I recently picked up a replacement Speedmaster bezel and to me it looks a bit suspect, what do you think? The first thing that made me wary was the off-centre logo on the packaging. Up close it's a little pixelated too, strange. Here's a packaging comparison with a legitimate one I had (on left). Part # correct, but I wonder why this latest one would be missing the date code? View attachment 294105 More significantly the fonts on the bezel itself seem a bit off compared to this 1450022 case. The difference might not be that clear in this pic as I haven't opened the packaging in case I need to return it, bear with me. Another comparison, definitely a different tachymetre. A few differences I noticed with the new bezel accent on E is a shade nearer to the letter letters a shade taller whole typeface a bit more feint 'A' bit more pointy The lighting isn't great in the lower half so you might just have to trust me when I say they're visible differences We've all seen those replica inserts only on ebay and this definitely isn't one of those, but still it doesn't feel quite right. We all know the tell tale signs on vintage bezels, modern ones I assumed stayed effectively the same from 3570.50 onwards, but maybe they did vary as much as this over the years and Omega were having an off day when they packaged this. Thoughts?
Looks good to me. I could be overly optimistic, but I don't think the bezel fakers have started faking the packages yet.
I agree. Faking the packaging too seems a step too far given its value. Possibly they were produced by different manufacturers.........who knows. Unless you bought it on ebay from the Omeega company located in the far east, I would not be too concerned.
I can't see enough of the bezel to make a judgement on the actual part. However, I've bought a lot of bezels from Omega (for Speedmasters and many other watches), and none have ever come in a package looking like that. Few red flags for me on the packaging - off center printing, lack of bar code and date of manufacture, lack of complete packing inside the package - Omega is typically very good at making sure the foam inside is the same size as the package and cut to fit, like so... There's a chance this is older stock I suppose, but fake packaging on parts is nothing new... Cheers, Al
Thanks for your input folks. This was via a US seller on ebay. Either way it was cheap so I won't lose any sleep over it, but if nothing else it's an interesting curiosity. I honestly wouldn't have given the font a second glance if it weren't for the homemade looking packaging. Here's a slightly better photo of the bezel itself As you can see, packaging aside on first glance it looks good, but for the pic below I've put another known legit bezel on top to highlight the typeface difference. Maybe I've missed something, but I wasn't aware of this type of variation for modern bezels? I guess we're talking a long production run now though, maybe they do just come from different periods as you say Archer
Useful thanks kingsrider, it definitely matches my other legitimate ones too, but not the questionable one. It looks like it may well be guilty as charged for this suspect. Take him away, boys