Thoughts on this refinished Speedy Mark II (and others!)

padders

100% replaced hands. AFAIK no Mk 2 came with a spear Chrono. Those could well be SL lume

padders

I have a personal interest as I recently acquired a straight but lived in Mk2 with box and papers dated Jan 1972. Prior to that I would have been oblivious. It’s amazing what a bit of self interest can do to sharpen your appraisal skills!

padders

If as I suspect the hands are SL it will annoy you and be a pretty expensive fix. If they aren’t you’ll have a valuable spear hand to sell.

Tet

I prefer the French one overall but your local one looks pretty good and yes there's another to be said for dealing with less risk due to seller location, go with your instinct would be my advice.

I'm not so sure about the service hands being SL, in the loupe pics they look to be rather yellow and matching the markers, but of course somebody might have done a lume colour match.

I would ask for a close up of the lower part of the dial as well as the top, from some pics it looks as though there may be some lume decay/crumbling on some of the lower markers which is something I think I remember you wanted to avoid. Some better pics should put your mind at rest.

Good luck, nice to have choices.

Nathan1967

Funnily enough I bought one at the weekend on the back of an OF WTB ad. Perfect racing dial, solid case, service History. I do find that photos often don’t do these Watches justice though - worth seeing them in the metal if you can I think.

leandroquezada

I totally agree with you. The human eye can see about 1 million colors. Digital photos can only capture a portion of those colors. A vintage watch in good conditions will more often than not surprise you when you receive it.

johnnylarue

I'm going to take this topic on a minor, self-indulgent detour--bear with me. 🥱

I've been actively shopping for a "good" Mark II for several months, as well as keeping an eye on them more passively for the past 3+ years. I know these are still considered a relative bargain/undervalued relative to the rest of the Speedmaster line, but I'm beginning to suspect the reason for this is simply because so few nice examples even exist! In other words, they're "cheap" because nearly every Mark II on the market these days is plagued by one or more of: lume rot, unscrupulously destructive polishing, conspicuous "correct" refinishing + Frankensteining, etc. Without exaggeration, I've probably scrutinized 50-100 of these over the last few years and possibly two watches out of the lot were genuinely nice examples with original good dials and hands, and unpolished cases with honest wear and priced to sell (as opposed to those ubiquitous "Hey Internet--look what I have! Want it? Gimme $5000" Buy It Now listings.)

Given the number of these produced and sold, I'm at a loss to explain how it can be that so few of them have survived intact, and am beginning to wonder whether pursuing one is even worth the effort at this point. I feel like I really missed the boat on this one.

End of rant.

simonsays

That is a nice example. It is the earlier model 145.014 which makes it better in my opinion. It is actually the earlier 1159 bracelet that was used before they introduced the 1162, but with the wrong clasp, or an 1117 that has had endlinks replaced maybe. It looks tight which is hard to find, these bracelets often come with a lot of stretch.
It looks untouched judging by the leaky seal on the crystal. No bad thing if your a collector.

johnnylarue

Did a bit more investigating on the bracelet for the French model. Looks like it has the correct clasp cover for a "second generation" 1159/154 bracelet, so my best guess is only the inner part of the clasp was swapped in from an 1171 at some point:

The original inner clasp would have likely had a circled "30" and 1159 stamped in, as I understand it. Bit of a shame but given the relative rarity and good overall condition of this bracelet otherwise, I think I can live with that compromise.

For anyone keeping track, I'm now on amicable terms with the French seller and things are looking promising... 😎

simonsays

I will actually revise my observation. I think this bracelet may be totally correct, and a slightly different model to the 1159. The 1117 may well have come with 154 end links on the 145.014

johnnylarue

Did a bit more investigating on the bracelet for the French model. Looks like it has the correct clasp cover for a "second generation" 1159/154 bracelet, so my best guess is only the inner part of the clasp was swapped in from an 1171 at some point:

The original inner clasp would have likely had a circled "30" and 1159 stamped in, as I understand it. Bit of a shame but given the relative rarity and good overall condition of this bracelet otherwise, I think I can live with that compromise.

For anyone keeping track, I'm now on amicable terms with the French seller and things are looking promising... 😎

KingCrouchy

Are you sure he's a french seller? I saw that Watch on a Swiss auction site and the seller lives in Switzerland.

Uscjake87

Beware. Lots of people steal auction pics to scam people. Especially on chronocentric. Ask the seller for a picture of the watch next to a handwritten card.

simonsays

Very observant Nathan, but I know the later Flightmasters 911 had Delrin brakes, so I wouldn't rule it out on this alone. I am not sure when they stoped production on the Mk II? This 37 mil movement would put it around 1975 I think?

Also I don't know exactly when the Delrin brake came into use either, but I guess around 74/75?

I don't like that case though, so its a no from me.

Wuza72

Hi, i bought a Mark II (maybe 145.034 SS) 5 days ago. Right now i can't open the watch and see what´s inside.

Did a little research at the OF before and after buying the watch.

I found this on the official Omega website, maybe it is useful for later discussions about the "Delrin Brake".