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fizz
·Background:
Deep within the caverns of my mind, a quest was born years ago, a quest for a horological unicorn, a watch that would one day consume all my thoughts. The journey began with the cryptic breadcrumb of a 2015 Hodinkee "Bring a Loupe" article. The tantalizing piece suggested that somewhere out there, in the wild, existed an Omega 2914, a Railmaster in its essence, yet adorned with a Seamaster dial and engraved with the enigmatic initials "P.A.F." on its caseback. Not only did the caseback bear these cryptic initials, but, in an astonishing and rare act of what I consider collaborative co-creation, the very heart of the watch, its movement, too, carried the same trifecta of letters. This was no ordinary timepiece; this was a watch issued to the Pakistan Airforce in the year 1960.
My mind was well and truly blown.
As per lore, these specially assembled watches were issued to the Pakistan Airforce with a Seamaster dial, owing to the negative connotations associated with the word "Rail," and in 2017, I officially started looking for one. There were a few offered at auctions for the next couple of years, but I was neither a competent/confident bidder nor willing to spend anywhere near where those bids usually ended.
The Watch:
The trick with these watches was to know what you were getting into. They had to be within a very, very precise serial range. As per the definitive Omega bible "A Journey through Time," (authored by a past Omega Museum curator) exactly 277 of these were made for the Airforces in a consecutive serial range. The Seamaster font on the dial had a "coat-hanger S" and a "dropping r". The radium lume was applied in recessed wells or slits in the dial, not on the surface, and many other considerations such as the existence of an Extract from the Omega archive to validate that the watch (or at least the movement) was commissioned for military use.
The find:
Over time, my spending limits increased, aided in no small part by a 2-year long hunt, and I found myself conversing, purely by chance, with forum member @oddboy. We shared a common appreciation for the watch and I was initially led to him by reading other threads about his quests in acquiring one. To my surprise and utter delight, he had one in possession and was willing to part with it. I was "in talks" with him for many months, partially because he wasn't pushing to sell and I wasn't rushing to buy (since I still needed to shore up the necessary funds) but also because I asked for time to "validate" it. No effort was spared and I spoke to many knowledgeable people, including prominent forum members (@gemini4, @michael e) but especially the always approachable @watchyouwant who via additional pictures and questions, carefully deconstructed every important element of the watch to validate it. Once he was satisfied, I knew this was the one to get.
Oddboy and I agreed on a fair price, shook virtual hands and I gave him an approximate time period for how long I would need to sell a few more pieces and collect funds before I made the purchase. We even talked about me potentially flying out to meet him at his home base, but for various reasons, this never worked out (damn you COVID). What exacerbated the situation was that I made other purchases (like my Ed White) during this period, because well, winning an auction is never something you can plan. Soon enough, our sporadic conversations slowed down, I got distracted by other pursuits (and watches) and oddboy stopped responding (I suspected probably because he thought I wasn't serious anymore).
Time is a funny thing. It has a certain way of forcing thoughts that are at the back of your mind to the fore, pushing you to accept that things are either changing too fast or not changing at all, thereby coercing you to act. And so, after over a year of no correspondence, earlier this month, on the eve of my 44th birthday, I messaged him again asking him if we could go ahead with where we left off.
He replied literally within a minute,
A week later, as the world watched, commented, and ridiculed (or praised) the latest topical Swatch release, I tracked the movements of Flight FX8 from Memphis to Dubai (habits of an aviation enthusiast).
A couple of days later, it was finally on my wrist.
In watch collecting, I feel there are distinctly two types of watches that draw you in - those that are highly collectible and those that are relatable. But in the rare situation where the two intersect you have a strange, indescribable epiphany like calling to possess it. And that’s what I felt about the Omega 2914 PAF's.
They have forever been considered the forgotten reference, the silent sentinel that valiantly stood between the Speedmaster, which received all the press, and the Seamaster, which positioned itself as the rival to the Submariner. Few (outside a niche circle such as the one here) spoke about or cared for the Railmaster. When a country of limited (read, none) horological significance issued this watch for use by its airforce personnel, fewer still noticed. But to me, it's a very special piece, more special than any watch has ever been or will be, and that is what makes this quest and acquisition so personal and fulfilling in ways that few will ever be.
(P.S. If you've come this far, and read so much, I want to reward you with a few more pictures of a watch that I also think is a wonderful strap magnet in its own right).
