Editorial
The 145.022 is the long-running, hand-wound Speedmaster Professional produced from 1968 through 1988, the reference that overlapped with the later Apollo missions, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz. (Apollo 11 itself was on the earlier 105.012 / 145.012; the 145.022's place in the lunar story is real but later.) It transitioned from caliber 321 (the Lemania-based column-wheel chronograph) to caliber 861 within its production run. For collectors, the 321-era examples are the prize.
The 145.022-68 (1968 transition) carried over the caliber 321 from the earlier 145.012; 145.022-69 onwards used the caliber 861 (a cam-actuated successor designed for serviceability). The reference is the bridge between the "DON-bezel, dot-over-90" vintage Speedies and the modern caliber-1861 Moonwatch. Dial variants, stepped, pre-stepped, T-Swiss-Made T, applied logo, printed logo, are the rabbit hole; a one-owner full-set with original strap and box outperforms a parts-mongrel by a multiple, not a percentage.
Common things to check: dial originality (the 145.022 dial market is the most service-replaced family in the Speedmaster catalog, a service dial is a real value loss versus an original tritium one); hands (replacement luminous-paint hands are common); bezel (a Tachymetre bezel with original sharpness vs a service replacement is one of the bigger value swings); caliber (a 321 example commands a multiple over an 861, verify the movement number against published production tables); case (over-polished cases lose the crown-guard chamfer and that's irreversible). Listings that decline to photograph the movement should be treated with the same skepticism as a vintage Rolex listing that won't show the dial under the crystal.
