I am usually only a Chrono guy when it comes to watch loving but this little beauty showed up today at a local swap meet. It appears to be original. The guy who owned it had sent it back to Omega for service a few years ago so it does appear to have been given the factory service refin. The end-inks say 586 and it has an Omega crystal. I don't know much about it but from what I have found out in the last few minutes online I guess it is a ref-166.042 Compressor? I bought it because it seems big enough to wear and I love the dial. JohnCote
Its a ref 166.042. The watch was introduced in 1969 and has a special case back which compresses the case gasket against the crystal and are supposed to make it water resistant. There are a few dial variants of the ref (you can see this and another in AJTT pg. 292), but apparently the design was not a winner and production of this model was limited. Nice catch!
Thanks Boiz. I have been wearing it for a couple of hours now. I am used to a much bigger watch but I really like the feel of this little fella. JohnCote
Desmond did a write-up on these interesting Omegas: http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.com/2011/04/omega-seamaster-166042-compressor.html gatorcpa
So how big is it? But I would think a square dial would wear larger than expected by mere millimeters. It does have that psychedelic look!
It measures about 34mm side to side without crown and about 40.5mm tip of lug to tip of lug. I am a big guy with pretty big wrists and used to wearing much bigger watches. However this watch looks bigger on the wrist than it measures. I am a Heuer guy and it is very Monaco like. I hate it when I like a watch enough to keep it. JohnnyC
These are quite cool there are another few members with them and they wear a lot larger than I expected