Collector’s Story: My Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 Financed By The Spy Who Loved Me
We often receive great personal stories from our readers about their watches. Some of them stick with us for a long time, like this story submitted by Nick about his Speedmaster Mark 4.5 and its connection to the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. We published this article nearly 10 years ago, but in case you missed it, here’s the story again.
An Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 (though not the one in this story)
A stolen Moonwatch
Our reader Nick fell in love with Omega’s Speedmaster after he watched the 1969 Moon landing as a teenager in France. When he turned 21, he received a ’71 Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch as a birthday gift from his dad. Nick then found a job in the movie industry a couple of years later. In 1974, he was working on the set of Intimate Reflections. While this movie was, as Nick put it, “an infinitely forgettable film,” it did launch his career in the industry. However, someone stole his brand-new Nikon F2 camera and his Moonwatch from the set.
The Black Bag
Nick explains that he had to take his Speedmaster watch off while loading a new roll of film using a light-proof Black Bag. The Black Bag was an essential item for a “clapper loader” (second assistant camera/2nd AC). In it, one could transfer a new 400’/1,000′ roll of Eastmancolor film to and from a camera magazine (i.e., Panavision or Arriflex camera). The exposed film would be sent to the laboratories for processing into “the rushes/dailies,” which was the raw footage from a day of shooting. If there was no access to a studio darkroom, the Black Bag came in very handy.
However, the hand-access sleeves of the Black Bag were very restrictive, and as the film was highly sensitive to light, it was necessary to remove one’s watch, especially if it emitted powerful lume from the dial. That day, Nick didn’t have time to put the watch back on as he had to race back to the set to reload the camera. His watch was only unattended briefly but long enough. That’s all it takes!
Although his first Moonwatch now belongs to someone who doesn’t know he is wearing a stolen watch, Nick hopes the thief will toss and turn with guilt because it was very valuable to him. He doesn’t have the watch’s serial number; otherwise, we could send out a call to our readers to find it.
Nick was mortified to learn that the Moonwatch he received from his father wasn’t insured. At that moment, he couldn’t afford to buy another one.
The Spy Who Loved Me changed the game
In 1976, when Nick worked on the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, things changed for the better. It gave him the funds (although it was still a lot of money for a watch) to buy another Speedmaster. In 1977, Nick came across an Omega dealer in Tottenham, North London, and he suddenly noticed this beautiful Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 (with caliber 1045) sitting in the window. The Speedmaster Mark 4.5 reference 176.0012 blew him away. He convinced his new bride that he needed to buy this watch.
Nick has been wearing this Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 ever since. But he decided the watch deserved an overhaul when the chronograph function started to act up. As you know, this is not a cheap operation. When the watch was ready, though, he was amazed that it looked no different from the day he bought it in 1977.
Return of the Moonwatch
Eventually, Nick also bought an Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch that was similar to the original one he got from his dad. He loves both watches but decided to put the Speedmaster Mark 4.5 up for sale on eBay, including all original boxes and paperwork. Although I’ve tried to persuade him not to sell it, the watch will go if reaches the reserve price. As a Speedmaster nut, he wants to own the Holy Grail Speedmaster (like this one) with the same Lemania 5100-based movement as the Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 but with the typical Moonwatch design.
As we did a write-up on the Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 on several occasions (like this one), I won’t go into the technical details of the watch. The Mark series started with the Mark II in 1969 and ended with the Mark V (1984). The Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 is an unofficial name, as it’s officially “Speedmaster Automatic.” The Mark 4.5 nickname is due to the Mark IV shape of the watch and the Lemania 5100 movement.
We would like to thank Nick for his remarkable story about his stolen Moonwatch and the “replacement” Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 that he was able to buy in 1977 thanks to The Spy Who Loved Me.
This story was published first on April 14th, 2015.
