John Deithelm back? -XX numbers not precise?

I spied this on TZ Omega Forum this morning: dwk Posts: NASA Speedmasters / Omega vintage info [Dec 16, 2004 - 02:26 AM] In answer to a question I asked Omega Vintage a couple of months ago about Neil Aemstrong and Buzz Aldrins watches I thought you might be interested to read the response. This has come from John Diethelm who is well known on this forum and seems to have come back from retirement. Certainly vintage information service seems to be back on line. It is interesting that the movement number info doesn'e tie in with the details of Neil's watch, but as we all know the movement number dazte is +/- 2 years. What I have learned is the date, July 1966. I have now asked for info on my own 105.012 which from its movement number is very close to Neils watch. Also of note is Omega's opinion of the date suffix eg 105.012-65 does not mean 1965 was the date manufactured although the general view is that usually the watch wouldn't have been much later. I had asked what ref Buzz's watch was (105.003, 105.012 or 145.012?), it appears Omega don't know or don't want to tell! Regards, David Dear Sir, We have the following details from our archives : OMEGA - Speedmaster ( watch worn by Neil Armstrong during the Moon Landing operaiont in July 1969 Mvt N° 24'002'981 Manual winding chronograph movement of calibre 321 - 17 jewels Watch reference = ST 105.012 ( the other numbers are of no importance and do not reflect the age of the watch ! Manufactured and delivered to our Agents in USA = July 1966 ( then delivered from New York to the Nasa at same date herefore, and this has been confirmed by the NASA, the above watch is displayed now in the Smithsonian Museum. However, the watch worn worn by Buzz Aldrin has certainly had the same range of serial number... but has been stolen from him and never found since ... Also, serial numbers are basically not used for a special year, though it has to be taken into consideration that the chronograph movement of cal. 321 has been produced from 1946 until 1965, when then changed in new calibre 861. The serial numbers are not relating for special given years, though it might be considered as movement numbers around 21'000'000 and 22'000'000 mostly have been fitted to watches produced in 1965 / 1966. Best regards For OMEGA Ltd - Vintage Information / JRD David, That's big news if John's back... What was the date of his reply to you? John's email was sent 14th December 2004 and my question was around 10th October 2004. It's also interesting to hear that the -xx part of 1960's~1990's case reference numbers isn't a directly tied to the date of manufacturer as we thought. I have to admit I always thought it was interesting that my 105.003 supposedly sat on a shelf in Switzerland for nearly two full years before being shipped out to Iran. Thanks for the information...