I had once owned a Jan 1970 cal.861 pre-moon Speedmaster ST145.022, but traded it off because I didn't quite bond with it, and since then I've always wondered that my vintage watch collection could never be considered 'legit' without a Speedmaster, especially after acquiring a 1969 flightmaster 910 and a 1971/2 Seamaster 1000m 'Grand'.
But I didn't quite appreciate the severe black dial of the original 'Mk1' Speedmaster ST145.022, and while the Speedmaster MkII is indeed a 1969 watch, again, I never quite liked the tonneau shaped case of the ST145.014.
Next came the Speedmaster MkIII, but I had always assumed that being so tall, it was impractical and unwearable.
Till I saw and wore one in the flesh, in the famous Bangkok vintage watch shop 'Because I Like It', no less!
On my wrist, it was indeed tall - it'll never fit under a cuffed shirt, for example - but it oozed vintage class and 'space edge' charm, and the iridescent blue dial was just so alluring, so since I don't wear too many cuffed shirts anyways, I decided I had to get one for myself!
And why not? The Speedmaster MkIII ST 176.002 is Omega's first automatic Speedmaster, which fits my collecting theme of 'first automatic chronographs of 1969/early 70s' just about perfectly.
Additionally, like my flightmaster 910 and the SMP1000m, it too had the chunky 'Pilot line' case (chronicled nicely here) - too bulky for many people, but it's a style that I had a soft spot for, not least because I do like 'em big on my wrist!
The MkIII is a confusing Omega oddity - they came in no less than 3 variants - the 'spacey', tall MkIIIa variant described here, a 'Seamaster' styled MkIIIb variant, and a square dialled 'Jedi' MkIIIc variant - all lovingly detailed here in Chuck Maddox's classic essay. Even the MkIIIa alone came in 2 different dial variants, in 3 colours each, and with 4 bezel options!
Of course, being me, I had to make things difficult for myself by wanting a MkIIIa with the earlier dial, without the 'Professional' text.
Most of these early 'non Professional' dials were black, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this dark metallic blue 'non Professional' variant from a Japanese site.
What's more, even though MkIIIa came in 4 bezel options, most other MkIIIs I've encountered had the Tachymetric bezel - this Japanese one was different because it had a Pulsations bezel - perfect for my line of work! =P
It was still a risky punt though - from the photos, the crystal was obviously badly scratched up, the case was worn, the bezel looked to be a different colour from the dial, and there was no service history, but it was not overpriced, and it did have that rare Omega 1159/155 bracelet.
Thankfully, when it arrived, the movement was clean and everything functioned perfectly.
A trip to the watchmaker to change the crystal, and it came back stunning - even the colour mismatched bezel could not distract from the brilliant, spotless, perfect Azure blue dial!
I'm a happy camper, I am!!!
So finally now, a 'legit' vintage watch collection? =)
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