Omega Speedmaster*** 145.022-69 Racing*** 1971

OUR ARCHIVE » Omega Speedmaster*** 145.022-69 Racing*** 1971

OMEGA Speedmaster 145.022 Racing 'Exotic' Dial, Apollo XI Case Back, circa 1971
Serial: 316XXXXX
Circa: 1971
Reference No.: 145.022

DIAL: Grey matte racing ‘exotic’ dial with orange markers, luminous trititum hour markers. Orange chronograph seconds & sub counter hands.

CASE: 42mm, stainless steel, steel with black bezel tachymeter, Straight writing Apollo XI engraved caseback

MOVEMENT: Calibre 861, hand-wound chronograph, 17 jewels

BRACELET: Stainless steel Omega bracelet Ref. 1039/516, dated 3-70

CONDITION REPORT: Excellent condition, the case is unpolished and sharp with some light wear and small scratches. Dial is in mint condition.

NOTES: In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Omega developed racing dials for the Speedmaster. The Speedmaster Mark II was officially retailed with a grey racing dial that had orange accents and the hands for chronograph functions in orange color. It is thought that the same was developed for the 145.022, but very few have actually been seen. These extremely rare racing dial moonwatch Speedmasters are unique in their appearance and this version was the inspiration for the Japan Racing Speedmaster limited production (2004 pcs) model 3570.40 made in 2004.
In addition, there is also an added logic to these racing dials as the Speedmaster was originally launched as a racer’s watch and came standard with a tachymeter.
There are three different casebacks associated with the reference 145.022-69. The first being the pre-moon style ‘Seahorse’ caseback, the ‘Straight Writing’ case back mentioning ‘Flight-Qualified by NASA For All Manned Space Missions’ around the straight writing ‘The First Watch Worn on the Moon’ and the last and rarest version has the same straight writing in the middle and OMEGA SPEEDMASTER – APOLLO XI 1969 in an arc around it. These were predominantly delivered in 1971 to USA and Japan.
This watch was delivered to Japan in 1971 according to the Omega Museum. A nice coincidence because the 2004 re-edition was made exclusively for the Japanese market.