Deep within the caverns of my mind, a quest was born years ago, a quest for a horological unicorn, a watch that would one day consume all my thoughts. The journey began with the cryptic breadcrumb of a 2015 Hodinkee "Bring a Loupe" article. The tantalizing piece suggested that somewhere out there, in the wild, existed an Omega 2914, a Railmaster in its essence, yet adorned with a Seamaster dial and engraved with the enigmatic initials "P.A.F." on its caseback. Not only did the caseback bear these cryptic initials, but, in an astonishing and rare act of what I consider collaborative co-creation, the very heart of the watch, its movement, too, carried the same trifecta of letters. This was no ordinary timepiece; this was a watch issued to the Pakistan Airforce in the year 1960.
My mind was well and truly blown.
As per lore, these specially assembled watches were issued to the Pakistan Airforce with a Seamaster dial, owing to the negative connotations associated with the word "Rail," and in 2017, I officially started looking for one. There were a few offered at auctions for the next couple of years, but I was neither a competent/confident bidder nor willing to spend anywhere near where those bids usually ended.
The Watch:
The trick with these watches was to know what you were getting into. They had to be within a very, very precise serial range. As per the definitive Omega bible "A Journey through Time," (authored by a past Omega Museum curator) exactly 277 of these were made for the Airforces in a consecutive serial range. The Seamaster font on the dial had a "coat-hanger S" and a "dropping r". The radium lume was applied in recessed wells or slits in the dial, not on the surface, and many other considerations such as the existence of an Extract from the Omega archive to validate that the watch (or at least the movement) was commissioned for military use.
The find:
Over time, my spending limits increased, aided in no small part by a 2-year long hunt, and I found myself conversing, purely by chance, with forum member @oddboy. We shared a common appreciation for the watch and I was initially led to him by reading other threads about his quests in acquiring one. To my surprise and utter delight, he had one in possession and was willing to part with it. I was "in talks" with him for many months, partially because he wasn't pushing to sell and I wasn't rushing to buy (since I still needed to shore up the necessary funds) but also because I asked for time to "validate" it. No effort was spared and I spoke to many knowledgeable people, including prominent forum members (@gemini4, @michael e) but especially the always approachable @watchyouwant who via additional pictures and questions, carefully deconstructed every important element of the watch to validate it. Once he was satisfied, I knew this was the one to get.
Oddboy and I agreed on a fair price, shook virtual hands and I gave him an approximate time period for how long I would need to sell a few more pieces and collect funds before I made the purchase. We even talked about me potentially flying out to meet him at his home base, but for various reasons, this never worked out (damn you COVID). What exacerbated the situation was that I made other purchases (like my Ed White) during this period, because well, winning an auction is never something you can plan. Soon enough, our sporadic conversations slowed down, I got distracted by other pursuits (and watches) and oddboy stopped responding (I suspected probably because he thought I wasn't serious anymore).
Time is a funny thing. It has a certain way of forcing thoughts that are at the back of your mind to the fore, pushing you to accept that things are either changing too fast or not changing at all, thereby coercing you to act. And so, after over a year of no correspondence, earlier this month, on the eve of my 44th birthday, I messaged him again asking him if we could go ahead with where we left off.
He replied literally within a minute,
A week later, as the world watched, commented, and ridiculed (or praised) the latest topical Swatch release, I tracked the movements of Flight FX8 from Memphis to Dubai (habits of an aviation enthusiast).
A couple of days later, it was finally on my wrist.
In watch collecting, I feel there are distinctly two types of watches that draw you in - those that are highly collectible and those that are relatable. But in the rare situation where the two intersect you have a strange, indescribable epiphany like calling to possess it. And that’s what I felt about the Omega 2914 PAF's.
They have forever been considered the forgotten reference, the silent sentinel that valiantly stood between the Speedmaster, which received all the press, and the Seamaster, which positioned itself as the rival to the Submariner. Few (outside a niche circle such as the one here) spoke about or cared for the Railmaster. When a country of limited (read, none) horological significance issued this watch for use by its airforce personnel, fewer still noticed. But to me, it's a very special piece, more special than any watch has ever been or will be, and that is what makes this quest and acquisition so personal and fulfilling in ways that few will ever be.
(P.S. If you've come this far, and read so much, I want to reward you with a few more pictures of a watch that I also think is a wonderful strap magnet in its own right).
Edited:
