Hi everyone,

Recently I replaced a few of the hands on my 1971 Seamaster. Pic 1 was how I received it and pic 2 shows the updated hands from Otto Frei. A few of my buddies helped me make this happen on WUS. One of those folks mentioned a syringe/needle hand seen in pic 3. Does anyone have any info regarding where to find this unicorn?
Specs: cal 1040 ref: 176.007

 

They are nearly impossible to find outside of a donor watch. I've been trying for a while myself. Note that you'll likely also want the hour hand replaced as the syringe hand will look older (tritium) whereas your current hour hand looks to be a luminova replacement (albeit a correct one).

Also note that your chrono seconds hand is incorrect (likely from a Speedmaster). Mine has exactly the same wrong hand, probably because ofrei incorrectly lists this as a replacement for the 176.007 case.

Gorgeous dial, by the way!

 

My apologies for being so green. But do you mean the chrono seconds hands on the left at 9 o'clock?

 

Oh it's more likely me who's green: I probably use incorrect terminology all the time (I tend to translate terms literally from my native tongue when I don't know the proper English term). I mean the central seconds hand that is pointing at the 97 mark on the tachy ring (bezel?) in picture 1 - the one with the diamond shaped lume dot. It's supposed to not have that widening bit with the lume near the pointy end.

 

It's interesting because I too have questioned that. I've seen this type on other examples and also on Otto Frei's site listed for that cal. Do you know what the correct seconds hand is? Is it like the one in photo 3? Long and skinny with no detail at the end ? I've attached a screenshot from otto's site.

 

Looking at the excellent reference work @Andy K created, none of the watches with the 1040 movement except the Speedmasters have this style of hand. I'm inclined to say it's never been original to a 176.007.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/an-encyclopedia-of-omega-cal-1040-and-1041-dials.36789/

The one in your picture 3 seems correct. It's difficult to say if the one in the otto Frei image you posted is the same one. The website also lists another one, which is supposedly for the Big Blue, is $2 more expensive, had a different (Ofrei) parts number, but seems identical in every way (176.004 also has the 1040 movement). Short answer: I don't know, but I'd love to find out.