two speed masters passed down from grumpy father

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If you look at the movement photo you posted above, the one on the yellow post it note, you can just about see it on the edge, towards the 8pm position. That pic isn't high enough resolution to check but maybe you have an original that is? Failing that, carefully unscrew the back, lift off the dust cover and with a camera or loupe take one yourself. But use care!

To be fair to your watchmaker, the serial numbers are often difficult to make out exactly even under magnification, but I am certain yours will be 26m not 20m unless there has been some major messing about with your watch.
 
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If you look at the movement photo you posted above, the one on the yellow post it note, you can just about see it on the edge, towards the 8pm position. That pic isn't high enough resolution to check but maybe you have an original that is? Failing that, carefully unscrew the back, lift off the dust cover and with a camera or loupe take one yourself. But use care!
Ok thanks, my original picture is not good enough. Ordering a loupe then.
 
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Ok thanks, my original picture is not good enough.

Unfortunately, the camera was not focused on that surface of the movement. Sometimes it auto-focuses on the background, e.g. the Post-It note. Next time take a bunch of photos from different angles and distances and hopefully some of them will work out for you.
 
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That blurry photo does look like 260--- to me, more than 200---
 
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+1 to the above statement, to me it looks more like a 260 than 200.
 
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Maybe you should change the title to: "two speedmasters passed down from father".
Why?😕..... It's HIS Father he's talking about. He ought to know whether or not he was a 'grumpy old basstedd!'😀
 
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Why?😕..... It's HIS Father he's talking about. He ought to know whether or not he was a 'grumpy old basstedd!'😀

He was recommending the change to read "two speed masters". I made the change and then added the grumpy part for fun. My dad is the good kind of grumpy.
 
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He was recommending the change to read "two speed masters". I made the change and then added the grumpy part for fun. My dad is the good kind of grumpy.
I'm sure he is! I had a dear old grumpy Mum, and I'm pretty sure most of us understood your comment as a warm 'father and son' reference.😀

By the way....Wonderful watches!
 
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Your watch, your money, but I wouldn’t let that watch maker delve any deeper if it were mine.
 
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Rather than a loupe, just use bright lights and the zoom on a decent samsung or apple phone.
 
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As with others I would say it looks like 26 as the first 2 digits, your watch maker could leave the back slightly loose to make inspection easier.
 
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Like they said, your watch SN has 7 of the 8 correct digits to be an Ultraman, and if the second zero is actually a 6, then you win. From the fuzzy photo of the movement the second digit does not look like a zero, so you should definitely get a better look.
 
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for me is ok from the start, impossible if you father wasn't in the watches business and how the watch from many many years hi changed the Orange Hand ......is a genuine Ultraman , congratulations
 
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I must say that it's refreshing to see that two weeks after the original post, the OP is still trying to nail down the serial number. OK, yes ... it's a bit frustrating, but I much prefer it to some other threads where the watch would have been sold by now.

There's no rush ... take your time, gather information, and proceed carefully.
 
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Ok thanks, my original picture is not good enough. Ordering a loupe then.
Does your camera have a macro setting? If it is a Canon or a Nikon its the tulip symbol, or the word Macro. If you set your camera to that settings it will understand that you are trying to take a pic of something up close and adjust settings accordingly. You can also put the serial number in the center of the frame, and the camera will try to focus on that area, Also if you can shine more light on the movement that can help improve the quality of the picture, a led flashlight would work. You may have to adjust the angle of the light to reduce the glare or cover it with a piece of white tissue paper to even the light across the movement.
 
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Such technology isn't necessarily necessary.

When I asked for the serial number, my watch-maker pointed proudly at the case back.
I squinted at the movement and asked if the 5mm squiggly-looking round thing was a serial, but he said he doubted it,
and that it was unreadable even with a loupe.

OTOH......
NOT unreadable with a 5yr old cellphone camera....
 
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a bit off-topic but i'm still having trouble focusing and zooming with an iPhone 7. is there an easy (not too many steps) way for a moron like me with zero photography talents to take better pics and close-ups with my phone? I would love to post more pics in threads but they all come out embarrassingly bad 😀