What's the story behind that one? Watched the auction for the hell of it but wanted to know more about the occasion behind that particular LE
I had one last year, they're pretty rare and I believe production was just a few hundred units in the early 80s. It went to a collector in Singapore. I had one of the inverse pieces last year as well, which were a limited series out of 500 produced for the Italian market in 1986. The one on eBay definitely needs a service and that bezel needs some help but I'm sure it will clean up nicely. The two-tone 1171 was exclusive to that model and replacements cannot be made by Omega, so the fact it has the bracelet (with the correct two tone end links) is a huge plus. I think these are undervalued just because not enough people know about them. Unique pieces for sure.
That's a great question. I have no idea. The gold dialed two-tone wasn't a limited edition as far as my research has told me. The black dial one was limited for Italy in 1986, although I don't know if it commemorated anything or was simply a limited release piece.
Both of these pieces are really interesting (and somewhat unique), but despite my best efforts to try and like them, I find both of them visually unattractive. The LE Italian model looks strange with white hands and the muddy gold color (I like a glowing yellow gold, or a deep rich red gold... this is neither). I like the champagne dial 80's two-tone a bit better, but it seems misplaced as its not connected to anything. I guess I'm not alone as it was quietly discontinued after poor sales, which makes it better now given there aren't very many of them out there.
They're not to commemorate an event per se as far as I know, just interesting LE's that probably played to their flashiness of their era. What I always found interesting though is the thought that these may be the first two Panda dial Speedmasters, the Gemini IV, Apollo 11 35th, Mitsukoshi, Speediorite etc all have a big following for that feature but I don't think (correct me here if I'm wrong) that there's a Panda pre-dating the DD145.0022.
This watch is not an LE nor is it SE. It not numbered nor limited. It was also not limited to Italian market. Just a two-tone 145.022 from mid 1980's made for few years to probably compete with other brands who were putting out two-tone sports watches at that time.
Two tones were huge for a while. Still get more comments on this than any watch I own. Odd that mostly it's guys my age that comment " always wanted one when they came out"
A co-worker proudly showed me his, said that Rolex was passé and no one wanted them any more. I bought the Rolex.
I like both of these tbh, I think its shows just how cool the 80's was! The Italian was also done in a re-run in 1989 with the letter A inferno of the limited number. The one @Fredrik (Swe) has is for the German market iirc.
When I got got more interested in watches. I inquired about these. I did not know the model names for these Tags, so I tried describing them. No one could figure out what I was talking about.