Omega Seamaster Cosmic 166.022 - my first birth year watch

Perhaps inspired by Kaister's birth in 2010, in these past couple of years, I've been increasingly interested in things from my own birth year, 1969.

It started with trying to look for a birth year acoustic guitar, but these are hard to come by, and when they do, they're either in terrible condition, or are hideously expensive, or both.

Thus my focus gradually shifted to birth year watches - these were easier - mechanical watches tend to last longer than wooden guitars, and they also tend to be produced in greater numbers.

But my knowledge of vintage watches was literally nil - heck, I didn't even know the difference between automatic and manual winding, so I had to start from scratch.

The internet was the obvious place to begin, and Ebay has always been a long-time friend.

From there, searching for 1969 wristwatches led me to a bunch of Rolexes and Omegas. Rolex I couldn't afford, but the prices of these old Omegas seemed reasonable. The Speedmaster 'moon watch' was an obvious choice, but there were many many variants, and unravelling them all seemed very complicated and daunting.

Then I spotted a little Seamaster Cosmic. This was of course a Seamaster from a pre-James Bond era, but it was unusually shaped, had a pretty dial seemingly 'different' from the others (more on that later), and in rather good condition.

Plus it's serial number suggested a 1969 production. It's impossible to be totally accurate with these serial numbers, but a search of this model ST166.022 on the Omega website suggested a production period spanning 1967-1970, which tallies.

The seller actually took the trouble to post up loads of high quality pictures, pretty good by Ebay standards, and was friendly and responsive to my questions. So after a bit of back and forth with the guy, I took the plunge and pulled the trigger...and within a week, the postman showed up at the door with my first vintage birth year watch!!! Woohoo!!!

Measuring 33.5 mm across, it was surprisingly small in the flesh (online photos of watches are often taken with a macro lens, so everything looks larger than life - Vintage Watch Collecting lesson #1), and the unusual dial in relatively good condition very probably meant it's a serviced or refinished dial (lesson #2), but hey, it's a pretty little thing, and it'll always have a little place in my heart as my first birth year watch from 1969....but was it to be my last?

Stay tuned.....