly too expensive for me to justify right now.

I have added a few more pictures of the 145.022-69 here. My optimism is coming from: 1) The lume shot gives a good view of how much lume is left. Every hour marker has at least 50% lume left. 2) The original 1171 bracelet is in near mint condition and has very few scratches and no stretch. 3) The bezel is in good condition with no marks, and a nice fade.

I guess the decision I need to make is how to move forward with servicing. I feel if I spend the $1000 to get this serviced, I will have a watch that I could likely recuperate at least most, if. not all of my money if/when I decide to see it. As I said, I am warming up to the watch. When I see it sitting on the table I like it and want to wear it so for now it'll stay. I will update here with what I decide to do.

Thank you for your response! I have taken a pretty hard turn in the last 24 hours and am quite happy with the watch. As I mentioned in my original post, I was a bit surprised by the lume loss but concerned with the case polishing. I just held the 145.022-69 next to my 3861 and realized that the 145.022-69 case is not as messed up as I had thought. Not trying to say it's perfect, but it's not horrible. And when viewing the watch on the wrist and looking at the dial the lines are still nice and sharp.

Regarding servicing this watch, I normally do my service with Nesbit's in Seattle. They have been very good to work with in the past. I was planning to have them service this, but they can't stabilize the lume and I want the movement service and lume stabilization done at once. If anyone has recommendations for a watchmaker in the U.S., preferably close proximity to NYC, please let me know!

tell us why !

I payed max. 50 € (while complete servicing the watch) for the lacquering the back of the hands....It is possible and works! Ask someone who has experience in this .

Thank you! And yes, with regards to lume stabilization I am only looking to have that done on the hands.