So I must have been pretty struck with the dreaded Watch Acquisition Syndrome when I started looking for a slightly earlier variant, the last Speedmaster variant to carry the column-wheel cal.321, the ST145.012.
ST145.012s from 1967 are fairly common, but I wanted the considerably less common variant, the ST145.012-68...these were literally the last c.321 Speedmasters, produced in late 1968 or so, before they transited to the cheaper to manufacture c.861 ST 145.022.
So I found this one on Fleabay - it's condition looked so-so - dial looked original but with the lume 'washed' off, hands likely service replacements, wrong DN90 bezel - under normal circumstances I would have walked away (and the experts at Omega Forum all seemed to agree), but it had one redeeming feature that I found irresistible - it came with Omega Archive papers stating the production date to be 11 Nov 1968. This meant that this watch was produced 'in the factory' at about the same time (give or take a few days) as yours truly!
When the watch arrived, it did appeal to me more than my previous cal.861 Speedy, but I wasn't satisfied with the 'washed' lume on the dial, so I promptly shipped it back to the UK to the master James Hyman to have the dial relumed - now I hear all the purists letting out a collective scream: "DO NOT RELUME YOUR VINTAGE WATCH!!!!" I do know perfectly well that it will adversely affect it's resale value, but since I had no intention of selling it on, I felt no compelling reason why I shouldn't do whatever I wanted with it! =P
When I got it back from James it was much much better - but it was still not perfect - everytime I looked at it, the incorrect DN90 bezel bothered me immensely.
Trying to find a correct 'Dot Over 90' bezel is not impossible, but they were all super expensively overpriced.
Then I found one that was faded - extremely faded - in fact, faded enough to be termed a 'ghost' bezel.
There tends to be 2 distinct camps when it comes to ghost bezels, you either love it or hate it.
I, for one, love the 'I've had an honest, hard life' ghost bezel look - for sure a nicely faded ghost bezel is way more attractive to my eyes, than say, the flaked bezel of my previous c.861 Speedmaster 145.022-69 - so I took a gamble, emptied the wallet, bit the bullet, and bought the ghost bezel!
And while I was at it, I bought a correct, earlier 'pointy base' chrono hand to replace the later 'flat base' chrono hand of mine.
So when I finally put it all together....I was greatly relieved - my Speedy now looked pretty darn perfect!
It's by no means all original, but who cares!
It's mine, it ain't going anywhere, and it looks absolutely lovely (albeit in a Franken kinda way)!!!
One of my greatest watch dilemmas - what's the most iconic vintage diving watch?
The Seamaster 300? Or the Submariner?
My choice is perpetually evolving - one day the Sub might prevail, another day the preference may edge towards the SM300.
Submariners are literally a dime a dozen (well, not quite, but I'm sure you know what I mean), so I decided to hunt for a rather famous variant of the Seamaster 300, the 'Big Triangle ' variant of the ST166.024 - first released in 1967.
Now these SM300s are frequently faked, so potential buyers will do well to exercise some careful due diligence - there's many online resources to help you sieve out all junk - this blog post by Arne Rasmussen is particularly comprehensive.
Also, as these were often actually used for their intended purpose (ie. diving), rather than the Submariner which were often more treasured and pampered, many of these vintage SM300s show evidence of having lived a hard life, fully exposed to the elements.
This ad showed up one afternoon just as I was heading off to work...coincidentally, it was a local sale, and I even knew the seller! Problem is - I really really had to leave for work, and I knew that if I hesitated, it would likely be gone in the next couple of minutes.
So I frantically contacted the seller, and thankfully he was nice enough to agree to hold it for me for a couple of hours. By the time I managed to find a few minutes away from work to get back to him, he had been inundated by an avalanche of offers, but to his credit, he held firm - he had given me a verbal promise, and he steadfastly kept to his word - what a gent!
So after cross checking a few minor details, the deal was done - thank you Jack!
This Big Triangle was by no means perfect, it did show it's age, and it most likely had a service (but all correct - down to the little dot on the Big Triangle and the 6 o'clock lume markers) dial; but it was honest, reasonably priced, and had a serial number dating to 1969 - the way I like my watches - wooohoooo!
In the flesh, it is indeed a handsome watch - tough, professional looking, without being excessively chunky or overbuilt.
I am very much a bracelet guy, but I found that I definitely preferred this watch on a leather strap.
