Edit: I have created a website that contains an updated version of the following info called Calibre 1040 (www.calibre1040.com).

One of the challenges with collecting cal. 1040 chronographs is that despite the fact that there were seven distinct case shapes (eight if you count cal. 1041) is that dials and hands were compatible across all references.

Omega being Omega, they also released multiple dial options for each reference. Some variants were retired before sales to the general public began, some were retired and replaced during production. Others were created by Omega sometime after the entire family was retired and used as service dials.

There are 28 distinct dials that could be found by diligent collectors, and two that seem to only live at the Omega museum. Of the 28 only nine remain available (hat tip to @Archer for confirming this via the Omega extranet) from Omega as service dials, so those remaining nine are now seen more commonly than the rest and often on unexpected cases.

The following is an attempt to classify these legitimate dials by type for collectors and serve as a resource for many of the questions that we get from time to time along the lines of “how many dials were there for ref. 176.XXX?” This also should help make the seemingly endless variety a little more manageable, at least when it comes to dials. Hands, bezels, pushers crowns, and bracelets are another story.

Photos were mostly snagged from the web, cropped and used for educational purposes. Through formatting some of the clarity of the photos was lost. I apologize for that but the photos should be good enough to convey the distinguishing characteristics.

Click here to view, save, or download a pdf version of this encyclopedia.
Click here for a thread from last year by @cvalue13 which is in my opinion the best and the most comprehensive repository of information and discussion on the cal. 1040 family.

 

Man, what a post! You and @cvalue13 should write the book!

 

Thanks, A nice change from ...my uncle left me his dead cat and I found this watch in it, how much is it worth....type posts.

 

Super! Thanks, I think...

Because the one that I really like is the 176.001 type K of course.

 

Good luck with that! If you find one I've got dibs.

 

My favourite is the 176.010, its got 70s porn star written all over it I bet Burt Reynolds had one.

 

I added a 12th page to the document (you can grab the updated version via the same link) to visually categorize the family tying each dial to a case reference or references. Here's the chart:

 

Nicely done - glad I could contribute a very miniscule part to this research...

 

What a great work!

May I ask you to also add to the chart a column indicating which dials are still available?

About dial I3, I think it has one more difference to I1 & I2: the chrono hour sub-dial is sunken down a little bit, whereas that of the other two is flat and flush with the rest of the dial. In fact I1 & I2 are the only variants that have the flat sub-dial, while the rest all have a sunken sub-dial. I guess the physical difference is probably small and does not affect the clearance of the chrono hour hand, but I I'll have to look at them side by side to be sure.

Found on the web:

 

Thank you!

I'd love to but I'm not 100% sure based on the part#/descriptions which dial is which. Here are the part numbers @Archer provided in a WUS thread along with my guesses as to which dial in my typeology it corresponds to:

The ones in bold are guesses. And I initially guessed based on the thought that any use of RHD or RHOD meant silver, but maybe one or more is a gold or brown dial, as it makes sense that at least one of those should be kept in inventory as a suitable service dial for a GP 005, 007, or 0010.

Great observation! I should have included that and will add it in the next revision. There are are two types of sunken subdials too, Type A for instance and the I3 dial pictured have two finishes within the subdial while a Big Blue (Type F) dial has a sunken subdial with a uniform finish. It never occurred to me that this may actually affect clearance of that hand, and consequentially the compatibility of the hour recorder parts.

 

Great thread this. And informative too.

 

Wonderful, Andy; just wonderful!

 

Yes, you're right. The Big Blue dials are unique as the only ones to have the flat sunken sub-dial.

BTW, have you seen this dial? Very interesting and probably a real prototype or test dial. The rest of the watch is just a Speedmaster Mark IV though.

http://www.watchprosite.com/?page=wf.forumpost&fi=677&ti=1013698&pi=7152578

 

Thanks for posting. This s invaluable information.

 

Yes, but only in that article. It looks to be missing a 12:00 marker. I'd love to see a movement shot and see the SN. Also, I'd like to see more dial shots. For example you can't see "Swiss Made" in any of the photos.

In addition to the 30 legit dials I've listed above, I've got pics of 21 (and counting) other dials purporting to be cal. 1040 dials ranging from garbage fakes to sad redials to well-made ones like this one that might be plausible. One of these days I'll add them to the document.

 

I don't think the movement and serial would say much of anything since it was a practice sample put together during a training session, according to the story. I just think the dial prototype is plausible. Will be interested in what else you've found plausible.

 

I find serial numbers to be informative but they usually don't conclusively prove or disprove anything. In this watch's case, a 5 digit serial, R serial, or no serial would (IMO) help support the story. A normal 8-digit serial wouldn't be conclusive as it could have been pulled from the production line after stamping, but the serial always says something about the relative production date of the movement or which "batch" it came from. I document all the serial numbers I run across for cal. 1040 and 1041 along with what case reference it was attached to and generally speaking the serial numbers are clustered into batches. I might be the only one but I would find it interesting to know which , if any, "batch" this watch was associated with. Finally, of course with a serial you could order an extract, which might give more insight. But as crazy as I may be I wouldn't be dropping $150 for paperwork on a watch I don't personally own!

 

Very well said and a very dedicated effort!

PS: Probably you've already documented it, but there's an the R serial on the 1041 for sale in the forum recently, in case you haven't noticed.

 

Well, here are two categories of dials that although I don’t consider them exactly correct or legitimate, they fall closer on the continuum to the legitimate dials than do most others.

The first group may very well have come from the factory but if so I doubt it would have been intentional. The second group are ones that I personally believe to be non-Omega redialing but of higher quality than most.


Click here to download a pdf

 

some time ago this one was on ebay... I dont know if its a rare genuine dial or not.