1970 F300 Hz Tungsten 'Prototype'

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Makesbelieve

·Jan 21, 2024

Has anyone come across one of these before? It has currently come up on one of our auction sites and I'm kinda curious...

Thanks in advance, Matt

Brand Omega
Model Electronic F300Hz
Reference No. N/A
Case Material Tungsten
Movement F300Hz Cal 1250
Circa 1970
Strap/Bracelet Stainless Steel - Generic
Clasp Fold-over
Case Measurements 40mm
Dial Navy blue raised silver blocks
Condition 9/10
Accessories None
Notes Movement Serial No. 32907007; Case not signed

Edited: Jan 22, 2024

 

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Makesbelieve

·Jan 22, 2024

I guess my question is, if it's legit, how or why did watches like this enter the market? If it is indeed a prototype then why didn't it stay in the Omega 'lab'?

 

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X350 XJR

·Jan 22, 2024·Vintage Omega Aficionado

My semi-educated guess is that someone made their own "prototype" by adding an orphaned Omega movement to this case and then added the unattractive and completely unrelated bracelet.

198.021

Edited: Jan 22, 2024

 

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vienna

·Jan 22, 2024

Reminds me of a Rado Electrosonic from the 70ies. I wonder if one transplanted an Omega 1250 into a Rado tungsten case.

kind regards Max

 

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Plees

·Jan 22, 2024

vienna

Reminds me of a Rado Electrosonic from the 70ies. I wonder if one transplanted an Omega 1250 into a Rado tungsten case.

kind regards Max

I second that

 

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Makesbelieve

·Jan 22, 2024

Interesting, I remembered seeing this similar "prototype" in the sales section and thought the tungsten cased version could be related:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/unique-omega-constellation-megaquartz-f-2-4mhz-prototype.166772/

Anyway, I guess my question still remains, how does a watch like the one in the link above (if real) escape the factory in the first place and if it's legit are there many of these real 'prototypes' about?

 

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Fatcat

·Jan 22, 2024

The bracelet is the same as the Zenith Pilot Diver , strange but nice

 

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Plees

·Jan 22, 2024

Makesbelieve

Interesting, I remembered seeing this similar "prototype" in the sales section and thought the tungsten cased version could be related:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/unique-omega-constellation-megaquartz-f-2-4mhz-prototype.166772/

Anyway, I guess my question still remains, how does a watch like the one in the link above (if real) escape the factory in the first place and if it's legit are there many of these real 'prototypes' about?

Well, similar is rather overstated. Yes, advertised as prototype, no, not resembling your previous very RADO case. Anyways: people receive things out of gratitude for years of service, others take it with them because they think they can out of working there for years. And then there is everything in between…

 

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asrnj77

·Jan 22, 2024

Tungsten? that for people wanting a watch made of a material that is heavier than lead? Sort of the anti-titanium watch?

All those titanium watch wearers and their “this is so light it feels like nothing at all”.

Maybe you need a watch with a little more heft..

 

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vienna

·Jan 23, 2024

As far as I know these watches were tungsten/tungstencarbide coated, are very scratch resistant, but the coating tends to chip over the time.
So the weight of the watch should not be very different to a stainless steel case.

kind regards Max

 

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Deafboy

·Jan 23, 2024·His Holiness Puer Surdus

Tungsten is a difficult material to machine. As someone noted, tungsten very dense -more than twice as dense as steel-, more dense than lead and gold. It's also not cheap...

 

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kaplan

·Jan 26, 2024

There was an invoice from Tissot I think to Omega's prototype department, at that time I believe they were doing a lot of stuff like the things shared on this thread

I didn't get the impression that any of these are valuable yet though