What I couldn't accept, however, was the mismatch between the lume of the hands and the dial, but this was nothing that a quick visit to the renowned James Hyman couldn't fix!
So after the hands were relumed to match the dial - it's all much better - still not perfect mind you - I would prefer the lume and dial to show more patina, but no worries - that will develop over time! =)
Anyways, let's not waste time cos I got a bunch of new watch acquisitions to plough though!!!
So although I love the historical achievement of the Seiko 6139 as possibly the first commercially available automatic chronograph, I intensely dislike the fact that I cannot wind the watch, and that I had to wear it on a daily basis to keep it wound.
I suppose it could have been Seiko's sly trick to 'force' the owners of these watches to constantly wear them, but hey, I'm a watch collector, damnit, and I've got more than one watch to wear!!!
So that got me looking at the Seiko 6138, a movement that came towards the end of 1969, a few months after the introduction of the 6139, but with one crucial feature (well, two, to be precise - it's also got 2 subdials instead of the solitary dial of the 6139) that sets it apart from the 6139 - the ability to wind the watch!
One of the earliest (and most popular) models of the vast 6138 lineup (See Jasui's awesome collection above) is the 'Yachtman', or 'UFO' as it is more widely known in the watch world.
These UFOs are not uncommon - a search on Ebay will reveal a million pieces - but most of these are for the international market - they're just simply labelled 'Seiko Automatic Chronograph'.
Since I like to keep things difficult for myself, and of course to keep within my collecting theme, I chose to hunt for the rarer JDM 'Seiko 5 Sports Speed-Timer', 'Proof' dial, 'Proof' caseback version.
When I was looking for 6139s, I used to come across these periodically, but had stupidly ignored them.
Then when I finally began hunting for them, they were nowhere to be found.
So this was the first one that showed up after some months - I hastily bought it despite the fact that it had the 'fatter' or 'blunt' arrow hands. Though correct, I preferred the variant with 'narrower' or 'pointy' arrow hands.
When it arrived, I had to replace the badly scratched crystal and the bracelet that was in terrible condition, but the rest of the watch was fine - the dial was in particularly good condition, and overall, this UFO from Oct 1970 was a wonderful watch - bright, colourful, and had great wrist presence!
So as with these things - the moment you give up and settle for a piece that is almost, but not quite perfect, a better piece will immediately show up.
Usually I wouldn't bite the bullet the second time, but I had to for this second one that came by, cos not only did it have the nicer and narrower arrow hands, but it also had the original Seiko 5 Speed-Timer bracelet, AND it was earlier - dating to March 1970 to be precise - and it had the necessary patina on the dial to proof it!
When it arrived, it had a unpolished case, which was a nice bonus, but internally it was a total train wreak - not only was it not functioning, it couldn't even be wound - the movement was all gummed up with gunk and other unmentionables!
But these 6138 movements did not earn a stellar reputation for being reliable work-horses for nothing - after a stint at my watchmaker, this little baby came back all cleaned up and ready to party with his younger twin and his 6139 cousins!!
And make no mistake - these are all JDM Proof Proof Seiko 5 Speed-Timers!
Addendum 8 July 2016:
So I unexpectedly came across another nice JDM Proof dial Proof back UFO recently, but what particularly piqued my interest is that it dated from Feb 1970 (one month earlier than my existing UFO), making it one of the earliest known Seiko 6138-0010s around! *** If anyone knows of any UFO/Yachtman dating to Jan 1970 or earlier, please contact me - I would be very interested to hear from you! ***
As an added bonus, it had a cleaner dial than mine, with the silver subdial free of the blemishes that mine had, plus it had been recently serviced and thus was good to go the moment it showed up - no visit to the watchmaker necessary....woohoo!!!!
In the flesh, these guys are dope with a capital D!!! Big, chunky, full of character and wrist presence. If you haven't tried one on your wrist, you owe it to yourself to do so!
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? =)
I purchased this watch in early 2014, but it took ELEVEN months (and FOUR watch makers no less!) to pry the watch open for a complete servicing.
I had always wanted a proper, rugged vintage dive watch, but didn't appreciate the clunky look of the king of all vintage dive watches, the Ploprof 600m, so I'd been eyeing it's cousin, the Seamaster Professional 1000m 'Grand' with the left sided 'destro' crown, for some time.
