Speedy Tuesday – A True Oddity: The Omega Speedmaster Hackett

You might be familiar with Hackett London, the menswear retailer from the UK. But did you know there is a Speedmaster Hackett? Hackett was founded in 1979 by Jeremy Hackett and Ashley Lloyd-Jennings. In 1983 however, they opened their first shop under the name ‘Hackett’ in Parson’s Green, London. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of that, Hackett bought two types of vintage watches: the Omega Seamaster and Omega Speedmaster Professional. 25 pieces were offered to mark the 25th anniversary of Hackett London.

Omega Speedmaster Hackett – A Customized Vintage Watch

Someone over at Hackett London must (or still do) love their vintage timepieces. It is quite uncommon to re-sell vintage watches for a menswear retailer. However, perhaps not if you know that Hackett started out selling vintage clothing and accessories (including watches) in that very first boutique in Parson’s Green.

One of our readers, a Swiss collector, bought one of these Speedmaster Hackett watches in 2012. It is an interesting purchase, as the Speedmaster Hackett is not just a vintage Speedmaster..  it has been customized for the occasion. Originally, this particular Speedmaster Professional was produced in August 1970 and has been delivered to the United States. It is therefor a reference 145.022 (with a calibre 861 movement).

The customization is done on the dial and on the case back of the Speedmaster Hackett. As you can see, the dial has an ‘H’ between 7 and 8 o’clock and the hour markers at 2 and 5 o’clock have been painted red (“25 years”). The red painted hour markers do not lume by the way. When we flip the watch over, we see that the Seahorse medallion case back has a “Hackett 25” engraving in the slope, filled with red lacquer. In one of the lugs, you will find the unique number of the watch, 3/25 in this case. This particular Speedmaster Hackett was sold in the Hackett shop in Munich, on November 28th 2008. At the time, the price for this watch was 2600 Euro. Very close to the list price of a brand new Speedmaster Professional 3570.50 back then. From what I – and the Swiss collector – understand, the 25 pieces are a mix of vintage Speedmaster and Seamaster watches. I have never seen a Seamaster Hackett to be honest (and I have to admit that this Speedmaster Hackett also surprised me last month).

Hackett also took care of the packaging for this watch. It came in a black canvas watch roll with the “H” logos and Hackett London embossed in leather. Inside was the watch on a leather “Hackett” signed strap (note: the watch on the image is on a replacement strap) and a “Hackett” engraved bracelet changing tool.

Our reader adds: “I am glad to have this one – again – as an oddity in my collection. Why “oddity”? It is an after-market customization and hence not a true Omega factory “rarity”. A bit like “Meister” and “Tiffany” who added their brand-name outside of the Omega factory onto the dials of some Speedmasters. As you well know, the only Speedmaster that has ever had a client-customized print on the dial, done by Omega in the Omega factory, was the A.C.P.”.

As written above, I have never seen this watch before nor the Seamaster watch that was done by (and for) Hackett. It is also unknown at this point who did the customization for Hackett London. What we do know, is that the person at Hackett responsible for this Speedmaster, did a very nice job. Some purists might hate the fact that an original vintage Speedmaster was used for this modification, but the 145.022 is not super-rare by any means, so I personally can appreciate the effort made by Hackett. It is fairly difficult to valuate this watch, as it is rare but also something difficult to trace and put a number on an after-market customization. Value aside, it is a very cool tribute and beautiful executed watch.

A big thank you to our reader for his story and images of the Omega Speedmaster Hackett.