I guess I'm at the root of that nickname. It was born during the lengthy e-mail exchanges I had with the late Chuck Maddox, as we were trying to think of a way to refer to this special version. I suggested "Liberace Grail" because of its flamboyant looks, and it kinda stuck between us. I also used this nickname in many forum posts when describing this watch, so I guess other people started using it as well.
I would like to expand on your puzzlement at Omega's reluctance to keep using the calibre 1045 (a.k.a. Lemania 5100) in other full-size automatic chronographs. The sad truth is that, as hard as it may be to believe today, the Grail was a flop on the marketplace. In order to understand why, we have to remember when this watch came out: 1987. At the time, the basic Swatch was all the rage, and most watches tended to shrink in size. A legacy model like the Speedmaster Professional could weather this fashion because of its distinguished history and timeless appeal, but a new chronograph had to carve a niche for itself. Compared to what was out there at the time, the Grail was positively enormous! And for that reason, very few buyers were brave enough to strap on such a large watch when the standards of the time were so different. At about that time, I was a 18 year old making his first watch purchase and I got myself a Breitling Navitimer (silly me, how tastes change!). You would not believe how many people commented on my "clown watch" simply because of its size. But the Breitling had history and could survive alongside more compact models like the Callisto or the Chronomat, the latter proving extremely popular. Omega quickly realized that the Grail was not what their customers wanted, and the "Reduced", similar in size to the Chronomat, was their answer less than two years later.
The Liberace Grail is actually a direct offspring of the Stainless Steel version's failure to find its market. The Italian market model was introduced in 1990 as a way to get rid of the remaining stock of unsold Grails. That's why the inside of the case-back still has the ST376.0822 reference (in theory denoting a steel watch sold on bracelet) while the Liberace Grail only came with a leather strap (hence the correct DD376.0822 reference). Omega had previously made a similar looking Speedmaster Professional for Italy, and they probably figured that since it proved popular, they stood a chance to sell this new limited edition more easily than a model that no longer appeared on their catalog.
Thankfully, it means that a quarter of a century later aficionados like myself have another version to crave for...
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