Omega Stories: Prime Wagyu - Japan’s Final Jumbo Seamaster Chronometer

It's interesting to see just how much all of the Japanese specials have in common. They tend to be very limited in terms of options, usually a single dial or a couple of color variations on a single dial design at most. They also tend to be non-luminous, preferring onyx inserts especially in later years. They also tend to be larger sized, sold largely on bracelets and lastly, they tend to be very tastefully designed and extremely cool. [..]

Visit Prime Wagyu - Japan’s Final Jumbo Seamaster Chronometer to read the full article.

Btw I should thank a few guys for their excellent images, @Shabbaz @kdtri1 & @base615

Insightful article, but now I have a craving for A5 Wagyu steaks 😉

Another fantastic article. Thank you

I think one factor could be that when you look at the various higher end Japanese domestic models from Seiko and the like in the 60s, the majority are 35mm+ and larger than the 34.5mm Omegas of the time so it could be they just didn’t want to be smaller than local competition. They didn’t tend to be too big although the 2976 could definitely qualify as huge at around 38mm with a fairly thin bezel for the times.

I think the other factors like hitting on known to be well-loved styling from earlier decades, going all non-luminous with onyx inserts, and going with mostly bracelets that make a statement is really great, the fact that they would choose one really nice dial with onyx markers and didn’t really care about lume too. They seem to really know their market, the distributor and their taste was just totally on point so much so that when you look back I don’t think they could have specced their JDM special models any better if they had tried.

Its interesting when looking at a lot of the Japanese designs of that era from Seiko, Citizen etc that there really isn’t a whole lot of luminous material used at all on higher end watches like the early Grand Seiko, Seiko Marvel etc. There are some from that era that do have lume but it seems to be more tool oriented watches that they used it on while dress watches they preferred to use onyx inserts, or just nice applied furniture and gold hands. By contrast Omega used a whole lot of luminous material in everything except the grand luxe models in the rest of the world, maybe the Japanese distributor was aware of that too when customizing these special models.