Part of my grandfather's legacy (cal 321 Speedmaster Pro)

[MLRoach]

I'm mostly a lurker around here, but one of my friends is a regular contributor and prodded me to tell this story (and shot almost all these photos).

My grandfather was a product of the great depression. He was born in the US, moved to Germany during the 1930s during the Great Depression, and moved back to the United States after the outbreak of war with his family. His family had almost nothing, from what I understand leaving it behind to flee Germany.

A self made man, he put himself through college while holding down a full time job and raising my mother, my aunt, and my uncle. He started his own businesses, and traveled the world for them. He said he picked up this watch in Switzerland the week after the moon landing. From Chronomaddox.com, I believe this is a ST145.012, a caliber 321 Speedmaster.

Over the past few years, I've been flying to Boston (from San Francisco) every other or every third month for a weekend to get to know my grandfather as an adult, get to hear the stories he was too quiet to tell in front of many people. (He wasn't a quiet man with his opinions, but he never told old stories with a group.) He remained heavily involved in HAM radio and his community until the end. He was heavily into the details of everything he did and was engaged in a way that's sadly rare.

I've been wearing this in very heavy rotation since his memorial service, and today sent it to Nesbit's for service. The Hesalite is pretty heavily scratched, and I believe it wasn't regularly serviced before. If I turn the crown backwards with the crown out, the movement can stop and I'm noticing significantly diminished reserve when the chronograph is running. But all in all, she's a beauty for a 42-ish year old watch.

I can think of no better way to remember my grandfather than to wear his old watch, to look at it and think of him every day I wear the watch.

[Derek N]

Thanks for sharing such a great story. Being a Speedy fan, that is the kind of story that makes me appreciate my Speedmaster's even more. Your grandfather's watch looks like it was kept in great condition. You have a special watch with fond memories of your grandfather, wear it well in his memory.

By the way, welcome to the Omega forum!

[jbdan]

Yes welcome here and oh what a gem of a watch and story to accompany. I can also think of no better way to remember him. Awesome story thanks so much for sharing and enjoy your time @ WUS

[ssalb]

What a great story about your Grandfather. It's obvious that you cared a great deal about him. The watch is beautiful and now you have a great memento.

Oh by the way it's perfectly normal when your are setting the time on a Speedmaster Pro and apply a little back turn on the crown for the movement to stop. The current Speedmaster based on the cal 1861 movement does this as well. I can even get mine to run backwards occasionally. The first time I saw mine stop, I was a little concerned since it was brand new. With a little practice you can set the time exactly by holding the second hand at 60.

[OMEGAFORCE]

Thanks for sharing great story.
Enjoy your beautiful watch.

[2premo]

what a cool story for a cool watch
I have one of that model and they wear great
enjoy

[STEVIE]

A great story. Thanks for posting. The watch still looks great, did you have it serviced?

[Beau8]

Great story and an heirloom truly worth holding on to~Cheers!

[stening]

Great story and a great watch, thank you for sharing! Inherited watches are really something special. At the moment im wearing a tissot from 1970 from my father.

[ohmegah]

Very special. Treasure it, and his memory.

[yande]

I've a reduced Speedmaster at the moment, and it is stories like yours that validate my desires to upgrade to the Pro all that much sooner. My opinion is that you are a very fortunate man, with an incrediiby beautiful and practical legacy.
That is what draws me to Omega. This one watch (yours) has bridged the generations, and not only does it still work, still fashionable, but its heritage, its personal history, its story, still grows, on your wrist, as is it did on your grandfathers, and who knows, for generations to come. Incredible.
Thankyou for sharing and condensing into a few paragraphs, decades of stories, emotions and the like. Your mate was right. Thanks to the both of you.

[Watchdog]

Thanks for sharing your great story and beautiful time piece.

[Harpoonio]

What a wonderful story. You have a great watch there. On a forum where so many people cant seem to hold on to a watch for more than 5 minutes before "flipping" it, that tale was so refreshing. Your attachment to your grandfathers watch is just as it should be. Its a truly valued possession, not simply an object in a collection or, worse still, an "investment".
Youve made my day.

[Ruche]

Story! Thanks for sharing

[himmelblau]

A very moving story, thank you for sharing it with us, I wish you many years of good health to enjoy your Grandfathers watch.