These SMP1000s are exceedingly rare - this post suggests that only 150 pieces were originally made. Fifty were ordered by Prince Rainier III of Monaco (he apparently gave the very first one made personally to Jacque Cousteau!), with Omega manufacturing another 100 pieces for public sale.
Omega must have made a larger batch of these cases, cos in recent years, someone must have found a stash of these NOS cases, resulting in a trickle of pristinely NOS SMP1000s making their way to Ebay and various other online sites, thus diluting the value of the rare originals.
So this one's provenance is dicey - it comes from a known seller of these NOS, presumably reassembled, 166.093s, but this one was unusual in that it had an a worn early variant bezel (with the numbers going very close the the edge of the bezel), worn early variant dial (with a second, inner circle of 5 minute markers - absent in the later dial variant) in fairly good condition, in a newer case with the sunburst finish (rather than the original radial brushed finish) - see this discussion of early vs. new 166.093s.
The movement is the earlier cal.1002, and the serial number 3311xxx suggest a production date of 1971.
This tallies with the Vintage Omega Database and this post by Steve Waddington - the 166.093 seems to be first released in 1971/2 with the cal.1002 movement, and only in 1973 did it feature the newer cal.1012 movement.
So what I have is a 166.093 with the earlier cal.1002 movement, worn earlier dial, worn bezel, with possibly new hands and case.
If someone was reassembling this watch from parts, surely it'd make more sense to fit in the newer cal.1012 movement and a new dial and bezel, which leads me to cautiously suspect that I may have ownership of one of the original SMP1000m 166.093s, which somewhere along the way received a replacement case and hands, perhaps as part of a service, but even then, could the dial on mine possibly be in such good condition after so many years?
See this wonderful Nov 2014 review of an original SMP1000m and note how badly the dial has corroded over time - in contrast, mine is pristine! =(
I want the dial on mine to be in a poorer condition, dammit!!!
In any case (pun intended), it doesn't really matter - original or reassembled, this one's mine now and it ain't goin' nowhere!
In the flesh, it is a stunning watch - heavy, rugged and manly. I didn't like the Isofrane strap that came with it, nor the period correct mesh bracelet, so I fitted on it a waterproof leather strap - sacrilegious you may say, but hey, I'm never going to go diving with it!
Having said that, it certainly looks professional enough to go down to 1000m underwater (400m more than the Ploprof 600, and five times deeper than the Submariner, if I may casually add!), yet looks far less clunky than the Ploprof, and it sure as hell is a shitload less common than the dime-a-dozen Submariner! =P
*Update* I've since swopped out the waterproof leather strap for a chunky generic brushed SS bracelet that completes the hefty, macho tool watch 'look' better!
**Update #2** Although I liked the chunky generic bracelet quite a bit, it always bugged me that it was not an original Omega bracelet. So since I very much liked the Omega 1159 bracelet as seen in the flightmaster and Speedmaster MkIII, I thought...why not one of these on the Grand?
So after a long search, I finally found an over-polished one.
Does it work on the SMP1000m?
Well....it's still not perfect, but it does give it a slightly sporty edge!
Have a look at these 'wet' pics and decide for yourself!
Read this intriguing NPR challenge recently - what are the 6 songs in your life?
Six songs? Surely that's impossible! Coming up with a 60 song triple LP anthology would probably be easier than a paltry 6 song list, but then, therein lies the challenge, and who am I to turn down a challenge like that?
Easy choice, this one - for all of the 80s, this was my favourite tune from my favourite band of my favourite genre, the genre that was all the rage when I first started listening to pop music - British New Wave!
Ok ok, this was before I discovered there were countless other more significant music that existed - 60s rock, Beatles, Dylan, blues, hard bop jazz....
Heck, even in 1983 itself, there was a shitload of other great music being created and released....REM's seminal Murmur, Stevie Ray Vaughn's debut Texas Flood, even Michael Jackson's Thriller....but back then, Depeche Mode and Yazoo was all that mattered in my universe.
To me, this is the epitomy of the perfect pop tune - crazily catchy, with just that bit of edge to keep it from being candy fluff. This song just edges out DM's other great hit from the early 80's, Just Can't Get Enough (*warning* very very lame video), and Yazoo's greatest dance tune, Don't Go, from their brilliant 1982 debut Upstairs At Eric's.
Yes, the video's pretty lame by today's standards, but then, so is most of 80's British New Wave!
Always loved Dave Gahan's dancing, though...
