Thoughts on this very clean 105.012 Speedmaster

Dan S

Has the seller given you a price? Honestly, it's hard for us to understand your interest without knowing that, or to give you valid advice. Almost anything may be of interest at the right price.

You have mentioned that you aren't looking for a collector-grade watch and you recognize the replacement parts. So if you are interested, I would expect that this would be very inexpensive, close to the FAIR price on Speedmaster101 (i.e. $4k USD), given the missing DON. Otherwise presumably you wouldn't be pursuing it.

watch_my_six

Not to me. IF the dial is clean, AND the movement is correct/clean, AND the caseback is not a service part (which I will be VERY surprised if any of these is the case let alone all of them), then a decent DON bezel will still cost around $1,500; short/fat pushers ~$1,000; flat-foot crown ~$500; and tritium hands ~$500.

I know you say you don't necessarily want to restore it, but regarding your concern about resale potential, others who may want to restore it would then be considering it as a ~$10,000+ watch, in which case I would rather have that Speedmaster101 145.012-67 for $9,000! Even still, you can find correct/complete 105.012-65's albeit with a few more imperfections for ~$8k, which I would also rather have than the example in question here. But do let us know what you find out!

watch_my_six

Not to me. IF the dial is clean, AND the movement is correct/clean, AND the caseback is not a service part (which I will be VERY surprised if any of these is the case let alone all of them), then a decent DON bezel will still cost around $1,500; short/fat pushers ~$1,000; flat-foot crown ~$500; and tritium hands ~$500.

I know you say you don't necessarily want to restore it, but regarding your concern about resale potential, others who may want to restore it would then be considering it as a ~$10,000+ watch, in which case I would rather have that Speedmaster101 145.012-67 for $9,000! Even still, you can find correct/complete 105.012-65's albeit with a few more imperfections for ~$8k, which I would also rather have than the example in question here. But do let us know what you find out!

watch_my_six

Not to me. IF the dial is clean, AND the movement is correct/clean, AND the caseback is not a service part (which I will be VERY surprised if any of these is the case let alone all of them), then a decent DON bezel will still cost around $1,500; short/fat pushers ~$1,000; flat-foot crown ~$500; and tritium hands ~$500.

I know you say you don't necessarily want to restore it, but regarding your concern about resale potential, others who may want to restore it would then be considering it as a ~$10,000+ watch, in which case I would rather have that Speedmaster101 145.012-67 for $9,000! Even still, you can find correct/complete 105.012-65's albeit with a few more imperfections for ~$8k, which I would also rather have than the example in question here. But do let us know what you find out!

pdxleaf

I don't think of this watch as a Franken. A Franken is put together to deceive. It's made up of parts from different watches to appear as one watch.

I think this is exactly what the seller says it is, a serviced watch. Omega replaced parts that showed wear with new parts. The unfortunate result is that the serviced watch resembles a Franken watch. Because the hands have been replaced, it makes me wonder if the dial was replaced by Omega, but maybe the Japanese watchmaker swapped back the old one, which was likely returned from Omega?

Assuming the movement is original and correct (which you'll know by the serial number using ilovemyspeedmaster.com), it would be a passable watch. The seller values it because it looks newish and has been serviced. But that's not what collectors typically value. It looks nice and can be happily worn, if you just want a well-running speedmaster. But for many collectors, the new hands and service bezel would jump out every time we looked at the time. That would distract from the dial and case.

As for price, it seems expensive to me. If you try to find an original bezel, much less hands, it'll be expensive. Then you'll be the guy making a Franken out of a service watch. I wouldn't be tempted unless it were at least 1k pounds cheaper. Even then, what is likely to happen is that you will keep looking for your perfect watch, find one, and then try to sell this one to upgrade. But you'll have a hard time selling it and will regret every buying it.