Did a 135.004 Railmaster come with a T Swiss Made T dial?

A couple of months ago, Hodinkee sold this gorgeous-looking PAF Seamaster (Railmaster), that I wasn't able to buy. I wouldn't have paid the asking price anyway so in a way I was glad it got sold before I became aware of it.



Afterward, I got talking with Rich, who curates and sources many of their vintage pieces on offer (including this one) and he was convinced and pretty sure it was an honest, all-original example, except obviously the second-hand.

However, I just realised, while relooking at the dial today (to compare with a potential incoming - more hopefully on that in a separate thread soon), that it has "T Swiss Made T" printed at the bottom, and as far as I am aware and have seen, almost all 135.004 Railmasters (including the PAF Seamaster variances) always have "Swiss Made" printed at the bottom of the dial.



T Swiss Made T would also be incorrect because the PAF variants (in the 60's) were always Radium and never Tritium.

While the dial and hands seem to match visually (I have no UV shots and it's obviously not possible to verify anymore), what's the consensus here about this dial? Is it original to the watch? I know just because pictures tell us one thing, doesn't mean another can't hold true (especially in the vintage watch collecting world) but I have trouble believing this to be the case here given that this second batch of PAF Railmasters (after the 2914's) was produced in a very tight run of (allegedly) approximately less than 1000.

Full listing here for those interested:

T Swiss Made T is not a legit (or rather known) variant of the PAF Speedmaster, reference 135.004.

I've never seen one (and I am not claiming personal or individual authority over this reference but I have obsessively looked for them for years). They may be legit for a civilian 135.004 but from what I have been able to discern, for the military version, radium (not tritium) dials were used despite being made in 63 (which is after when Omega conventionally stopped using Radium dials). The reason for this as well is that Omega used "older" dials, that was "available" to put together the request for these watches by the PAF.

Again, all part of speculative history about this model.

I've seen a civilian (not military) Swiss Made T, but never a T Swiss Made T.

I'd love for the experts (in this reference, and not just PAF variants) to chime in.

Not speculative. It is correct. I researched this reference with John Diethelm from the factory in the late 1990's.

Interesting thanks. Is this a verified PAF variant?

A similar question seems to have been discussed before with the common consensus being that the T on the left may have been added (by Omega?) later on...

More here:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/strange-2914-railmaster-with-t-swiss-made-t-dial.89067/

Found the original listing at Mathew Bain here.

Some observations:

- Listing makes no mention of this being a PAF reference.
- No caseback picture showing PAF engraving
- No mention of Omega extract confirming delivery of this watch to PAF.
- Serial no 197xxx is incorrect for a 135.004 reference and dates the movement to 1960 (probably a 2914 movement but even those had PAF engravings if it was a sub series 5 reference).

My conclusion is that this is a franken watch at best.

Having said that, here is a more credible PAF "T Swiss Made T" 135.004 Tritium dial:

Link: https://www.brevetwatches.de/en/wat...ref-135004-63-aus-dem-jahr-1963-paf-military/

My observations:

- The movement is in the right range (21087xxx) firmly placing it in "Batch 2" of the 135.004's that were issued to PAF around Dec 1964
- No case back pic or extract but mentions it was delivered to PAF so assume it's there but wasn't shown.

To me, the civilian 135.004's came with Tritium dials and it seems the military versions came with both (there are numerous examples of 135.004's with just "Swiss Made" but featuring Tritium dials and to me, these are also correct).

My Railmaster PAF, 135004-63, dated Apr. 64 from extract, has a SWISS MADE only dial.

And extract mentions " delivered to Pakistan Air Force. The watch bears the movement number 20.4XXXXX and a special military "P.A.F" engraving on the outside case back.