Hello all

I’ve just joined the forum with hope to finally uncover some history to my Omega Constellation.

I was lucky to be given this watch on my 21 Birthday in 1997. It was second hand and never came with any box / papers etc.

I have always had a great pride in the watch. I am aware it’s not especially valuable or desired but I have always loved it and 21 years as a companion has not deterred my affections. I have a few other Swiss watches, none of them are as nice to wear as the Constellation, even my Rolex is not as nice to wear as this one. I probably could lose all other things I own and not be bothered, but this watch I would miss.

Anyway, in the absence of papers I really don’t know 100% what model my watch is and what year it is from etc and I am hoping someone in the know will be gracious enough to help me.

All I know is that it’s likely a Manhattan
It is possibly a 85-87 model. I am thinking 97.
It’s fully Stainless Steel ( no gold here and gold finish seems to be a bit more common )
The number on the bracelet clasp is 1448/431

Seems 33mm dial / seems to be 35mm to stem

I have serviced it via Omega every 5 years ( it’s due soon ) but they have never told me anything about the watch in the receipts

The dial is silver and hands blue. The reverse of the watch has no observatory etching. Just Omega Constellation written on it. A high % of the ones I see on eBay do not match mine, a friend of mine has a later model ( he bought his after I had mine ) and it’s thicker for some reason.

I’d love to know what movement it has, some ETA suggestions have been found via eBay, but not clear on which one is which.

I’ve never been able to find the proper box and paper work. I have no chance when I am not 100% sure what period the watch is from. I am pretty sure that under the rear casing there is only a watch specific number sequence so that does not help, and I am not keen on taking off the back myself on the off chance of finding a code. Especially as I don’t have a watch press.

Thanks all,

Lee

 

Nice watch, it's not a Manhattan though which was a specific model with "claws" pressing down the glass. Google will find you many pics, including some with Robert Wagner (aka #2) who was featured in ads if memory serves.

It's a Constellation quartz calendar watch (model number ST 396.1070) with the 1444 movement or maybe the rarer TC 1445 but a movement picture would be needed to ascertain this.

 

Thanks v much for the guide and helpful information.

Would 85-87 be the right ?

 

It was launched in 1987 apparently.

 

Thanks again. The information has enabled me to get to this: https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-omega-constellation-omega-db-396-1070

Which is a match

Just need to figure out where I can get a box and some papers for the old beauty now

 

Sure ;-)
You can try to find pictures/listings for that model to get an idea of what the original box might have looked like but I doubt it was anything special.

 

Yes, your watch is actually called a "Hibou" , meaning owl eyes, and is based on the updated version of the Manhattan, which by that time had lost a bit of its Manhattanness.

 

Interesting, I take it "Hibou" is a reference to the two sub dials ? In the 70s Omega watches had nicknames based on the movement, or rather movements had nicknames, like the Fourmi (131x) or Léopard (133x).

 

Yes, the subdials in some dial configurations looked like owl eyes. I believe the name was coined by Omega

 

my “Hibou”....from 1986...ss +18kt solid gold

 

Your watch is amazing. This Constellation Manhattan model, also called the Owl, have the reference 396.1070, 396.1080. They were introduced in 1987, already into the second generation of the Manhattan model. So it never existed with the first crystal un-bezeled model. In this reference, some came with caliber 1444, a very good quartz movement, and some came with an even more remarkable movement, 1445. Let's not forget that Omega, as one of the major developers of quartz technology, even when it used ETA movements, like here, put only the highest quality quartz movements of their time, and these were made for these watches, in family calibers. Let's also not forget that ETA Quartz division was made from previous Omega Quartz Division and Longines Quartz Division, THE most advanced quartz developers in the world, only very few Citizens and a rare Seiko could compete with these. So, some calibers 1444 were Chronometer Certified and some weren't, because already Quartz accuracy was many times better than that of mechanical movements. But some few were Chronometer Certified. Omega sent in for certification almost all their quartz Constellations until the very late 80's. So, any of the 1444 are extremely good movements, with metallic gear train and everything you could expect from Omega. Both are very accurate, just one is Certified and the other is not. What is even more interesting here is caliber 1445. So, Caliber 1445 is a strongly modified version of 1444, it is thermocompensated, so it is a HAQ, and along with caliber 1441, also thermocompensated, Omega returned to the race for producing the most accurate watches in the world, which Omega stablished with their Megaquartz in 1973. With the Megaquartz Omega produced in-house movements with a different shape of quartz resonator that worked at 2.4 Million Hertz (!). A normal quartz movement uses 32,768Hz frequency. The extremely high frequency made it accurate to around 10 seconds per year. A normal, good quartz today, is accurate to around 256 seconds per year. A deviation of 0.7 seconds per day. Megaquartz with 2.4M were 25.6 times more accurate. To return to these Constellations, Omega wanted to return to that kind of performance with these models. So, caliber 1445 has a very interesting solution: it has two quartz resonators, one vibrates at 32,769Hz, the normal frequency, and the other at 262KHz. The difference between them allows to produce a thermocompensation effect, and 1445 is, in fact, accurate to 10 seconds per year. This is a record that has only been improved by very few and very recently. The new Longines VHP is accurate to 5 seconds per year, and the Citizen Chronometer with caliber 0100 is the most extreme accuracy obtained in a wearable watch by its own means: 1 second off per year. This are very recent watches. 10 seconds per year, as these Omega achieved in the early 70's and then in the 80's with these precise models, with caliber 1445, or in only date model, 1441, was for decades the very best that could be obtained. Rolex Oysterquartz, to give a context, was expected to perform with an accuracy of up to 1 minute off per year, and that was until the year 2001. 10 seconds off in 1973 or 1987 was really amazing. Also these movements can be regulated for improved accuracy, and the system for regulating in the 1441 and 1445 is extremely refined for very precise small changes in accuracy. Caliber 1445 was produced for very short time, also 1441 in the date model and in the Seamaster 200. These thermocompensated models were produced probably only in 1987 and 1988. The next thermocompensated model was the Perpetual Calendar (Caliber 1680) in the late 90's. In fact, these are rarer than the automatic models. I have one Manhattan identical to yours, but with the Observatory in the back, with caliber 1445. After 35 years last year was off by only 2 seconds...! You do have to service them, not as often as mechanical movements, but they do have to be cleaned and oiled.

In terms of design, very few designs from the 80's are great, and even iconic, to me this design is as iconic as Gerald Genta's best, and from a decade where not many great designs were made. This is one of the very few from that era that survives in production, with changes, but strongly based on the original design.

Cheers, and tell us if yours has the 1444 or the 1445. Either of them are amazing, but the 1445 has that especial plus. I'll leave you with two pictures of mine, which I have used almost daily for about 35 years.