Which 145.022 would you keep?

First, a bit of gratitude for this forum. I lurked around here for years becoming educated and completely smitten with vintage Omegas. Without this wonderful place, venturing into purchasing a vintage piece would’ve been much more difficult and risky. I love vintage Seikos too but there’s much less to lose with a bad decision and I’ve made lots of bad decisions.

I finally took the plunge into a 145.022-69 a few months ago and haven’t worn anything else since. For me, this was an ideal watch since the stepped dial is what catches my eye and anything older is above my price point. This one has a 2911xx serial and you’ll notice from this first picture that the bezel is incorrect, which I knew going in. I found the dial attractive and the rest of the watch to be in honest condition. Some photos in different light for fun.



You would think I’d be satisfied at this point, but scouring ebay, other forums, estate sales, and pawn shops continued anyway. Then about a month ago I found this at a pawn shop:



This has a serial of 3220XX so the DON bezel is wrong for this watch I believe based on reading this forum, speedmaster101, and other places. Although the serial falls into a straight writing caseback for a -69, this does not have a SW caseback. The bigger problem at the moment of discovery however was answering the question “didn’t you just buy one of those?” from the wife. I would like to say that I handled it deftly, but that would be a lie. I did however come home with what I believed to be a diamond in the rough. This is likely a 145.022-71. It came with a very nice -69 caseback with the hippocampus, but it’s probably incorrect given the serial number.

So now the plan was to take both Speedmasters to my watchmaker so the -71 could have a bit of a spa treatment (new crystal, thorough cleaning, and service) and swap bezels between the two watches to make them “correct” (I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stuff like that. It took me 5 years to rebuild a 1966 Corvette motor due to needing “correct” parts). One of my close friends who became as infatuated with watches as me many years ago wanted one of these so I knew I had a good place to land the -71 going into the process. Here’s the final results:



Now the dilemma. Which one to keep? The -69 has the DON and is incredibly well preserved. The lume is not rotting, it’s overall a beauty. The -71 has a bit more character in that the patina is very pleasing in person (my pictures are not great). I’m leaning towards the -69 but interested in hearing what others would do.

Again, many thanks to this forum. It’s my first stop most days.

Mike

I would keep both but that's probably not so interesting as I get the feeling you're thinking the same already 😁

Both are lovely, so tough call. My feeling is there are far more 69s around than 71s. In retrospect just about every 145.022 that has been sold, say in the last year, is a 69 (just my gut from noticing past sales, as well as 71s being made in the time the quartz crisis was in full swing). But maybe you like the premoon caseback more...

Personally, I'd keep the one that I was more comfortable wearing on a daily basis/not super worried about every little scratch/scuff.

I would keep them both, as they are increasing in value all the time. My one is a 29M serial number with a DON bezel and straight writing caseback. The bezel is incorrect for the watch, but the dilemma is would you change it or just leave it as it is?

i'm sorry did you say something? I was too busy gawking at that gorgeous astronaut.

Dibs on the one u get rid of

Wouldn’t that DON be correct for your watch and the caseback be incorrect? I think my -71 has your Speedy’s caseback and your -69 has my -71’s! Love that Astronaut too!


The problem is that I’d wear either daily and currently am!

Indeed I did, is it good to keep these parts for posterity?

Like you I have two very similar Speedmasters, both 71T's, one serial is from around mid 71 while the other is early 74, the early one has lovely lume but chipped paint on the hands and wrong bezel while the later one is all correct, close to my birth date and lume is a green tone.

I told myself I would sell the early one once back from indie service but it just looks so bloody good on a black Nato with that lume, also if they are a good investment then why sell, perhaps we should just enjoy them and cash in when needed.

You have a lovely pair of watches there, how good a deal was the pawnshop watch?

Later 71T


Early 71T

Love your watches, thanks for sharing!

The pawnshop watch was $4100 USD (no tax) after a bit of haggling. I saw that bezel and it was a no brainer, the shop didn’t know what they had. I suspected that under the scratched crystal there was something good.

Great point about enjoying them until cash is needed. I was also thinking that one day my 2 boys might want to inherit them, the 19 year old is starting to have interest, the 17 year old not so much.


Many thanks Dan, I did put an authentic crystal on it. Got in the weeds on how that Omega symptom should be oriented though.

The -69 and its DON speak more to me. If forced to choose, I’d keep that one. I think the case condition is a bit better as well- those bevels still look sharp and clean from what I can see. And in my mind, it being an earlier pre-moon speedy further confirms the decision. I think the magic of the July 1969 lunar landing is “baked into” this watch a bit more.

With that said, the -71 is a gem from the perspective of the dial, bezel and hands. If you don’t have too much into it cost wise from the pawnshop purchase, it could be another nice keeper just from the story of how you got it alone. Keep an eye out for the correct caseback, and I believe you’d then have another accurate watch, which would be in keeping with your eye toward correct date coded parts- be they automotive or horological.

They are both quite nice. Quite nice is getting very hard to find n the early 861 Speedmasters.

Ask a bunch of collectors, go ahead. Ask ‘em. What could their consensus possibly be?

Keep both, obviously.

Barring, of course, the possibility of bootstrapping upwards.

Upwards, ever upwards.

+1 for both.

This might be the ticket...I've got a couple of bracelets I haven't tried yet.