If I not wrong the 176.xxx are the first models using the 1040 movement.
So it would be also a prototype or pre-production of 1040 movement .
I would imagine that a prototype of 1040 will be based on a 1340 and will not be rose copper finished.
That's a good point I hadn't considered. I have not seen the insides of a confirmed 1040 prototype. However, 1340/1341 would not have the 24 hour disc. So a fully functional prototype would require the Omega version of the movement.
A prototype of this supposed model of watch would not require a prototype ca.1040, in that it's possible that any 'prototyping' of a model could have been well after the introduction of the 1040 in several other models (.007, etc.).
Relative to the red circled 45 - my guess is that is for timing soccer match halves (using the central chronograph minute hand).
Assuming for the sake of argument (and not at all endorsing that assumption) this was in fact an Omega prototype, I would say this watch dial could have been a mock-up for the later and limited release FIFA, purportedly targeted at soccer/football referees. Ultimately that watch contained the cal.1045, and looked like this:
My understanding is that when organizations sought a watch to adopt, various manufacturers would provide - essentially - 'bid' watches. For example, i
n 1978 Omega submitted to NASA for flight qualification three watches including a prototype/predecessor Alaska III based on the cal. 1045 (but, the 145.022 was selected); the next year, in 1979, FIFA also sought a watch to issue to referees and selected three, and Omega submitted another cal. 1045-based watch (
and it was among a few officially adopted by FIFA and issued to their referees).
Now, I venture away from already sparse info and into pure fantasy: presumably, before submitting a watch to such an organization, Omega design would likely spitball various possible designs for submission. They may even from a pool of designs, select more than 1 to submit to the organization for consideration. Such a process in responding to design RFPs would be typical for many products.
Turning then to this watch (or more precisely, it's dial), the "45" at the 9 o'clock would be the primary support for any such view. One may stretch toward also the absence of the OMEGA logo as leaving space for FIFA design work, the lack of a line indication (speedmaster vs seamaster). By 1979, the cal. 1040 would be available (though near or past the end of it's more widely-used 'run'), as of course would be the case, blank case backs, etc., for purposes of creating a mock up. I'd also assume that such proposals by OMEGA would involve dials made one-off, rather than meeting full production quality control and tolerances.
So, it wouldn't be a pre-series mock-up or prototype, but a late-in-series (1978/9) mockup made to spitball designs for submission to FIFA.
That said, for the same reasons nothing about this specific watch for sale would be unique other than the dial. For the same reasons, with nothing but the dial, a person could build a full watch easily with existing parts on hand.
The above set out for sake of argument: bah. Absolute best case scenario would be a mock-up dial (and only the dial) for a design bid submission (which I think hardly qualifies as a 'prototype').
But, this watch altogether shows no signs of being even an Omega-made mock-up.
Those hands aren't reminiscent of anything in the Omega lineup at the time, and presumably any mock up for an organization like FIFA (in contrast to NASA) would have used largely parts on hand (excuse the pun) - as it turned out with the actual FIFA watch. And as previously mentioned by others on this thread, the hands on this watch (and I'll add all 4 central hands) are identical to the Tissot Navigator (why Omega would use those hands is the only thing MORE curious than why someone cobbling together this watch wouldn't have just used actual Omega hands). To that end, it's definitely not a "completely assembled prototype" as claimed by the seller.
