Please tell me this belongs to one of "us" ;-) http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/monday-morning-find-first-generation-omega-speedmaster
Well, it does. Ben is a member of the forum. EDIT: my mistake, I see it belongs to Andrew Shear. Not a member of the forum, as far as I know.
Ben does own a Speedmaster; he admitted to it while on the radio this morning. He did say he was wearing his Patek Perpetual Calendar this morning, though. Ben was interviewed by the CBC about the new smartwatch-"is this the end of the traditional wristwatch?" Ben did a great job explaining why mechanicals are here to stay! I would dearly love to own a Speedy...one of my grails!
That new Galaxy Gear really sums up why Apple hasn't released theirs yet, the battery life is just miserable, the need to be tethered to a specific Samsung device to run is weak and it looks like crud. Regarding Ben, from memory the Speedmaster was one of, if not the watch that got him into it in the first place, I think he had one early on in his life.
It was either his uncle or his grandfather who gave him the Speedy when he was 16 year old. He said he was fascinated by the sheer weight of it and the complexity of the mechanism itself. One interesting thing he did say was that the smartwatches will not replace mechanicals, but may, in fact, increase the interest in watches in the younger generation...one can only hope!
If I hadn't been given a TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph when I was 13 by my brother, I'd not have gotten into them either, its funny how many people become watch nerds due to getting something surprisingly nice when they are young.
You can buy one from Italy right now that only appears to be mostly fake: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OMEGA-speed...758122432?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item51aad033c0Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network