Stas

Speedmaster is the watch that started all that sweet collecting insanity for me. This is my second one, which replaced the very first one. And I can’t see myself selling it.
My first good watch, in fact my first mechanical watch after a decade of horological abstinence, was a mint Speedmaster Pro 3570.50 full set from 2013. I was seriously thinking it will be my one and only watch. And well, it was true for a month or so. But then came a diver (for practical reasons) and some vintage dress Omega. But Speedy still remained the cornerstone of my small collection.
With the time my tastes evolved and I started appreciating vintage watches for their character and mojo. I started to realise that the ice cold and lifeless superluminova dial of my Speedmaster doesn’t speak to me that much anymore. I started the long quest for an older tritium model. This is by no means a rare watch, but I was looking for the piece in a right condition. It was a long hunt!
Two years ago, just one week before my birthday, I saw this watch and I knew it was the right one. It came in a full set, was obviously more worn than my Speedy, more expensive, but also untouched and with much more character. It smiled at me with the warm patina. It came from a big Speedmaster collector, who needed to make some space for an incoming rare piece. In fact, it was also his first neo-vintage Speedy, which he purchased a long time ago to replace his first modern one.
This watch became a meaningful piece to me. It is still the same model I choose at the very beginning to be my one and only. And this is a timepiece I really admire now, after a few years of my collecting journey. It’s so cliche to say, but it makes me smile every time I look at it. And I like to wear it on a caramel leather strap which complements cream plots on the dial. I have purchased and sold many watches since then, but this one stays with me. It was a good find, which reminds me of my early days of collecting and connects me to its previous owner story, which I continue now.