Do the new DON bezels fit the older speedmasters?

[Sothy]

Hi everyone,

I’m slowly, but surely, getting the Speedy bug. I was looking at some older speedmasters online as well as the newest ones at the AD (apart from the new 321 of course), and I was wondering if the new 3861 speedmasters with the aluminium bezels fit the older ones? Looking at some vintage 321 ones online, the bezel has already been replaced with the standard non DON bezel (145.012 models for example that I see online). Are the bezels backward compatible?

Thanks

[AEC]

Originally Posted by Sothy

Hi everyone,

I’m slowly, but surely, getting the Speedy bug. I was looking at some older speedmasters online as well as the newest ones at the AD (apart from the new 321 of course), and I was wondering if the new 3861 speedmasters with the aluminium bezels fit the older ones? Looking at some vintage 321 ones online, the bezel has already been replaced with the standard non DON bezel (145.012 models for example that I see online). Are the bezels backward compatible?

Thanks

I'm guessing there's a good chance this can be done, and I recommend checking with a watchmaker who could probably figure it out. I'm guessing someone like Al Jensky at Archer Watches would know how to determine an answer.

I should point out that the dot over ninety isn't the only distinguishing characteristic of a bezel original to something like a 145.012. The other differences are things like font, other punctuation, etc. Still, it seems the bezel from a contemporary Speedmaster Pro would be a good option.

[Sothy]

Tony, thanks for the info!
Cheers