As we all know Omega has a tendency of issuing multiple limited editions of their watches to commemorate many events, but in most of the cases the number of pieces are thousands (in some, like the Speedmaster Apollo 11 40th anniversary steel version and the James Bond Seamaster Casino Royale, they did 7,969 and 10,007 pieces, respectively! . There are a few editions with small amount of pieces (like the platinum version of the Speedmaster Apollo 11 40th anniversary, which has 69) but most of the low number pieces are precious metals and as such very hard to see in the wild or acquire. However, there are a few limited editions that have been launched on steel, mostly for sport events from what have found, with a low number of pieces issued. Such is the case of the 2009 Maccabiah Games (Israel), where they released 118 Seamaster Professional pieces and the 1994 Lillehammer Games (Norway), where they released the “Olympia” Seamaster Professional in 5 different versions: 18-carat gold (49 pieces), medium size chronometer (194 pieces), full size chronometer (194 pieces), medium size quartz (numbered) and full size quartz (numbered). I recenlty acquire the full size chronometer version (#9/194), which has a white wave dial (which is fairly uncommon) with a cool red logo of the swiss flag and the olympic rings: Wonder what other limited number stainless steel editions (lets say, with under 200 pieces) exist and if anyone here owns one to post pictures
something wrong with the lume going out the metal border? what kind of lume is that color? interesting. Unique piece. Congrats
I had the dial relumed (luminova) by my watchmarker along with service as the markers developed mold (watch had defective crown thread when I purchased it; previous owner had it on safe stored for a long time. Apparently humidity got in through time). The dial is not available from Omega (not even through exchange) so reluming was the only option other than leaving the mold on the dial (hands were replaced). Will need to have the excess lume on some of the markers removed later but left it as is for now:
I wonder how is that luminova aged like that. Even with humidity got inside a case. The rest of dial is so clean. https://www.fratellowatches.com/will-super-luminova-discolor/
According to the Omega Journey Through Time book (below) the watch lume plots were tritium (even though the dial doesn’t have a “T”; just says Swiss Made). Think that would probably explain their aging / deterioration in the presence of humidity
I just snagged this Seamaster NY Boutique Limited Edition, 399 pieces made and can only be purchased by physically walking into the 5th Ave flagship boutique...and they are still holding them back for VIP customers.
Good find and cool story as lately I agree everything Omega is a LE lol. Kinda cool to see truly LEs exist.
True! The case of this watch from Omega is also rare in respect to the sponsorship of the 1994 Lillehammer (Sweden) winter games, which were awarded to Seiko. Seems like Omega wanted to make a statement out of the games anyway and, according to Omega JTT, they issued the LE watches and gave one to each member of swiss olympic team plus issue a small private run for the swiss market. That’s the reason it has the swiss flag and the olympic ring symbol on the dial
All Omegas pre 1997 had tritium lume (well back as far as 1962 anyhow) so this is normal, in many cases on 1990s watches it doesn’t look great and often fades differently to the hands, you see it on early SMPs quite a lot. I like that LE, I didn’t realise it was so rare as I have seen a few crop up over the years. The fried egg lume was what put me off so I can see why you wanted to improve it. I would get it tidied up though.
I do have the box set for mine, but not the colored bands; PM me the information from the seller or the thread to check it out; thanks