Chronostop mystery - need help

Flashdoc · Sep 15, 2023

Hi
I'm new to this forum and need some assistance. I bought this Omega Chronostop in 1972 (possibly 1973) at an Omega dealer in Geneva. It's been buried in my drawer for years and my son recently expressed interest in watches so I brought it out. I bought it new and I'm the original owner. The bracelet is a cheap replacement I put on 40 years ago but have replaced nothing else. I see that the dial doesn't say "Chronostop", all the ones I see online have this marking

Any explanation? Thanks

Matty01 · Sep 15, 2023

F Flashdoc
Hi
I'm new to this forum and need some assistance. I bought this Omega Chronostop in 1972 (possibly 1973) at an Omega dealer in Geneva. It's been buried in my drawer for years and my son recently expressed interest in watches so I brought it out. I bought it new and I'm the original owner. The bracelet is a cheap replacement I put on 40 years ago but have replaced nothing else. I see that the dial doesn't say "Chronostop", all the ones I see online have this marking

Any explanation? Thanks

To my relatively untrained eye, looks like a Japanese Chronostop with applied metallic logo… @dsio has written a 4 part series on the various Chronostops inc the Japanese releases… all pictured in the article show the word Chronostop on the dial… that said there are a couple of pics on non Japanese Chronostops which don’t include the word Chronostop on the dial…

Flashdoc · Sep 16, 2023

Thanks Matty01

rjrcorreia · Oct 2, 2023

Hi there. I'm a fan of the Genève Chronostop, and yours is really intriguing to me.

As far as I know, the Japanese version has a highly polished case, polished hands with no white lume, different indexes, and in fact, the word "chronostop" on the dial. So, I wouldn't say it is the Japanese version.

That being said, some things make me think it is an unmarked Chronostop because there are a lot of signs that it is. The chrono hand seems to be the right length, the date window seems legitimate, and the dial, although it isn't marked for 1/5th of a second, seems legitimate for the Chronostop line.

In your position, I would email Omega with the serial number and ask for information about it.

If and when you get some more information about these watch, please reply. I would love to learn more about it.

Have a nice day!

Flashdoc · Oct 2, 2023

Hi

Thanks for your response. I do know that it's a legit Omega Chronostop because I bought it in person (aged 12 !!) at an Omega dealer in Geneva. Please see below-- I did find a picture online of a similar chronostop (missing the chronostop marking). I did as you suggested and emailed Omega. I'll let you know what they say, thanks again!

padders · Oct 3, 2023

During this era, the turn of the 1970s, Omega played fast and loose with the sub branding so it was not unusual to see watches from one collection branded as another, or not branded at all. I think there was some experimentation to discover which brands worked best in which markets. The earliest Chronostops were tied up with the Mexico Olympics and marketed as sports tools in bright colours. Despite sharing a lot of Moonwatch DNA (the 865/920 can be seen as a cut down 861) they were noticeably cheaper. Maybe by this point they were trying to push them as a more dressy option so dropped the overtly sporting tag.

From memory there were some Italian market Chronostops that were a bit out the ordinary and may have not had the text. If this one was purchased in Switzerland I would suggest it is more likely to have an Italian connection than a Japanese.

Flashdoc · Oct 4, 2023

Thanks for your comments!

Chronostop mystery - need help

Flashdoc

Matty01

Flashdoc

rjrcorreia

Flashdoc

padders

Flashdoc

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