The Poor Man's Ultraman

[Spacefruit]

I have seen this configuration a couple of times, an 861 Speedmaster with an orange hand replacement.



This is a 145.022-69, acquired in about 2012 in Hong Kong. I serviced it, but at service the chrono hand snapped - it happens. I did not have a replacement hand. As we can see, the hour minute hands are a particular patina, and I did not want to have a jarring replacement.

So I added an orange hand, from the MKII. Initially it was NOS, and too bright. Simon then distressed it to what we see here.



This is not as red as the original UM hand, nor is it as long - it only goes up to the minute track, not over:



I got it out recently to review my stock of square end chrono hands:



But on reflection I think I will leave it as is...



This is not a unique configuration, I have heard of more than one owner asking Omega (or the shop) to replace the chrono hand with orange. Imagine the response if an owner asked that today.

 

[pascs]

I dont normally like the Ultraman look but I think the '69 dial looks good with the orange hand, and the strap definitely looks very well with it 👍

 

[kgb]

I think it looks really sharp! I'm starting to get tempted to do that with mine.

And that Nato is perfect.

 

[Duracuir1]

Spacefruit

I have seen this configuration a couple of times, an 861 Speedmaster with an orange hand replacement.



This is a 145.022-69, acquired in about 2012 in Hong Kong. I serviced it, but at service the chrono hand snapped - it happens. I did not have a replacement hand. As we can see, the hour minute hands are a particular patina, and I did not want to have a jarring replacement.

So I added an orange hand, from the MKII. Initially it was NOS, and too bright. Simon then distressed it to what we see here.



This is not as red as the original UM hand, nor is it as long - it only goes up to the minute track, not over:



I got it out recently to review my stock of square end chrono hands:



But on reflection I think I will leave it as is...



This is not a unique configuration, I have heard of more than one owner asking Omega (or the shop) to replace the chrono hand with orange. Imagine the response if an owner asked that today.

Looks good. Is that orange hand identical to that of the flightmaster?

 

[Risto]

I think it looks good. People can do whatever they want with their watches, unless they sell it under false description. In this case I would wear it proudly!

 

[SpdMastr]

+1 on leaving it as is. It’s a fun mod that unlike the faked 145.012 examples floating around isn’t trying to be anything more than it is.