Brian

[matlt]

Wonderful pictures to compliment a wonderful story. It is fortunate you got to know your grandfather better before his unfortunate passing. Someday when you pass that watch on to your children they will cherish it the same as you. I have a pocket watch my grandmother gave me that has been in the family since 1896 and it means a great deal to me too.

[ASRSPR]

Fantastic condition dot-over-90 bezel! I know that the later 145.012s had transitioned to the "fat" hands, but judging from the condition of the lume, the hands are non-tritium replacements? Hard to tell about the dial, but the markers seems a bit too white, though there does seem to be a bit of the expected deterioration. Perhaps a tritium applied logo service dial? Case is just in fantastic shape though - keep it away from doorknobs!

[MLRoach]

The watch still looks great, did you have it serviced?

I just shipped it out to Nesbit's - I'm going to do a full service, but no restoration. My friend suggested replacing the crystal.

Oh by the way it's perfectly normal when your are setting the time on a Speedmaster Pro and apply a little back turn on the crown for the movement to stop. The current Speedmaster based on the cal 1861 movement does this as well. I can even get mine to run backwards occasionally. The first time I saw mine stop, I was a little concerned since it was brand new. With a little practice you can set the time exactly by holding the second hand at 60.

That's reassuring! Thanks for the info. I knew some movements did this, but the first time it did it my heart stopped, especially since my ETA 6498 Archimede XLH does not.

Fantastic condition dot-over-90 bezel! I know that the later 145.012s had transitioned to the "fat" hands, but judging from the condition of the lume, the hands are non-tritium replacements? Hard to tell about the dial, but the markers seems a bit too white, though there does seem to be a bit of the expected deterioration.

You know a lot more than me about the evolution of the Speedmaster Pros - do you think I might be wrong with my assessment of it as a 145.012? My grandfather said that he'd replaced the bracelet, but it looks like the 145.012 bracelet I've seen elsewhere.

[ASRSPR]

I just shipped it out to Nesbit's - I'm going to do a full service, but no restoration. My friend suggested replacing the crystal.

Nesbit's is great. I live about 20 minutes' walk from them and have visited a few times in the past couple of years. My modern Speedmaster got the full treatment there and everything seemed very satisfactory.

However, I'd strongly emphasize to them that you want to keep all your original parts except for the crystal and caseback gasket (I presume that you'd want to swap those out). I think that as part of a typical servicing, they might change out the chrono pushers. I took my own pretty decent condition 145.012-67 to them to realign the bezel and they asked me if I wanted to swap out my "old" case for a new one.

[ASRSPR]

You know a lot more than me about the evolution of the Speedmaster Pros - do you think I might be wrong with my assessment of it as a 145.012? My grandfather said that he'd replaced the bracelet, but it looks like the 145.012 bracelet I've seen elsewhere.

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that. The applied logo is a clear indicator that it's at least a transitional 145.022 or earlier. The Cal. 321 means that it's not that, which puts us at 145.012. The year and place of purchase (1969, Switzerland) are good indicators that it's not a 105.012. None of the other case or dial details contradict the assessment (if you compare the alignment of the T SWISS MADE T text and index markers with Maddox's Dial Details page, you can further verify 145.012 vs 105.012). I'm pretty confident that you have the correct identification.

I just meant that, given the condition of the lume on the hands, that they are later replacements likely installed during servicing, as was commonly the case. The tritium used in the original hands typically deteriorate the luminous material over decades, so generally pre-moon speedmasters with original hands have brown or blackened lume. The shape of the chronograph second hand was also changed through the run of the 145.012 model, from "thin" hands to the straighter "fat" hands that yours has. However, given the relatively later date of purchase, it's certainly reasonable to imagine that even if the hands on your Speedmaster had been replaced at some later point, its original chrono second hand was of the same style.

Similar deterioration is generally evident on the index markers, but from what I've seen, it's often somewhat less severe. Yours look good enough that I thought that it may also have been a later service replacement, but may well be just in particularly good shape. One way to be sure that it's a later replacement is if it does not have the Ts around SWISS MADE, indicating that it's a modern (1990s and later) applied-logo service replacement without tritium. But of course the presence of the Ts will just mean original or an earlier replacement.

All of this is, of course, conjecture. I'm certainly not one of the forum's Speedmaster experts, who will be able to give a much better analysis.

For comparison, here is my 145.012. You can see the blackened lume and the different "thin" chrono second hand. I think my dial indices are in fairly good shape and the seller represented it to me as an original dial, but there's certainly clear evidence of deterioration.