Robb Report: Eric Wind on The Best Vintage Omega Speedmaster to Collect Right Now
Allen Farmelo recently wrote The Best Vintage Omega Speedmasters to Collect Right Now. Within the article Farmelo quotes Eric Wind.
“Our friend at Wind Vintage, Eric Wind, immediately rattled off this reference number, and this is also the Speedmaster he owns and wears. Wind tells Robb Report that it is an “oddball variation” because the case is not made by Omega’s main supplier at the time Huguenin & Frères but by Fabrique de Boites La Centrale (or Central Case Maker in English), a firm Omega is rumored to have hired when there some fussing over technical drawings caused a delay with Huguenin.
While this oddball case makes the watch rarer, it also changes how it looks. As Wind told us, it “has a wider lug and twisted 3D presence with the additional angle.” Wind didn’t know about the different case, but when he bought his personal 105.012.66 CB from the grandson of a Greek pilot, who was the original owner, Wind dug in and researched it.
The CB designation is for Central Boites, a short-hand for Fabrique de Boites La Centrale, and finding one of these examples will require a keen eye. The key is to look for those slightly larger lugs with the extra bevel.”