‘Red Racing’ 145.012-67 Omega Speedmaster

For those who worship at the altar of moonwatch, there’s a lot to learn. Good luck distinguishing a CB case from an HF. Same goes for a 105.002 from a 2998. This problem is made worse by the fact that Omega people are so keen to demonstrate themselves as in the inner circle that they’ll use endless acroynyms and nicknames, unbothered by the fact that no one in the real world actually cares what DON, Alaska II, Holy Grail 376.0822, 220 Error, or Ultraman is. All of which brings me to this: a ‘Red Racing’ 145.012-67. In this metaphoric church of heightened nuance, this thing has to be in the holy trinity.

Late 60s and early 70s racing dials are a highly collected category of Speedmaster with colorful accents and fun chronograph seconds tracks. Mostly, these watches have grey dials with orange accents, in 145.022. There are also black dials with orange accents, in 145.012. But, more scarce than either, there are these 145.012 black dials with red accents known colloquially as the ‘Red Racing’.Some have two-lines of text, some have the three with professional signature shown here. Phillips have identified fewer than 10 examples in their discourse on the subject, for years these were so scarce they were thought to be prototypes.

When a bunch of watch nerds collaborate and get together on the internet, it’s almost an emergent phenomena that people start look for rare and more strange iterations of watches as means to demonstrate their knowledge to the outside world. The value of this behavior is debatable. But it does push the edges of scholarship and knowledge out just slightly. The Red Racing is one such watch, a Speedmaster that even most Speedmaster people are not going to be aware of. But if your sense of self worth is so low that you need the validation of Omega Forums and Shanghai Watch Gang, this will surely find it. Though, how much are these going for these days? . . .probably best just to develop a meaningless skill like Scrabble or Golf or something.

As examples go this dial is mega. All the print is clear, the red is vivid, and tritium is cream (still present in the hands). The HF case is sharp. Phillips sold one in 2018 in a worse nick at 40K CHF. I’d expect at least double in the current market. It comes from the brothers who are basically the name today in Speedmasters, straight out of Geneva.

Find this Red Racing 145.012 here from Roy & Sacha Davidoff listed as POA.