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Tom Dick
·Hi all
Well, as many of you know I am a penchant for Omega and for me nothing represents them better than the period between 1969 and 1980 when they were the masters of innovation and watch making excellence (IMHO).
Being a fan of this period and a child of the 70’s of course leans me toward the devil in sheeps clothing that is the quartz watch, and ‘my’ did Omega make some gems, the Marine Chronometer, Albatros, Megaquartz 32Khz, the list goes on.
Sadly this ‘hay day’ for the brand also nearly led to its’ demise and had it not been for the humble swatch watch Omega would also certainly have ceased to exist sometime in the mid to late eighties, by which time their ‘range’ lacked the inspiration and most importantly quality of their earlier products.
Now, everyone will of course be familiar (unless you have been in a watch lovers coma since 1957) that Omega are probably most famed for the Moon Watch, the Speedmaster professional which in various guises has accompanied most men in to space, Many of you will also know that over the years Omega have refined this already excellent machine and prototyped a number of models designed specifically for space use in an attempt to improve on the Speedy, amazingly they have usually (with the exception of the X-33) failed
For those of you familiar with the Speedmaster story you will know that a big part of it and the mythology focuses around the “Alaska project’ headed by Pierre Chopard, he and his team worked tirelessly to improve the already great Speedy and their work resulted in three prototypes I, II, III,
Five first gen prototypes were made in various case designs, some seen below
All watches were designed specifically for NASA use in space, white/ silver dials for less heat absorption and better visibility, new hands, again for better visibility and protective outer cases for (you guessed it) protection and easier use
The third was classed as 11003, which later became the Omega ‘FIFA’ watch, at the same time they trailed the ‘cushion case’ speedsonic, all three watches submitted survived but Omega still opted to go with the trust Speedmaster professional.
So, where am I going you ask??? Well, I bought a new watch last week (reveal shortly but sadly no it isn’t an Alaska prototype), whilst searching for info I happened across Omegas new Museum website and found this extract:
“OMEGA created a new prototype the “Alaska IV” based on the Speedmaster Professional Quartz reference ST186.0004 with a calibre 1621 movement which used a system called the BETA light that consisted of two tritium tubes behind the LCD display to illuminate the display. Twelve examples were sent to NASA astronauts who tested the watch in training and on the Space Shuttle. Ultimately, they chose not to adopt the watch”
I had heard that Omega had produced LCD’s and knew about the Condor project but I had no idea that they had produced a IV Alaska based on one of their LCD range.
So, here is my NOS 186003 running cal 1620, I would imagine looking at the above quote that very little was changed other than the introduction of the Trit tubes for illumination, The case may have had a screw back to allow for a slightly thicker movement. I would also have thought they would have added larger pushers, but I can’t find a single image or reference other than the one above.
I’ve owned a few of these before but always wanted a NOS example, now I have one, fresh from a full service but (as usual by the specialist vintage department) at STS I give you one of the rarest production Speedmasters ever made which became the forgotten Alaska prototype:
One really interesting thing to note is that the watch has ‘swiss made’ on the LCD crystal display, I have owned four of these now and never once seen a NOS one so didn’t realise this was an integral part of the watch
Cheers Tom
Well, as many of you know I am a penchant for Omega and for me nothing represents them better than the period between 1969 and 1980 when they were the masters of innovation and watch making excellence (IMHO).
Being a fan of this period and a child of the 70’s of course leans me toward the devil in sheeps clothing that is the quartz watch, and ‘my’ did Omega make some gems, the Marine Chronometer, Albatros, Megaquartz 32Khz, the list goes on.
Sadly this ‘hay day’ for the brand also nearly led to its’ demise and had it not been for the humble swatch watch Omega would also certainly have ceased to exist sometime in the mid to late eighties, by which time their ‘range’ lacked the inspiration and most importantly quality of their earlier products.
Now, everyone will of course be familiar (unless you have been in a watch lovers coma since 1957) that Omega are probably most famed for the Moon Watch, the Speedmaster professional which in various guises has accompanied most men in to space, Many of you will also know that over the years Omega have refined this already excellent machine and prototyped a number of models designed specifically for space use in an attempt to improve on the Speedy, amazingly they have usually (with the exception of the X-33) failed
For those of you familiar with the Speedmaster story you will know that a big part of it and the mythology focuses around the “Alaska project’ headed by Pierre Chopard, he and his team worked tirelessly to improve the already great Speedy and their work resulted in three prototypes I, II, III,
Five first gen prototypes were made in various case designs, some seen below
All watches were designed specifically for NASA use in space, white/ silver dials for less heat absorption and better visibility, new hands, again for better visibility and protective outer cases for (you guessed it) protection and easier use
The third was classed as 11003, which later became the Omega ‘FIFA’ watch, at the same time they trailed the ‘cushion case’ speedsonic, all three watches submitted survived but Omega still opted to go with the trust Speedmaster professional.
So, where am I going you ask??? Well, I bought a new watch last week (reveal shortly but sadly no it isn’t an Alaska prototype), whilst searching for info I happened across Omegas new Museum website and found this extract:
“OMEGA created a new prototype the “Alaska IV” based on the Speedmaster Professional Quartz reference ST186.0004 with a calibre 1621 movement which used a system called the BETA light that consisted of two tritium tubes behind the LCD display to illuminate the display. Twelve examples were sent to NASA astronauts who tested the watch in training and on the Space Shuttle. Ultimately, they chose not to adopt the watch”
I had heard that Omega had produced LCD’s and knew about the Condor project but I had no idea that they had produced a IV Alaska based on one of their LCD range.
So, here is my NOS 186003 running cal 1620, I would imagine looking at the above quote that very little was changed other than the introduction of the Trit tubes for illumination, The case may have had a screw back to allow for a slightly thicker movement. I would also have thought they would have added larger pushers, but I can’t find a single image or reference other than the one above.
I’ve owned a few of these before but always wanted a NOS example, now I have one, fresh from a full service but (as usual by the specialist vintage department) at STS I give you one of the rarest production Speedmasters ever made which became the forgotten Alaska prototype:
One really interesting thing to note is that the watch has ‘swiss made’ on the LCD crystal display, I have owned four of these now and never once seen a NOS one so didn’t realise this was an integral part of the watch
Cheers Tom
