Difference between 1498 and 1499 bracelet?

Two more questions about the 1499/842 bracelet...
First, ... some come with SWISS MADE text inside the clasp... others without this text ?
Maybe original with the watch and after market spare part ?
Secondly... What does the 32 in a circle stand for ? clasp mechanism ?
MoonwatchOnly states the number on the clasp should be 62 ?
.

I looked into this some more since originally posting this thread and it seems like before the 1499/842 was made, Omega produced the 1479/812 until about 1996 which looked like this (almost identical clasp text to the 1499/842 you posted above)



When the 1499/842 was originally released it looked like this.



Then at some point in it's short two year existence it was changed to look like this (below), they updated the text to say "Swiss Made", as well as the number being (62) instead of (32) and the end links are now stamped "842"...also the little "notches" that were previously cut into the end links got filled in...(no idea why they were even there - it didn't have hollow end links on the bracelet so they just seem like a strange cosmetic thing).



Very shortly after doing this they brought out the 1498/840 which was used from about 1998-1999 or 2000-ish, for some reason both it and the later 1998/840 bracelet were in use and sold on Speedmasters at the same time and existed alongside one another.

The only difference between the 1499/842 and 1498/840 was that the newer 1498/840 had a slightly sharper, more modern laser engraved type look to the font used that would probably have suited a watch in the late 1990's better compared to the softer, almost hand engraved type look on the 1499/842 which was using the same kind of machine work as bracelets from late 1980's and early 1990's like the 1479/812.

Given that Omega was about to perform a large scale brand overhaul and modernisation with the resurrection of the Seamaster 300m (Bond partnership), introduction of Co-Axial, discontinuation of Tritium...it was fitting to start using a more modern looking engraving font too for the turn of the millennium and Omega's new era



They then changed to the 1998/840 bracelet in 1998 which went to a 20-18mm taper rather than the previous 20-16mm, alongside the introduction of the recently created (in 1993) Super-LumiNova and this bracelet went through a bunch of minor cosmetic revisions until it was replaced in 2014 by the 1958/957 bracelet which we still have on the current Speedmaster Professional.

(Edit - this bracelet has now been replaced in 2021 by a new bracelet, reference 020STZ013434)



It took me hours of comparing photos online to actually try and work out these differences between the bracelets since nobody really seems to actually know why some 1499/842 say Swiss Made and others don't. Even the Moonwatch Only reference book doesn't seem to have a clear answer why.

To me it just seems like the original batch didn't say it because they were using leftover parts from the 1479/812 clasps so it's a sort of transitional clasp part and this was changed with the later 1499/842 models.

I wondered this question myself too since my 1499/842 I picked up off eBay for my modern Speedmaster didn't say Swiss Made either and looks the same as yours so I thought it was a fake bracelet but digging deeper for a while seems to have revealed the answer.

I don't know what (32) and (62) stand for - The 1171/633-1 in the mid 80's was the first bracelet to be stamped (32) as was every bracelet afterwards until the updated 1499/842 which said (62).

The Moonwatch only book is wrong where it says the 1499/842 number on clasp is (62) because it can be (32) as well.

Good luck with your search, mine came to me very quickly - I pretty much read about all the bracelets and ended up deciding on a 1499 then within practically a day or two found one on eBay with a full length bracelet for £300 buy it now. I've got every single link taken out of it to fit my 5.9 inch wrist and the bracelet is 6 inches at it's smallest.

For some reason, my post above was removed, not sure why. Thank you for your input.

@Owlsu
Great bit of researching these bracelets... I'm happy my first luminova series Speedmaster Pro has the rare/original 1499/842 without Swiss Made 👍

Hi, the 1499 and 1498 are 20mm at the watch head then they taper down to 16mm. The clasp on them is 17mm though. I'm pretty sure it would be 17mm on the 1498 (which I don't have) since it's the exact same bracelet, just with a slightly different engraving method and some extremely minor internal tweaks to do with pin position and the way it closes I think (nobody seems to really know what they changed inside or why from what I can see)

I just took off my Speedmaster with 1499 on to measure the clasp and yes, it is 17mm.

Thank you Sir,
so... is the taper identical on both bracelets (20mm to 16mm)? And is the clasp width identical on both bracelets (17mm)?

my 1498 tapers from 20 to 16, and has a buckle width = 17,7mm.

Yes they're both 20>16, they're basically the exact same bracelet. From what I've found out in the last 2 years the only difference I can see between them both is that the 1499 maybe used traditional tool engraving for the "Omega Speedmaster Professional" text whereas the 1498 was done with the more modern laser engraving like every single Omega you find from 2000-now. Laser engraving just makes text look marginally more sharp and precise.

I have no idea what the internal changes were - my 1499 is in the region of 22 odd years old at this point and has no stretch, doesn't come undone on it's own and still looks almost as new (other than being very scratched) yet it's worn 23.5 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Whatever they felt the need to change inside between the 1499 and 1498 frankly wasn't anything of serious importance of fault that actually warranted any real change.

The 1499 and 1498 are exactly the same basically and have the same measurements and wear the same on the wrist. They look identical and are practically impossible to tell apart without looking at the model number on the inner clasp or end link markings.

I seldom use my 1498 anymore, in favour of the 1171. The transition between the convex shape of the 840 endlinks, and the flat (cross section) links of the bracelet, just annoys me.
Just for the fun of it, I fixed my 1498 bracelet to a couple of 930 endlinks and put it on my 2531 Seamaster Pro. Looks very good IMO 😀
I wish there existed endlinks for the Speedmaster with the same curvature as the 930´s

Very informative thread!

Just wanted to add a difference I’ve noticed about the 1498 bracelets. While looking at a photo of another 1498 today, I noticed the font on the clasp was slightly different to mine that came on my 3560.50. It becomes obvious if you look at the “O”s in “Professional”. I’ve found many examples of both so I believe they are both valid configurations...

second photo from omega-addict.com

Did you look at the 849 links?