A couple of weeks ago, I was informed that an old Speedmaster had been discovered in the shop of a retired watchmaker, somewhere in Belgium. The watch had been forgotten in a drawer for decades, a true « time capsule » ! Never restored, never polished, and fully original.
But when I opened the watch, I was surprised. Indeed, it has the reference 145022-74 and a step dial, however this type of dial was used till the 145022-71. I did some research and found out other -74’s with the same dial. I am pretty sure that these dials have not been replaced, because it’s not logical to replace a part with an older one during a service. Actually, it appears that some 74’s had been originally fitted with a step dial because some of these dials were still laying around in the manufacture at that time. Stock management was not the same as today…
Soon, the pictures of the watch after restoration…
