Last month our eldest daughter treated us to a trip to Disney World.

As a matter of practice, I was wearing my Omega Speedmaster Professional with the panda dial (white dial with black registers) on the trip.

While standing in a line, I overheard a man and woman talking as we zig-zagged back and forth through the queues.

She had apparently noticed my watch and asked her husband if he had noticed it.

He proceeded to tell her that it was a rare, special order Omega 'Hidden Mickey Mouse' watch that was made back in the 1970's for Disney. The black registers (3 dials) made up the head and ears of Mickey, and this watch was much sought after by Omega collectors.

She seemed duly impressed with this explanation and they went their merry way.

Well, all righty then....I bet you didn't know if you owned a white 'panda' dial Speedmaster, you, TOO, owned a rare Omega Mickey Mouse watch?!

...and no, I didn't correct him. He told the story so convincingly, I just left well enough alone.



Regards! Mark

hehe good for you.

Mark, Was the guy's name William D. White?

Hummm. Good question...

Hey Mark! My wife and I go to Disney World regularly, and my wife is Always looking for the "hidden mickeys" (it is like a "signature" from the Imagineers, after they design any particular attraction).... If in that situation - I might have said the same thing!

Well, there's a new one for her to 'watch' for (pun intended).



Regard! Mark

Now I AM confused.

Disney World just celebrated their 44th anniversary. They officially opened their doors in 1971.

Wait a minute. MY Speedy was made in 1971!

Could it be?

Nah.....

Then again.....



Regards! Mark

Hey Mark - I will be in Disney world next week.
Let me just take your watch along for "research" purposes!

lol good one Marc M.

quote:

Hey Mark - I will be in Disney world next week.Let me just take your watch along for "research" purposes!

LOL! Uh, no.

Regards! Mark

I just had a BIG NASA collector donate a BUNCH of original 1960's-70's NASA space memorabilia to the Institute where I work. I had to videotape his description of all the items.

His collection is amazing, and he's been a personal friend for years to almost every astronaut that flew a NASA space flight through the last Apollo mission.

One item he showed (but was not part of the donated collection) was HIS Speedmaster he was wearing on his wrist. When I flashed MY Speedy, he about died. His Speedy, though an honest to goodness Omega Speedmaster professional, was a 'wannbe' version (his own words) he got about 10 years ago, and it did NOT have the official 'Moonwatch' logo on the back of the case. It was also an automatic winder, which the original Moonwatches are/were not.

Mine does.

He liked it so much, he asked to photograph the watch for his slide collection, pointing out the fact that it was a model current to the Apollo 15 expedition date (1971) and was 'live' and running during the actual Apollo missions of that time period.

It was interesting, considering the literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of collectables laying around my classroom (no exaggeration at all here!), he was drooling all over MY watch!

He also promised to send me a copy of the 'official' Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch booklet that Omega gave out when one of the astronauts (after retiring) took over the U.S. sales office of Omega back in the late 70's. The astronaut had given him a copy for his collection, and now he wanted ME to have it since I owned a 'real' Speedy Pro!

NICE man.

So, my Omega 'Mickey Mouse' watch continues to impress.

Regards! Mark

find me a moon speedy that will not impress ppl
btw what a heck is "wannbe"

Sorry Peter, that's a slang version of 'want to be', or it 'wants to be real, but isn't'.

Well, Peter, according to HIM, once he saw my watch, his no longer 'impressed' him.

Regard! Mark

quote:

btw what a heck is "wannbe"

Mark left out an "a" so we will just have to give him a "C-"

It's "wann a be" Peter

regards,
bb

William D. White would know better than to make up such a story, so it must have been someone else! William D. White also knows that it's usually a waste of time trying to dazzle chicks with the vastness of your watch/car/camera/motorcycle/aircraft/boat knowledge.

Omega has released seemingly hundreds of Speedmaster variations but the official moon watch, 3570.50, is basically the same today as it was in the late 60's. Such a great watch.

quote:

Mark left out an "a" so we will just have to give him a "C-" It's "wann a be" Peter regards, bb

Maybe in Texas, Buster, but not in Tennessee. WE say 'wannbe', like 'you wait 'rit cher and I'll carry ya to town'. LOTS of letters get left out of slang words. Confuses the Yankees.

We're not the ONLY ones who use it, as shown in the headline of this article:

http://www.sfgate.com/travel/a...nch-duds-6310180.php

West Coasters use it too!

Anyway...that's true, William. The ONLY thing that changed was under the hood.

Regards! Mark

Well whatcha know 'bout that, ain't that a hoot !?!

Ya'll be sounding like dudes to me, shucks I prolly fell off more horses than you old boys took a sit to !!

Yee~Haw !!

regards,
bb