Published on January 9, 2025
Getty, Bob’s Watches, Bulang & Sons, Analog Shift
The Omega Speedmaster took the number one slot on Robb Report’s list of the 50 greatest watches of all time. That may seem odd for a monochromatic steel chronograph. Still, because the Speedmaster was the first watch to go to the Moon, it is the pinnacle emblem for the mid-century derring-do that so many collectors look for when choosing a vintage mechanical sports watch. Perhaps more importantly, the Speedmaster has become forever associated with NASA.
The Speedmaster wasn’t designed for pilots. Instead, as its name suggests, it was built for speeding along here on Earth in a car. It was the first chronograph to place its tachymeter scale on an outer bezel rather than on the edge of the dial inside the crystal. This improved driver legibility while creating the iconic look of technical chronograph tool watches that persist to this day (consider the Rolex Daytona, as well as various iterations of the Zenith El Primero and the Heuer Autavia).
When the Speedmaster went to the Moon on July 21st, 1969, a line in horological history was drawn. We now have what most call “pre-moon Speedmasters,” more broadly called “Moonwatches.” And while that demarcation is clear enough, the realm of Speedmasters is otherwise vast and hazy. As James Lamdin of Analog Shift tells Robb Report, “If there were a four-year college degree in vintage watches, an entire semester would be dedicated to the Speedmaster alone.”
To cut through the fog, we reached out to five experts and asked them, “What are the coolest, most tasty vintage Speedmasters to collect right now?” We wanted their passion to come through along with their expertise, and their answers reflect both.
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Eric Wind – Speedmaster Ref. 105.012.66 CB
Image Credit: Bulang & Sons Our friend at Wind Vintage, Eric Wind, immediately rattled off this reference number, and this is also the Speedmaster he owns and wears. Wind tells Robb Report that it is an “oddball variation” because the case is not made by Omega’s main supplier at the time Huguenin & Frères but by Fabrique de Boites La Centrale (or Central Case Maker in English), a firm Omega is rumored to have hired when there some fussing over technical drawings caused a delay with Huguenin.
While this oddball case makes the watch rarer, it also changes how it looks. As Wind told us, it “has a wider lug and twisted 3D presence with the additional angle.” Wind didn’t know about the different case, but when he bought his personal 105.012.66 CB from the grandson of a Greek pilot, who was the original owner, Wind dug in and researched it.
The CB designation is for Central Boites, a short-hand for Fabrique de Boites La Centrale, and finding one of these examples will require a keen eye. The key is to look for those slightly larger lugs with the extra bevel.
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James Lamdin – Pre-Moon Speedmaster Ref. 2915.1
Image Credit: Analog Shift The neo-vintage references that most consider “exotics” are excellent Speedmasters to collect, including the Tin-Tin, the Snoopy, and the Racing versions, according to James Lamdbin, founder of Analog Shift. But instead, he points to early references, especially the 2915.1.
“The first five to seven years of the Speedmaster,” Lamdin says, are “properly significant.” This is before the moon landing, and Lamdin believes such pre-moon Speedmasters are undervalued at the moment. He feels that’s a shame, not so much because of the dip in monetary value but in general regard for the reference. He points to the high-profile controversies that have come up around vintage Speedmasters in recent years, including one that sold for $3.4 million with subsequent accusations of having been faked by former Omega employees. “This really hurt the market” for the 2915.1, Lamdin says, because it “undermined consumer confidence.”
The 2915.1 is the very first Speedmaster, produced only from 1957 to ’59. Lamdin thinks it’s wise to be careful when sourcing a 2915.1 because the previous high-water pricing around the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing in 2019 found many people piecing together full examples from parts. These problem children of devious sellers are known as Frankenwatches, and that’s exactly what got Omega and Phillips into hot water. But if you can find an honest example, you’ll own a significant piece of horological history.
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Jose Vega – Speedmaster Ref. 145.022
Image Credit: Bob’s Watches Jose Vega is a watchmaker and avid collector currently working at Shreve Crump & Low in Greenwich, Connecticut, and he thinks the sweet spot for vintage Speedmasters is with the Ref. 145.022 because they’re “easy to find and affordable,” he tells Robb Report. Vega also stresses that these watches are “vintage but also modern enough to wear, if you want a Speedy you can beat to shit.” He adds that a “pre-moon [Speedmaster] could be a little scary to wear around.” Given their value, his point is well taken.
These models debuted in 1969, the year of the Moon landing, but were not the models that went into space first. The biggest difference between an earlier pre-moon Speedmaster and these second-generation 145.022s is the movement.
Vega acknowledges the Caliber 321 found in earlier models is “ideally better because there’s a nicer feel to the click and [the movement] carries more prestige.” The nicer click he mentions comes down to the column wheel actuator of the chronograph function. However, the Speedmaster he’s recommending uses the later caliber 861, which employs a cam actuator; collectors will debate the differences ad infinitum, but in actual use it’s an insignificant detail.
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Blake Buettner – Speedmaster Ref. 145.022-69 with “220 Misprint” Bezel
Image Credit: The Hairspring A regular contributor to Robb Report, Buettner’s knowledge of vintage watches is vast, and he’s one of those folks who can rattle off a lengthy reference number. That’s just what he did when we asked him for his take on the Speedmaster, and the 145.022-69 he references is rare for the marking on the tachymeter scale reading “220” instead of “200.”
Buettner notes that very few were made with that misprint, so it’s rare, but this is otherwise the same watch Vega recommends above, which Omega made in abundance for years. Because most people don’t know—or possibly don’t care—about the 220 misprint, they’re not super expensive. He says, “If it were a Rollie it’d be worth hundreds of thousands.”
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Greg Bedrosian Speedmaster Ref. 145.022 Pre-Moon
Image Credit: Bulang & Sons Greg Bedrosian is a collector who has an obsession with the history of NASA and also with the history of the Speedmaster. He recommends essentially the same Speedmaster as Vega and Buettner, but he points to the pre-moon models of 1969, which were transitional models.
The big difference, and how you can tell you’re looking at a pre-moon 145-022, is the standard Omega hippocampus-logo caseback which Bedrosian says “is reminiscent of the much more expensive straight-lug predecessor [reference 2915].” After the Moon landing, Omega quickly changed the caseback to one that mentions the accomplishment. Bedrosian says, “Since the reference predated the lunar landing, there is no marketing associated with the moon landing, making it feel more authentic to the actual thing [that did go to the moon].”
Authors
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Allen Farmelo
Credit: robbreport.com
