Here i have my pre-moon omega 321 cal, column wheel omega speedmaster, all the way from 1967.

CASE:

The watch has its original finish and hasn't been polished or brushed in its life, although this is noticeable as there are dents and dings present on the watch case, scattered all over the place, i would say its been worn quite a bit in its 46 years of life.

DIAL & HANDS:

The dial is original, with the original applied omega logo and original patina on the lume markers, however the second hand was changed the service before last, the hour and minute hands are not original as they're the right dimensions however the center of the hands are black like on an omega chronostop, meaning at some point the original owner decided to have the hands swapped, that said they do appear to have the correct patina to match the dial.

BEZEL:

The bezel insert isn't an original insert but an aftermarket insert, the original owner had lost the insert so i bought an after-market replacement, although a couple of weeks ago while on ebay i managed to find a beaten up original 1960's bezel insert which will come with the watch too.

MOVEMENT:

This is the rarer 321 omega column wheel movement, used in most pre-moon omegas (expcept for the transitionals' which used the standard 861)

Info from the omega website:

"Albert Piguet designed the OMEGA calibre 321 in 1946. He knew that he had created a rugged, precise chronograph movement but he could not have imagined how well travelled it would be – it equipped the Speedmasters approved by NASA for manned space flight.

Designer: Albert Piguet

Description: Launched in its standard version (27 CHRO C12) in 1942, it is, together with its successor the 861, the most famous of all OMEGA chronograph calibres. Using a traditional design with a column wheel, its performance has won over thousands of collectors.
The calibre 321’s robust components, produced with maximum precision, offered perfect interchangeability without modification, which was highly unusual at the time for such an instrument.

The reliability of the calibre is confirmed by the fact that it equipped the Speedmaster chronographs chosen by NASA for its first manned spaceflight missions. It was the also used for NASA’s first extra-vehicular activity in outer space, including on the Moon. Ultimately, more than 40,000 movements would be produced."

TIME KEEPING:

The movement was regularly serviced (not by omega) by a watchmaker based in London, I'm not sure who did the servicing, but there are alot of service marks on the inside of the case back, the last service was done about 3 years ago, so the movement would possibly benefit from a service in the next couple of years.

I have regulated the watch and time keeping is roughly as follows:

Putting the watch in my timegrapher shows that when face up the watch is gaining 2 seconds a day, when crown up it is loosening 4 seconds, and face down it is gaining 4 seconds. All in all not bad.

Amplitude is between 280 to 305 degrees

However there is a beat error of aprox 1.2 ms - not terrible for a vintage watch, but tolerance from a fair watch maker on a watch like this after service would be about .8ms to 1ms, i would be happier with it at .4ms but 1.2ms isn't drastically wrong.

SERIAL NUMBER AND AGE:

The serial number is "26076300" and the case number is "145012 - 67 SP" Both these marks correspond to the watch being made in 1967, this can only ever be a rough guide.

Price is £2250

Includes almost new black leather condor deployment strap with stainless steel buckle, original bezel and an omega travel case.

If you have any questions please ask.

Pictures:

(TO SEE A COMPLETE SET OF PICTURES PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW)
Omega Speedmaster 321 Photos by Doug_jim8 | Photobucket

http://s1195.photobucket.com/user/Doug_jim8/library/omega%20speedmaster%20321