Speedmaster Mark II Back from the Spa

Last year I picked up a Racing Dial Speedy Mark II. I got it for what I thought was a decent price, about $1,800. The case was OK, the dial and handset were excellent (service parts?) and the bracelet was sketchy. I sent it out for service a couple months ago. I don’t usually do any case refinishing, but in this instance I decided to have Tanner Morehouse (TM Watch) clean up the case and restore the brushed finish. When it came back I put it on an Uncle Seiko 1162 bracelet with an Omega service clasp. Some pics:

Before:



After:




Apologies for the focus of that last pic, where I should’ve gotten better depth of field.

One thing I did notice as I was taking the pictures: the new crystal (an Omega service part) seems to cover just a bit more of the dial than the original crystal. The “SWISS MADE” text at the bottom of the dial is obscured, where it used to be more readily apparent. It’s nothing I’m going to lose sleep over, but is this normal with 145.014 replacement crystals?

I also believe that there are several versions of genuine Omega service crystals for the Mark II.

I think there may be a simple reason why the new crystal fitted to your watch completely covers the T SWISS T marking. If you look carefully at the two crystals, the distance between the markers, dots and the black outer edge appears to be greater on the new crystal than on the one that was previously fitted to your watch.

I have uploaded a photograph of a genuine Omega service crystal from my own archive. If you compare the position of the markers and dots relative to the black outer edge, you can see that the distance is considerably smaller. My crystal dates, in my opinion, from the early 2000s, and this geometry leaves more of the T SWISS T marking visible.

So I suspect that the difference comes to the geometry and printing position of the different crystal versions.

There is another point I would be very interested to ask you about.

Looking at the photographs of your Mark II Racing, the luminous material on the dial appears very white to me. Of course, this could simply be a photographic effect, but could you tell me whether you know if the dial is fitted with LumiNova rather than tritium?

I noticed that you had also previously expressed some doubts about whether the dial might be a service dial.

If the white appearance is only photographic, and the luminous material does not behave like LumiNova, then that would obviously be a different matter. One simple way to check would be to expose the watch to light and then compare the dial with the hands. If the dial and hands react differently, that could be quite informative, since the hands appear to me to retain what looks like the original tritium.

I ask because this would actually be the second Mark II Racing dial I have seen with a T SWISS T inscription but what appears to be LumiNova luminous material.

Also I actually own another example with the same combination, and I have never been able to establish with certainty whether it is an original Omega dial or an aftermarket. There is a theory out there that Omega may have taken old unused tritium dials from stock and re-lumed them with LumiNova around the mid-1990s, but I have never found reliable documentation confirming this.

So I would be very interested to know what you find with yours.

Thank you for your time.