Omega

flightmaster71
136

• Show profile
• Show other posts

If I can add a little bit to this discussion...

Hi all, I too had been looking at this cal. 321 Speedy for sale and must say I'm surprised that more here are not familiar with the ledgend of this reference of red handed Speedmaster. So let me begin by saying none of the "evidence" I'm about to produce is definative, however if definative evidence existed then the fun would be taken out of the detective work of our hobby. All I will assert is that the rumor of the red handed Speedmaster variant has been linked with 1967 and the Japan market for some time.

First point is that Charles Tearle, the ex-Bonhams now Antiquorum watch auctioneer and TV's Antiques Roadshow resident US watch expert was interviewed in the April 2010 issue of WatchTime. In the text the article reads "Among his everyday watches is a Rolex Submariner given to him by George Somlo, and he has recently been sporting a Rolex 6263 Daytona and a rear Omega Speedmaster model with an orange chronograph hand." There is a photo of Tearle inspecting some vintage watches and laying on the green table is a Speedmaster (top left cornere no strap) with the red chronograph hand.

Pleas excuse the dodgy photography but I will try and show this evidence below. The text here can be seen here:



The pic with all the watches:



A close up of the top left corner Speedmaster:



As I said, in and of itself, this not definative however if you are a fan of early anime, or pre-anime live action Japanese Sci-Fi then you will know of the special place the Speedmaster holds in the 1960's TV show Ultra Seven and Ultraman. If not Google "Speedmaster Ultraman" for a fantastic post over on Time Zone by member Action Dan. The following screen shot courtesy of Action Dan is from "The return of Ultraman" which screened April 1971 to March 1972 but was the continuation of the earlier shows from 67 and 69 so the costumes could have been drawn from anywhere in the period 67-71.



Clearly the red chronograph hand 321 in question can be seen in this pic. Now none of this proves the authenticity of the Speedmaster for sale inthe OP but it does in my mind prove that such a reference did exist in the late 60's.

I hope this is of some interest.

Regards,

Zac

Site Info.