(As it's my 2000th post I thought I would make an effort to contribute something educational to this thread to develop the thought suggested by our dear fellow member @kov ) Yes Kov it's likely, or something similar??? Consideration for the 'well known' Dutch/Swiss connection may well have prompted them to use the Dutch.... 'Fakkel'..... which translates into English as a 'flaming torch'. https://m.interglot.com/nl/en/fakkel So you are right....it's possible they may well have exclaimed "No Fakkel' way!"... to convey the thought that they could not 'shed any light' or 'illumination' on the matter??? There!... I hope you've all learned something???.
Just seeing this...amazing. And seeing the Hodinkee article and comments reminds me of why I’ve read their content.
So, as promised I took a look at it and also spoke with Mr.Muser briefly about it. He stands firmly on his position that the omega Museum told him via email (the one quoted above in French ) that the museum confirmed it is a prototype and further that they can not produce an extract because of the 000 serial number bridge. I had a native French speaker close by and she indeed translated the first sentence of the mail as „this is a prototype“ but this is nothing new as I assume that we have many native French speakers amongst our members. Why the museum would state that is a mystery to me and might be worth further investigation. Some of our members have deep ties to the heritage team, maybe they can find out why such a claim was made. Not to defend anything here or take sides, just as an information, the auction house tries (and infact did on many of the other speedmasters in this auction and the one tomorrow) to get extracts on all speedmasters. I‘m not versed enough with prototypes to give a concrete statement on that matter, but I, as many others here, believe by the evidence given and pictures shown, that this is not a legit prototype, but that’s just my personal opinion. Here are the pics, as a noteworthy addition, by the reaction after a short stark light exposure, I believe the hands to be superluminova. Cheers, Max
I expect the museum were not aware of the origins of these cases, and they do look very much like a development of the Speedmaster. The collective knowledge of enthusiasts is often greater than the Heritage team. Once you see where the cases have come from it is obvious that this is cobbled together. I am sure they would on reflection change their stance.
Must be a prototype part to match the prototype serial # or have they just shaved the top off and restamped it.
I am sure they are Lemania 873 bridges. Probably a batch of movements that does not have serial numbers from the factory.
Thanks @Speedmasterfan88 for sharing. I stick to my first opinion : 100%-put-together-pure-franken The superluminova hands are the cherry on the cake.
Are there any other indications of the age of the movement that can be seen. It looks awfully fresh. Also, I am curious about the date marks on the bracelet. Auction info indicates a 1/69 marked bracelet and an estimate of 1970 for the watch. Verrrry interesting. I dredged this up from a past thread. I think it bears repeating. I can't comment on the 33.3, but the Driver?... well, where do you start?. I have said previously that Hodinkee has a responsibility to report in a complete and accurate fashion. Once again, an article that confirms my belief that they are, at times, lazy. If the writer had done what we urge any new member to do, research other examples, investigate the sold prices to determine value, ask a couple of questions. He would have seen that this watch was a rather poor example to use. Including a link to a sub-par watch priced at almost three times its' actual value does not show the level of expertise and guidance that I would expect from a prominent journal. PS I might take flack about the guidance part, but I think they position themselves as a barometer of sorts and in that way they do affect trends.
Dial and lume almost looks like a typical dirty 69 dark chocolate 2911xxxxx ... Let’s for one second entertain the notion that this is a prototype...why a ‘69-or-71/861? These watches/parts were in regular production for half a decade already. If this were a prototype Speedmaster, it would have to be much earlier...contain a 321, early pro/pre-pro no-t AML dial (or even something more exotic), earlier bracelet etc etc. All logically IMHO...
Hammered for around 36.000€ including premium to a telephone bidder from overseas if I caught it right.... I was shaking my head in disbelief. The 2915 failed to sell btw. No bids even at 40.000€. Some of the lots that failed to sell were from overseas. That would‘ve ment 20% premium plus 20% of the total(including premium) on top for German VAT. Don’t know why anyone would bid on one of those lots except outside of the EU.
Ya the 2915 didn’t sell and the racing speedy wasn’t too expensive, but someone still paid up for this...yikes!
Hey, Antoine, why we don't put an 861 and speedmaster dial into this case? What, 44mm? Too big. And what, diving bezel on racing watch? For what? But look, it fits, almost. Gerome, it looks like garbage. It's crap. <Gerome tosses it in the bin with all the other protptypes> Lunch? Oui, allons y!
