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Tom Dick
·Afternoon all
Well, as many of you who know me know, although I love all things Omega and have eclectic tastes from my early 28.9 and 33.3 chronograph’s to my Plo-Prof’s, the real passion I have is around early quartz Omegas. Not these mass produced ETA lumps Omega have been churning out since the 1980’s but the real first generation quartz watches, back from a time where they were absolutely ground breaking and cost more than any of their mechanical brethren.
We all now that many a forum aficionado will scoff at the soulless devils who have batteries instead of hearts but there are few amongst you who couldn’t say that Omega didn’t lead the quartz charge on behalf of the Swiss and that some of the watches they produced in the 1970’s were land mark achievements, whether that taking part (and without doubt capitalizing more than anyone else) on the first Swiss quartz watch; the Beta 21 (Electroquartz) or the ground breaking Chronoquartz of 1976, which was the worlds first anologue/ digital chronograph.
In terms of my own collection, I have owned hundreds of Omegas over the year, at my worst ‘hoarding’ stage I had over 100 in my own collection but over the course of the last two years I have slimmed this down to about 30 pieces, some are real rarities and other worth only a few hundred pounds.
Anyway, my mission over the last year has been obtaining the un-obtainable, it started with a hunt for a 2915-1, lots of people told me it couldn’t be done and I managed it and found an example which is one of the very few with an extract of archive confirming it’s status as a 2915-1. So this led me on a personal quest.
I am the only person I know of who has owned an Omega Elephant, a cal 1500 Megaquartz prototype of which they manufactured 5 and where the pre production watches of the Omega Marine Chronometer which appeared at he Basel fair in 1971.
That watch is now on display at STS, although it was running perfectly it shared absolutely no components with the production watch and as such I ran the risk that if it ever stopped it would be done for, so I let it go to somewhere it could be enjoyed by many.
Anyway, jumping forward to this year I was presented with an opportunity through a close friend to own not one but two Omega prototypes, one is the only example I know of and have ever seen, the other one of two I know of in the world, so I guess that constitutes rare? Maybe not is someone on the forum has Buzz Aldrins Speedy in a draw?
Anyway, lets cut to the chase:
My first watch is an Omega cal 1310 pre production prototype Megaquartz, although you will notice it is cosmetically virtually identical to the production TV dial, the case is plated brass and the movement is a pre production movement (benching at 0.09SPD so 3 SPM as opposed to the 5 SPM of the production watch) the movement very similar to the Omegamania watch.
The watch is a real oddity, it looks production ready but they never made a plated version of the watch, only SS and 18K. The case has a unique serial number stamped down the side but some of the details are really unique, example being they have gone to the effort of putting a constellation logo on the case back but instead of simply fitting a solid gold one (which they must have had thousands of from other models) this one is base metal plated.
Although the 32Khz Megaquartz are reasonable common and value wise still under £1000 I have never seen a gold cased prototype, only the Omegamania watch and the one that pops up in the US from time to time on ebay, a real rarity and a treat to know own.
As you can see from the above image the unique serial number is stamped in to the case side
Anyway, on to the main event, my second offering is something quite special (to me) as this represents my grail watch, a watch I have coveted for nearly 10 years, I know of one other example which is also in private hands, not even the museum have one and it represents the epitome (for me) of Omegas watch making, so here she is:
It is an Omega Megaquartz cal 1510 prototype, otherwise known as a ‘Stardust’ and the identical sister to Omegas Marine Chronometer. The watch has a 000 serial number movement and although appearing cosmetically identical to the production watch is in fact a prototype movement.
The case is a real chunk, solid stainless steel and it wear like a house brick, it appears almost production ready with starburst finish (although it is far coarser than other starburst’s I have seen.
The case is heavily machined to accommodate the movement, although the case back (secured with the usual period four screws) is machined to fit the wrist.
I am a close friend with the owner of the other example (it may even make an appearance on this thread) and having discussed this at length we are both fairly sure that these watches were basically pre production test watches to decide on a final case design.
So there we go chaps, although they may not be to everyone’s taste you can’t deny that a prototype Alaska for example or any prototype Omega is something quite special and to me these are true grail watches and will be remaining with me for a very long time to come.
