I’m working on finding an early 1985 Speedmaster. Right now there are two that might be a good fit on eBay and I’m curious which you would choose and why. This one looks good overall but the lume looks too good for a 33 year old watch. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/142554366819 This one has what to my eyes looks like a beautifully aged dial but I’m curious about the blue on the medallion on the case back. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/192353736080
Why do you want an early 1985? How are these dated to 85? First has bad pictures. The Blue appears to be the material they left the factory with.
I'll go with the first one because of the price . The second one has more professional pictures but I think both watches are great and similar as condition.
I’d want natural light on the first. Everything’s too white on it. It’s a T dial but... As for year... getting an exact year will require warranty paperwork which tells you when it was sold. Or the serial which tells you when it left the factory. Ilovemyspeedmaster.com can give you a ballpark delivery date aka when it left the factory. But minus an extract from the Omega archives it’s going to be hard to know exactly. Online serial number charts are not exact. An 85 will have a DNN bezel with no accent in Tachymeter. And a short “r” in Speedmaster that does not drop below the rest of the text or just barely. This went from 145.022-76 produced @8/77 to about 1988. The inner case back I believe on an 85 should say 145.0022 and that appears post 1980. The movement should be a 17 jewel movement marked 17 jewels. The 18th shows up around 88? And gets the updated bridge stating 18 jewels about a year or so later.
Search watchuseek for first one, it's listed for sale at $2999. I looked at purchasing but decided to pass. It's correct but I felt at $3k I could do better. But if you're specifically looking for birth year, you have limited options. The other one is way priced too high, so I did not even look to see if correct.
Thanks for the input & suggestions. I’ve been talking with the seller of the first Speedmaster to verify the movement number.
