Fratelli Stories: Shanka’s Omega Speedmaster Was A Fascination Decades In The Making

In this edition of Fratelli Stories, I sit down with Fratello reader Shanka. While growing up in Sri Lanka and Australia, he gravitated towards watches made for adventure, and none more so than the Omega Speedmaster.

Shanka has been a Fratello reader for many years. Since he and I both live in Australia, I had the privilege to meet him in person over a coffee mere meters from the ocean. One of the best things about this hobby is getting to meet people from all different walks of life.

It all starts with a vintage wall clock

Shanka’s watch journey started when he was a kid growing up in Sri Lanka. “As a kid, I always had a fascination for mechanical things and trying to understand how things worked. Looking back, I had more fun opening up my toy robots and RC cars to see how they worked than actually playing with them, pretty much driving my parents mad.

“One of my earliest childhood memories was of being absolutely captivated by a clock. I used to spend my school holidays at my grandmother’s home in the countryside in Sri Lanka. She had this great big wall clock with a striking hour and pendulum, and if I looked closely enough, I could peek into the mechanical gears moving inside,” he said.

Shanka’s first watches 

Despite his interest in mechanical objects, Shanka’s first watch was a Casio. “My first watch was a Casio F-91W, like many kids who grew up in the early ’90s. After that came a Casio G-Shock DW-5000, which got me through high school. Also being very nostalgic, I bought the 25th-anniversary edition as the original came out in my birth year (1983), and I still wear it from time to time. Anyway, I don’t think that boy ever grew up because I still am fascinated by how things work. Watches captivate me from the pure craftsmanship perspective but also due to their intricate and mechanical nature,” he said.

In 2000, Shanka moved to Australia. It was here that his passion for mechanical watches started to grow from that initial curiosity as a child. “I started playing around with ‘real’ mechanical watches when I was first moved to Sydney back in 2000… I was still pretty young. In fact, I really had no idea back then, and I tended to gravitate towards Seikos, which were also the only watches I could afford at the time. Anyway, I remember walking into a watchmaker in the Sydney CBD, getting a quote of $200 to fix my Seiko, and being floored because that was almost all I earned in my casual job. I had to save up for a month to get that watch serviced,” he said.

Bitten by the watch bug 

Nevertheless, the costs of servicing mechanical watches did not dissuade Shanka. In fact, he’d been bitten by the watch bug. “My first big-boy watch was a vintage Omega Genève with a blue dial. I wore the heck out of it for a few years. I also wore it when most of my friends were wearing chunky G-Shocks and fashion brands. Although it was only about 34mm and wore like a ladies’ watch, I absolutely loved it because it was different from what everyone else wore. Also, underneath it all was a piece of mechanical engineering that, at the time, no one else could appreciate except me.

“I’m always looking for my next watch, but my current rotation is mainly a CWC RN Diver automatic, Panerai Radiomir 512, Omega Seamaster 300M 2531.80, a Zenith Rainbow Flyback, and, of course, a Speedy. Over the years, I have dabbled a lot in vintage watches but have also tried consolidating them down to only a handful. At the moment, my most prized vintage pieces are a Heuer Autavia 11036 and a stunning Omega Seamaster 176.004 that has a lot of sentimental value as it was my late uncle’s.”

Shanka’s fascination with the Omega Speedmaster

One thing that remained with Shanka on his journey into the watch hobby, though, was a fascination with and love for the Omega Speedmaster. This passion is partly what led him to Fratello. As you know, Fratello has become a hub for Speedmaster enthusiasts as founder RJ is a Speedmaster collector and the “instigator” of Speedy Tuesday.

“The Omega Speedmaster was always a grail for me growing up. Space travel and science fiction took up a lot of my brain capacity as a kid growing up in the ’80s. The more I read and dug deeper into the first Moon landing, I got hooked on the idea of growing up to be an astronaut, again, pretty much like every other kid my age. The first pictures I would have seen of an Omega Speedmaster would have been from the Moon landing articles or Omega ads in LIFE Magazine (my dad used to read them and would have a stack of old magazines at home). This must have been when the association was burnt into my psyche,” Shanka explained.

Owning a new Speedmaster manages to provide a watch icon with a vintage design and the advantages of modern build quality, Shanka told me. “Vintage watches always had more appeal to me than modern watches because they had more character. The only downside was that they didn’t suit my active lifestyle very well, so I was always a little worried about them. I was always mindful to take a vintage watch off when I was playing sports, swimming, and so on, whereas modern watches didn’t get the same level of attention.” 

An Omega Speedmaster to celebrate a life milestone

It was a special birthday, and what that year symbolized for Shanka finally led to the purchase of his very own Speedmaster. “Although I always admired the watch from a distance, I never felt I quite deserved the Speedy until I told myself that I would get one for my 40th. I couldn’t be happier now with my 3861, which I feel is a massive step up from the previous models in terms of wearability, upgrades to the movement, and the bracelet. I’ve had it for just over a year now, and it still brings a smile when I look at it on my wrist as it brings out the sentimentality around it. As impossible as it sounds, if I ever had to go down to a one-watch collection, I think this would be it for me.”

Shanka’s other most frequently worn watch is the Tudor Black Bay 58 in navy blue, a watch I also own. “Honestly, the Tudor Black Bay 58 is one of the best watches out there both in terms of versatility and build quality. I wear it on a President-style bracelet that gives it a big bump of vintage looks,” Shanka said. The bracelet happens to be one I sold Shanka in the past, which shows just how small this watch community can be (in the best sort of way!).

Closing thoughts 

It was wonderful to catch up with one of Fratello’s readers as part of this feature. Shanka’s journey is a testament to how we can attach meaning and emotional significance to these intricate mechanical objects. By creating memories with them on our wrists, we give them a much deeper meaning than as a simple time-telling device. As for Shanka, he’s looking at a few interesting brands for his next watch. “I’m really happy at the moment (if that’s possible) with my current collection, and I’d like to enjoy wearing them before getting anything significant any time soon. But that doesn’t stop me from making an occasional impulse buy when I see something I really like. There’s so much value out there at the moment with a lot of the vintage reissues from brands like Doxa and Nivada Grenchen.”

As part of this series, I always try to ask what sort of stories our readers like. Shanka had this to say: “I love reading in-depth stories about the watches out there and the people who wear them. Those people are just as interesting and can honestly (or magically) resonate with most others in the hobby.” If you want to be featured in our Fratelli Stories series or know someone who would be good for us to feature, let me know in the comments or through a message on Instagram.