Guys could you please check out this onePurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network and give an advise if its worth 1,8k Euro. (Thats what has been offered to me by the seller) I know that caseback and large second is wrong and that the lume on the dial is mostly gone. I asked the seller about the serial and it starts with 265 which would be correct for a Transitional 861 Thanks for your help
I think that it has the wrong chrono sweep hand. Not a big fan of the scraped lume on some of the hour indices and it has been polished more than I would like. I am sure with a little patience, you could do better, but a lowball offer wouldn't be the worst thing ever.
The case back would be the deal breaker for me. Without this I would calculate paying what a regular early 70's 145.022 goes for and a little extra for the DON tachy.
I tried it with lowball offers but no sucess and you are right about the large second hand, it might not be correct.
To me, a transitional has not only the correct serial number range, but a pre-moon back, preferably the DON bezel (noted), and ideally an applied Omega logo. This watch is not a transitional. If you're looking for such, I recommend pass. If you're simply looking for a Speedy Pro, this would fit the bill around $1.5€. Then I'd offer to trade the DON bezel for a Non-DON plus cash!
The caseback is exactly the point why this one has not sold yet, i think. Also wrong titled. Thought Transitional with an applied Logo dial would cost premium
Excuse but why isn´t this a Transitional? -The serial number is in the 265 Range which is correct for a Transitional model and not correct for a 71 Model. - It has the correct DON Bezel - It has a Applied Logo dial Only the caseback and large Chrono hands seems wrong to me.
It may be a Ferrari but would you buy a Ferrari with a '69 front and a 74 back? And would you call it a 69? or a 74?
Well for me it wasn´t exactly clear that it is so easy to interchange Ferrari parts. And i really don´t understand your way of argueing This watch has 75% correct parts case, bezel, dial, crown and pushers, movement, are all correct for a transitional. Only 2 parts are not correct, so what is your problem right now? Finding a correct caseback and second hand isn´t such a big deal i would say. to come back to your car comparism, if the numbers on your 69 Ferrari on Frame and Engine are matching but the hood has been changed it is still a 69 Ferrari.
You right that I have taken against this watch! It smells, and my intuition is ringing alarm bells. Let me try and explain why. I suspect that the entire case, not just the back, is -71. Now I cant see the movement number, but I see you have asked him and 26m is really early and rare, so thats good. What is not good is that it appears to be in a 1971 case. It is inconceivable that a 26m serial was placed into a '71 case by Omega, and therefore, to me, it must have been assembled from at least two watches. Added to this mix, is the wrong chrono hand. Now there are several explanations for this. The watchmaker couldn't get the right one, (So no Omega account then....and I wonder what other parts he could not get?) OR he didnt know. I am not sure which is worse, or at least sends red flags up that this watch was worked on by someone who does not fully understand speedmasters. The Dial is scraped and not very attractive. Yes it is a transitional dial, and a transitional serial on the movement. So we have as you say two thirds of a transitional. Finding the other third, the case, will be a challenge. I have never, never seen a -68 case for sale - and I think it needs to be a 68 with that number. So whoever buys this watch in the hope of finding the case is going to have to be very lucky. Transitionals are extremely difficult to find, and command a small but noticeable premium over the later 145.022's. I wish you every success in your hunt, but honestly I think it would be easier to find another watch than a -68 caseback. (and as I said I think it is the whole case that needs replacing.)
Thanks for the extensive explanation, now i can see a bit clearer. As i said before, i wish i already had the book we all wait for Is there a difference in the cases that is noticeable ? Like the way the lugs are shaped?
Sorry for the confusion. What I should have emphasized is this: when I personally look to obtain an example of a transitional Speedmaster, among the legitimate examples available I strongly prefer an example with DON bezel/pre-moon case back/applied metal logo dial. I did not see this example has a metal logo. But to answer your question from the original post, I do not feel the value of the watch is 1.8k €, precisely because of the faults noted with the case back/chrono sweep hand/dial lume. Good luck with the hunt!
I doubt there is a noticeable difference in a -68 case and a -71 case - provided they were in identical condition. For me the problem MIGHT be that if I just fitted a caseback, the patina would not match. It may be possible to polish them together, and that may solve it. It seems a lot of chance to take for a watch that isnt going to look that great at the end of the day. (The Dial)
