‘Green DON Bezel’ 2998-6 Omega Speedmaster

A watch may lead an infinite number of lives, but only some result in patina. As the saying goes, one should use their tools. This is a ‘pre-moon’ 2998, and no, your eyes do not deceive you, that bezel is green. Only a very narrow range of 2998 bezels are known to occasionally exhibit this character, I’ve seen fewer than a handful and it’s always very subtle. Let me put it this way. If all you do is drink coffee, a robusta and a Kopi Luwak are as different as Rolex and Haldimann. If you don’t, they both just taste like coffee. This is a Speedmaster that is bizarre and delightful even to Speedmaster collectors, many of whom will have never encountered the green DON before. As Speedmaster bezels, go, it really is the DON don.

Those of you in the game will know, this is a 2998. It’s one of the archetypal pre-moon Speedmasters: meaning straight lugs, calibre 321, radium, and alpha hands. Wally Schirra wore a 2998 on the Mercury Atlas 8 in 1962 and that exact watch was the inspiration for the recent-ish FOIS release. This is a flagship bit of Omega history. And that’s all great. But this watch is made by the character of a single component, which is why vintage people study everything on a microscopic level. If this watch had been from a slightly different production batch, or lived a slightly different life in terms of climate, UV, and wear, this bezel would’ve never existed, a very specific type of ghosting very similar to the blue bezel Ed Whites. The last green DON I saw had belonged previously to a US Army Pilot and CIA agent. This is not that watch, but this patina only seems to develop on 2998s that were used as god intended, often and everywhere. And I love that.

What sort of value does one attach to this patina if at all? Well, if market is anything to go by, quite a lot. The last one I saw in the market, mentioned above, sold quickly at 45K USD. That’s a very-much not-insignificant premium to a normal 2998 valuation. How much of that is provenance, condition, or the bezel? I don’t know. This one comes to market at 35.5K, albeit not on the flat link bracelet, so that’s at least some indication. Much like a tropical dial, it’s something that only gets better the more you use it, asking to be loved. Except this is a totally different category of patina (or possibly manufacturing defect, we’ll probably never know and likely both). If you’re not a Speedmaster person, you won’t care at all. If you’re someone who studies wide-T signatures more closely than Charlie Sheen studies a line, this might be a revelation. Speedmaster lovers, we are a special category of nerd and proud of it. It is Tuesday, afterall.

This example comes with minimal photography so it’s a little difficult to make a condition assessment except for dial and bezel, which are both clear aces. The radium is a deep pumpkin and perfect. Its case may have seen a polish, honestly don’t have a good lug angle to say. The 2998 comes from a well-regarded Parisian retailer, watch only.