Omega Speedmaster Ref. 145.012 SP 1968

OMEGA, SPEEDMASTER PROFESSIONAL, PRE MOON, REF. 145.012 SP

ICONEEK price: SOLD

Iconeek is proud to introduce here one of the most famous and  best chronograph in the world: The Speedmaster Professional, The present reference 145.012 is the very last Speedmaster to house the legendary caliber 321 and to have a center chronograph seconds hand with the distinctive, drop-shaped tail. Ref. ST145.012 was the successor to the Ref. ST105.012. Furthermore, It was the first reference of the Speedmaster line to bear the name « Professional », as the Speedmaster was the watch selected by the NASA (among other famous brand), without any modifications, for Apollo space missions.

Introduced in 1963, with reference ST105.012, the 42 mm. three-body case is asymmetric with « Lyre » lugs. The screwed-down case back is engraved with the Speedmaster logo. The heavy-duty case and thick crystal enables the Speedmaster to withstand underwater pressure to a depth of 200 feet. The present watch comes with a large water-resistant tonneau-shaped case, with brushed lyre lugs, a screwed case back engraved with the Speedmaster logo (Seahorse), a plexiglass crystal, an original DON ( dot over ninety) black bezel with tachymeter scale to 500 uph, two round chronograph buttons and winding crown, all protected by a « crown » guard.

Protected by a protection cap, the model is powered by a Lemania based, caliber 321, copper-colored, with 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance with timing screws, shock absorber, self-compensating blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator and column-wheel chronograph mechanism. Introduced in 1957, Omega caliber 321 movement was replaced by the caliber 861 with cam shaft chronograph at the end of 1968.

The original « close t » B2 type matte black stepped dial is fitted with painted luminous baton indexes,  an outer 1/5th seconds track, three subsidiary dials for the seconds (at 9), the 12-hour (at 6) and 30-minute (at 3) registers, luminous white baton hands. The dial is printed “Omega, Speedmaster, Professional”  and  “T Swiss Made T” and features the iconic applied polished steel Omega logo at 12. It is said that Omega switched from a raised metal logo to a simple stamped logo, mainly due to cost considerations. Dial, case and movement are signed. The size between the lugs is 20 mm. The present watch comes with a black Nato strap. The present watch is delivered with an Omega Extract of Archives, stating that this watch was produced on February 8, 1968 and delivered to Switzerland.

Trained eyes will notice that the present case back is fitted with the double bevel of Ref. 105012 and was re-engraved below with Ref. 145012SP,  as stating in the Extract from the Archives. Simply because, for the early Ref. 145012SP production, 105.012 case backs were re-used. Ref. 105.012 were produced till 1967 with the double bevel case backs. It is also interesting to notice that according to scholars movements with serial between 24.066.XXX and 26.554.XXX were used for Ref. 145.012-67 & Ref. 145.012-68. With movement number 24.067.700, one can concluded that the present watch belongs to the early first batch of the Ref. 145.012SP. The size between the lugs is 20 mm. Dial, case and movement are signed.

A pre-moon Speedy is always a nice addition to any collection.

Condition: 7.5/10, some signs of wear, scratches and small dents in places, otherwise in very fair overall condition for its age, movement in good overall condition, later original chronograph hands