An Encyclopedia of Omega cal. 1040 and 1041 dials

incabloc

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

Andy K

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

Andy K

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.

TNTwatch

I just thought the second one in the first group was just another modern service dial for the Speedmaster Mark III, turns out there is another Mark II out there that looks almost the same. It has very good text printing with the modern S, but different, kinda reverse from the usual subdial designs: flat sunken subdials at 6 and slope edge at 9. Worthy to add to your first group? 😀

TNTwatch

I just had an impression that the sorting was based primarily by the hour index styles, but then there were the labeling and case references also added to the mix. If it goes purely by hour index styles, labeling would just be a sub-index. Type E would then be rolled up to A; type D, H and J would be combined together. The prototype dial should be just an appendix. This would reduce the number of types by 4 from 11 and would be a bit better to to manage and remember.

Andy K

Believe me I've been through many iterations and struggled with many specific classifications vs. fewer broader ones. The system I settled on is mainly based on hour indexes but also tries to line up with case reference. A, B, and C line up with 001 and 007, D and E with 002, F with 004, G with 005, H with 009, I with 010, and J with the 125. I intentionally left the prototype until last as sort of it's own thing. In the end, it's all arbitrary.

Oh and also the types generally stick to a single product family(Speedmaster or Seamaster) and only type F has both.👍

TNTwatch

I think it's cleaner to classify by a consistent characteristic instead of a mix of different ones. If prefer you can go by the case reference or labeling then make the hour index a sub-type, or vise versa. Right now you have same hour index style split up into different types and, at the same time, same case reference also split up into different types. Just some thoughts, but it's your fruit of labour after all. 😀

Andy K

Here are the "Odd Marks" I've observed (some were posted up above, those are possible "errors" while the rest are most likely redials attempting to create something rare.

Chuck Maddox's so-called Mark III ( c) variant. This is a poor photo but it seems to be a unique dial rather than a standard Mark 3 dial inserted in the 176.005 case. Probably started its life as a G1.

This one appears to be a I2 dial converted into a Speedmaster Mark IV.

A self-winding Mark II without a tachymetre.

This appears to be dial D3 (Mark 3 pro) with a closed date window and an extra-bright re-lume job. Diver bezel, speedy hands, (except the chrono second hand).

This one was advertised as "tropical" but it looks more like yellow spray paint on a blue E1 (non-pro Mark 3) to me. I haven't seen any other Mark IIIs age like this. Note the black enamel on the hour markers has been removed and the hands have been thickly repainted.

As discussed above, a potential error, or someone simply added the Mark III text.

As discussed above, a potential error, or someone changed the III to a II

As discussed above, a potential error, or someone simply added the Mark III text.

TNTwatch

I don't see how the dial was converted. The printing, the finish, the font script all perfect. The lume plots were applied, as well as look, consistently with old tritium lume. It just has the modern S, that along with T's indicating the year 90-95, later than the grey and blue 24 hour dials. In fact, I don't see any error with this dial, better than all of the 8 dials in your previous post. It's the best of the unusual bunch. If it shows up on other 009 watches then it would be later service dial. If this is the only one, it must be a test dial, a proper and legitimate one, for service replacement.

Hope I'm not too biased with this one as I was quite excited seeing it. I once switched my Seamaster silver-black dial with blue hands into the 009 case and it made a brilliant combination, the contrast was just so striking in real life!

TNTwatch

This dial is not right for any watch, but you have not said and I'm not seeing any reason this could not be one of the "error" dial in the previous group, like that Watchado dial.

Andy K

else

Andy K

Well I'll be damned. Look what just popped up on eBay:

Looks like an update is forthcoming to the encyclopedia. This will be dial I4, looks to be legit and presumably quite uncommon. Shame the case is garbage, else I'd be tempted for the dial alone.

Ken G

I'm not sure if this dial (a prototype) has appeared on the thread, but just in case:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/131862158336?_mwBanner=1

Ken G

I'm not sure if this dial (a prototype) has appeared on the thread, but just in case:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/131862158336?_mwBanner=1