Cheers Tom
Well, as many of you who know me know, although I love all things Omega and have eclectic tastes from my early 28.9 and 33.3 chronograph’s to my Plo-Prof’s, the real passion I have is around early quartz Omegas. Not these mass produced ETA lumps Omega have been churning out since the 1980’s but the real first generation quartz watches, back from a time where they were absolutely ground breaking and cost more than any of their mechanical brethren.
We all now that many a forum aficionado will scoff at the soulless devils who have batteries instead of hearts but there are few amongst you who couldn’t say that Omega didn’t lead the quartz charge on behalf of the Swiss and that some of the watches they produced in the 1970’s were land mark achievements, whether that taking part (and without doubt capitalizing more than anyone else) on the first Swiss quartz watch; the Beta 21 (Electroquartz) or the ground breaking Chronoquartz of 1976, which was the worlds first anologue/ digital chronograph.
In terms of my own collection, I have owned hundreds of Omegas over the year, at my worst ‘hoarding’ stage I had over 100 in my own collection but over the course of the last two years I have slimmed this down to about 30 pieces, some are real rarities and other worth only a few hundred pounds.
Anyway, my mission over the last year has been obtaining the un-obtainable, it started with a hunt for a 2915-1, lots of people told me it couldn’t be done and I managed it and found an example which is one of the very few with an extract of archive confirming it’s status as a 2915-1. So this led me on a personal quest.
I am the only person I know of who has owned an Omega Elephant, a cal 1500 Megaquartz prototype of which they manufactured 5 and where the pre production watches of the Omega Marine Chronometer which appeared at he Basel fair in 1971.
That watch is now on display at STS, although it was running perfectly it shared absolutely no components with the production watch and as such I ran the risk that if it ever stopped it would be done for, so I let it go to somewhere it could be enjoyed by many.
Anyway, jumping forward to this year I was presented with an opportunity through a close friend to own not one but two Omega prototypes, one is the only example I know of and have ever seen, the other one of two I know of in the world, so I guess that constitutes rare? Maybe not is someone on the forum has Buzz Aldrins Speedy in a draw?
Anyway, lets cut to the chase:
My first watch is an Omega cal 1310 pre production prototype Megaquartz, although you will notice it is cosmetically virtually identical to the production TV dial, the case is plated brass and the movement is a pre production movement (benching at 0.09SPD so 3 SPM as opposed to the 5 SPM of the production watch) the movement very similar to the Omegamania watch.
The watch is a real oddity, it looks production ready but they never made a plated version of the watch, only SS and 18K. The case has a unique serial number stamped down the side but some of the details are really unique, example being they have gone to the effort of putting a constellation logo on the case back but instead of simply fitting a solid gold one (which they must have had thousands of from other models) this one is base metal plated.
Although the 32Khz Megaquartz are reasonable common and value wise still under £1000 I have never seen a gold cased prototype, only the Omegamania watch and the one that pops up in the US from time to time on ebay, a real rarity and a treat to know own.
As you can see from the above image the unique serial number is stamped in to the case side
Anyway, on to the main event, my second offering is something quite special (to me) as this represents my grail watch, a watch I have coveted for nearly 10 years, I know of one other example which is also in private hands, not even the museum have one and it represents the epitome (for me) of Omegas watch making, so here she is:
It is an Omega Megaquartz cal 1510 prototype, otherwise known as a ‘Stardust’ and the identical sister to Omegas Marine Chronometer. The watch has a 000 serial number movement and although appearing cosmetically identical to the production watch is in fact a prototype movement.
The case is a real chunk, solid stainless steel and it wear like a house brick, it appears almost production ready with starburst finish (although it is far coarser than other starburst’s I have seen.
The case is heavily machined to accommodate the movement, although the case back (secured with the usual period four screws) is machined to fit the wrist.
I am a close friend with the owner of the other example (it may even make an appearance on this thread) and having discussed this at length we are both fairly sure that these watches were basically pre production test watches to decide on a final case design.
So there we go chaps, although they may not be to everyone’s taste you can’t deny that a prototype Alaska for example or any prototype Omega is something quite special and to me these are true grail watches and will be remaining with me for a very long time to come.
Cheers Tom
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