INTERVIEW WITH ROBERTO ‘JATUCKA’ RANDAZZO ON THE OMEGA SPEEDMASTER

INTERVIEW WITH ROBERTO ‘JATUCKA’ RANDAZZO ON THE OMEGA SPEEDMASTER

Today, together with Roberto, we want to tackle a topic that has always raised his interest, a watch that has fascinated, intrigued and encouraged him to carry out his personal, in-depth research: the Omega Speedmaster.

ANDREA : Hi, Roberto. Why have you always had this “crave” for the Speedmaster? What struck you so much about this model to make it become one of your cult objects?

Everything originated from my passion for stories about astronauts. I still remember perfectly the landing on the moon I saw on tv in 1969, together with my family. I was just 6 and I was amazed. Many years later I was able to discover what I like to call “the purity” of this watch. So simple, essential, resistant, top-quality and sold at an extremely good price.

ANDREA : What was the first Speedmaster you bought? And your latest purchase?

The first Speedmaster I purchased was the 145022. I purchased it new in 1983. I can remember that at the time it cost half the price of a manual Daytona but it was much more fascinating thanks to its history and its success in space. The explosion of the Daytona phenomenon was still beyond, but still now I prefer without doubt the Speedmaster. Unfortunately, I do no longer have that watch, but I still remember my excitement when I bought it even because it was the first important watch I personally bought and not received as a gift. My latest purchase is a Speedmaster which I consider absolutely unique, I think it’s the most important watch I have ever had both as a collector and as a dealer . But unfortunately at the moment I can’t talk about it. We will get back at this watch as soon as possible in the near future. However, I’ve recently come across a 145022 861 caliber with racing dial that was really impressive and in excellent conditions.

Omega Speedmaster ref. 145022 with Racing dial (courtesy of Jatucka)

ANDREA : how many Speedmasters have you bought and sold in these years?

In my career as a dealer I have sold about 150 vintage Speedmaster, some of them are still in my heart and I sold them with great sorrow, I can remember them as if they were still here in my hands. I also had the great privilege of being able to select very important Speedmasters at auctions and other special Speedmasters for which some collectors asked for my advice.

ANDREA : I would say it is a rather interesting number. But let’s talk about rarities, what were the rarest and most interesting ones?

Once again I must ask you to have a little patience for the rares and most precious Speedmaster I’ve dealt with but, among the most important ones, there are some 2915 models in the various sub-references, different racing, some radials.

Omega Speedmaster ref. 2915 with a tropical dial (courtesy of Jatucka)
Omega Speedmaster ref. 2915 in exceptional condition (courtesy Jatucka)
Omega Speedmaster with decimal bezel and radial dial (courtesy of Jatucka)
Omega Speedmaster with Tachimeter bezel and radial dial (courtesy of Jatucka)
Omega Speedmaster with Racing dial signed Meister (courtesy of Jatucka)
Omega Speedmaster with Racing dial (courtesy of Jatucka)


Staying with the feets on the ground, among the Speedmaster models today accessible to all, one of my favorites remains the 145022-69 brown. Despite I’ve had several of them, I have never seen two that looked the same. The shades of brown can be really unique and exciting.

An Omega Speedmaster ref. 145022-69 with tropical dial and faded blue bezel (courtesy of Jatucka)

ANDREA : I would say that very few people have had the opportunity to have such important watches in their hands. And among them, I would like you to choose one in particular.

Definitely the 145022 Oman you’ve chosen for this interview. On a batch of 10, I had the luck to purchase 2 and to assess as many on behalf of few very important customers.

I believe that 4 out of 10 is an extremely lucky percentage.

I can remember clearly that the first one I saw, in 2007, was on sale on ebay at an incredibly low price and it had already been offered on that platform different times. A dear friend told me about that, informing me that the owner had been trying to sell it in Milan with no success as all dealers believed it was a fake. The watch was on sale at a really, really low price, and after a check precisely aimed at checking the engraving technique and the correspondence with other previously seen engravings, I immediately realized it was genuine so I decided to buy it even before waiting for a confirmation by Omega.

At the time receiving a confirmation from Omega archives meant a long waiting time and when I finally got the confirmation that the watch was not only sold in Oman but it was part of a batch of 10 pieces produced upon request of sultan “Qaboos bin Said Al Said” well, my joy was immense. 

Not really for the value of the watch, as for the fact that once again my instinct and my passion for watches with Arabic logo were guided in the right direction.

I have to admit that even if the earning I got from that watch was really good, I felt sorry to give it away. And when you do this as a job, situations like these are frequent, too much frequent, I’d say. 

Below a selection of photographs of two exceptional Omani Omega Speedmasters.

This article was written and published by me on Roberto “Jatucka” Randazzo’s website in 2020. I thank Roberto for allowing me to add it to my website’s blog.”

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