Another easy choice - this is my go-to moppy, just-got-dumped, love-sick, self-pitying torch song, and trust me, back in the early 90s when I first fell in love with this song, there was ample opportunity for me to put this track on repeat play.
Could you be my little movie star? Could you be my long lost girl?
The parent album, Girlfriend, was an overall excellent album (it's been described as a modern day Revolver - there can hardly be any higher praise than that!), and for me, this was easily the highlight tune. The accompanying pedal steel guitar (on the original track) by the great Greg Leisz is to die for.
This edges out countless other moppy love songs that I've fallen for over the years....Everything But The Girl's Shadow On A Harvest Moon from their excellent 1988 album Idlewild, and Yazoo's greatest (only?) love song, Only You, again from Upstairs At Eric's, are just two that come to mind.
3. Idiot Wind - Bob Dylan (1976)
Being a fervent lifelong Bob Dylan fan, I have often-times found solace and refuge in many of his songs (even as I struggle to understand his often very oblique lyrics) such as Desolation Row, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, Changing Of The Guards etc (*warning* if you've never heard Dylan live in concert, well.....let's just say.....you have been warned), but Idiot Wind will always remain the one that strikes the deepest emotional chord in me.
In many ways, this is the 'Yang' to Winona's 'Yin' - Idiot Wind is my go-to bitter-as-hell, I-hate-you-go-fuck-yourself, breakup song, and yes, no surprises here, there too has been ample opportunity in my life for this song to feature prominently!
Written to describe his crumbling relationship with his then wife Sara (Jakob's mother), what's most intriguing is that there are 2 distinctly different versions of this song.
The one that appears on Dylan's classic 1975 Blood On The Tracks, is a faster, angry version (see above). On the 1991 Bootleg Series boxset lies another version, a slower, more wistful, rendition. Apparently, it's the slower Bootleg Series version that was the original recording, but it was somehow deemed not a good fit to be the closing track of Blood On The Tracks, and thus the song was re-recorded in a radically different way for the album.
Having heard the Bootleg Series version first, I've always preferred it, but the Blood On The Tracks version is no slouch either, and is a definite grower.
Slower poignant version or faster angry version, there's no mistaking the underlying theme of hatred and bitterness. In the vast canon of pop/rock music, one seldom hears lyrics as hateful and vile as this - I can only imagine the visceral pain and emotional torture Dylan was going through then.
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies One day you’ll be in the ditch, flies buzzin’ around your eyes Blood on your saddle
Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb Blowing through the curtains in your room Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth You’re an idiot, babe It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles (1968)
This was a difficult choice..not so much about having a Beatles song in the shortlist - that's easy - there will always be a Beatles tune in my life (pun intended). In fact, I could just have easily done a 'My Life In 6 Beatles Songs' shortlist, but the difficult decision was to chose the one Beatles song above all the rest of their excellent tunes.
For today, just shading it for me is their timeless rock classic While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Written by George Harrison, it famously features an uncredited guest guitarist - Harrison's best friend Eric Clapton played an excellent 'wailing' guitar solo here.
It beats out several other timeless rock classics that I love: Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing (also love the smokin' blues cover by Stevie Ray Vaughn), and Derek and The Dominos' tortured masterpiece, Layla (another song with a very strong link to both George Harrison and Eric Clapton).
Apart from the original version on The Beatles 'White' album, there exists a quiet acoustic version that can be found on their Anthology series. Also, on Youtube, you can find numerous live versions of this song, some featuring, and many others in tribute to, the late, great George Harrision.
The one I chose to embed above is an early version from the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.
What can I say about High and Dry, the lead single (and massive hit) from their 1995 sophomore album The Bends? Radiohead may have disowned this song (together with their earlier hit, Creep), but this is possibly my favourite song of all time, like ever!!!
I could put this on repeat all day and night and not tire of it. Deceptively simple with only 3 chords, this lyrically vague (about selling your soul?) rock anthem manages to sound sad yet strangely uplifting at the same time.
This is my go-to song when I feel down and need an emotional lift, or when I just need a cathartic blast of the hi-fi!
This edges out another sad yet uplifting favourite song of mine, Jeff Buckley's timeless, haunting cover of Lenard Cohen's Hallelujah, and U2's signature chestnut, One.
6. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) - Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
I've said it before, I'll state it unequivocally again here. There are lots of excellent female vocalists out there - Karen Carpenter, Theresa Teng, Billie Holiday - but for me, there will always, for all eternity, only be one queen of them all, Ella Fitzgerald.
I adore so many of her songs...Cry Me A River, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, but today, this whimsical Cole Porter tune just about edges it as my favourite....but ask me again tomorrow, and you'll likely get a different answer!
The version I embedded above (sorry, couldn't find a Vimeo!) is a later, raunchier, live version from 1966. Her 1956 original cover (a slower, more romantic, possibly definitive version) that appeared on the Cole Porter Songbook, is here.
I love this tune so much, I chose to walk down the aisle, at my wedding solemnization, hand in hand with my lovely wife Lena, to this song! 'Nuff said!
Just one post ago, I had solemnly and prematurely declared that I had completed my vintage watch collection.
So I lied - there was to be another vintage watch acquisition after all...who was I kidding but myself, right?
Sigh.....
Heuer Chronosport catalog 1969-70, courtesy of OnTheDash
This was a somewhat risky and potentially foolish Ebay punt - no movement shot, no serial number, not even a photo of the caseback.
But from the description and poorly focused photos, it looked and sounded like an early compressor case 2446c GMT with the wrong (later) hands, but with what appeared to be a real Gay Freres double grains of rice bracelet typically found on some late 60s manual wind Heuer chronographs - this is a gorgeous bracelet that I've been hankering for for some time.
The seller said his pilot grandfather bought the watch new in 1969 (actually, X'mas day 1968 - see last paragraph below), and that he even had the original unfilled service booklet and instruction manual!
(To learn more about the subtle yet crucial differences between 'early' and 'late' variants of the Heuer Autavia 2446c GMTs, this essay by Paul Gavin is essential reading).
Being a sucker for any vintage watch with a historical link to 1969, my birth year, I was naturally unable to resist a watch with such a provenance, so I made a tentative solitary bid before going to bed, and when I woke up in the morning, I had won the auction!
Original service booklet and instruction pamphlet
1st execution engraved caseback
So it arrived rather promptly on Christmas Eve, and here's the X'mas present I got - a 1st execution Autavia 2446c GMT with serial number 110353 (earlier than the range mentioned in Jeff Stein's OnTheDash Autavia Reference Table), a faded first execution bezel with the smaller knurling teeth, some marks on the crystal, a good condition dial with the earlier smaller sub-registers (the hour sub-register marked 'T') and even patina, plain pushers, first execution compressor caseback with engraved 'Heuer Autavia' faded but visible, original GF bracelet marked 1/68, later (likely service) hands, and the original unfilled Heuer service booklet and instruction pamphlet!
Heuer signed Valjoux.724 movement
The mandatory visit to the watchmaker left me even happier. He popped open the case to reveal a correct, and pristine, Heuer signed Valjoux 724 movement.
He even buffed the crystal, leaving me with an absolutely gorgeous 44 year old first-owner beauty!
What a wonderful way to end 2013, and to mark my becoming a daddy a second time round! =) 10 Nov 2014 Addendum:
What's wrong with me? So it turns out I was wrong about the service booklet being unfilled!
Serendipitously, I took it out this morning to have a look, and it is indeed filled, in pencil, and is very faded.
I can barely make out the date of purchase (12-25-68)(Not 1969!!! Damn!!!), and the name and street address of the original owner!
I email the Ebay seller to confirm - and within the hour, the Ebay seller's father emails me! The name on the service booklet is indeed the Ebay seller's grandfather, who was a WW2 US Navy pilot flying Catalina PBY torpedo bombers in the Atlantic and Pacific, then a US Air Force reserve pilot throughout the late '50s and '60s, flying a variety of transport aircraft in support of the Berlin airlift and other missions! He bought this Heuer as a Christmas present to himself in 1968 - apparently he had wanted 'the best available chronograph of the time'!
He retired from the US Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1984, and continued to wear this Heuer till his death in 1996, after which it sat in a drawer till the end of 2013, when his grandson put it up on Ebay.
So this watch was originally purchased on 25 Dec 1968, and I received this, from the original owner's grandson no less, on 24 Dec 2013 - that's 45 years later, less a day.
I don't know about you, but to me, that's a darn cool story.
This Autavia 2446cGMT is now not only a first owner 1968 Heuer, but a family heirloom, and I vow to treat it with the care and respect that it fully deserves!
