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Which was the first orange central second hand?

Caselock
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Hi there,
on another forum we were discussing when the central orange hand showed up first: was it Omega with the Ultraman in 1968? Or on the Seamaster chronographs? Or maybe on the Chronostop? Could it be that another brand was first?

If you have any insight here I would love to know when this all started.

Best,

caselock
 
Donn Chambers
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I have no solid evidence, but I would assume the first one was the Chronostop, with was introduced in the mid 60s. Most of the models had a red/orange central seconds hand. Can鈥檛 think of a Seamaster chronograph that had one until the 1970s.

and that鈥檚 just Omega. I鈥檓 pretty sure Heuer had several Autavia models with orange/red seconds hands as far back as the early 60s.
 
cristos71
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I think you're right Donn. The earliest Seamaster chrono with an orange hand I'd say would be the Bullhead 146.011 and they were a 1969 issue
 
kohster
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I don't think it was the first but my Geneve Dynamic Gen 1 from ~1969 has an orange seconds hand. Looks like those models were introduced starting in 1967?
 
Vitezi
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Factory-applied red central seconds appeared in the early 1940s on time-only sports watches, like this Aquasport from 1941:
upload_2023-11-4_13-23-8.jpeg
 
southtexas
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Seems like UG had them mid 60s also?

And Rolex on GMT starting in 50s.
 
Jonathan40
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Not seeming to be picky here but last 2 comments are referencing red. Original post asked about Orange.
 
southtexas
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Jonathan40 Jonathan40
Not seeming to be picky here but last 2 comments are referencing red. Original post asked about Orange.

you are right as to half of my post. UG, I believe, did use orange in mid 60s. Disregard my Rolex comment, as that was indeed red.
 
Caselock
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Thanks to your input it seems that the orange central second hand appearance narrows down to around 1966-1968. This weekend I searched the net for info. So far I have found documentation of the following, but I hope you can help to get this more precise. Very interesting original advertisements on chronomaddox.com. Maybe someone has EoA s to support the data?

A preliminary set-up:

Omega Chronostop 145.007: 1966 marked backs, but according to original ads it was launched for Mexico Olympics in 1968.
Omega Ultraman: 1968 according to MO book.
Omega Seamaster 145.005-66: 1966 marked in back, could not find any adverts so far. EoA's someone?
Omega Flightmaster: according to FO book: prototypes 1967, first launch 1969.
Omega Memomatic: 1968?
Heuer Orange Boy: 1970?
Breitling 1806: 1969
Enicar Sherpa Graph: 1969 (motorsport ads) Jim Clark and others

It seems that within the Omega family we can narrow it down to a very precise time frame, but I am unaware of other brands that offer equally good documentation such as Longines and others. Maybe someone could provide more insight?
 
S
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Caselock Caselock
Thanks to your input it seems that the orange central second hand appearance narrows down to around 1966-1968. This weekend I searched the net for info. So far I have found documentation of the following, but I hope you can help to get this more precise. Very interesting original advertisements on chronomaddox.com. Maybe someone has EoA s to support the data?

A preliminary set-up:

Omega Chronostop 145.007: 1966 marked backs, but according to original ads it was launched for Mexico Olympics in 1968.
Omega Ultraman: 1968 according to MO book.
Omega Seamaster 145.005-66: 1966 marked in back, could not find any adverts so far. EoA's someone?
Omega Flightmaster: according to FO book: prototypes 1967, first launch 1969.
Omega Memomatic: 1968?
Heuer Orange Boy: 1970?
Breitling 1806: 1969
Enicar Sherpa Graph: 1969 (motorsport ads) Jim Clark and others

It seems that within the Omega family we can narrow it down to a very precise time frame, but I am unaware of other brands that offer equally good documentation such as Longines and others. Maybe someone could provide more insight?
I have a 1969 Memomatic that was given to me in 1969. I need a new crystal with the date magnifier. Does anyone know the Omega part number?
 
SOG53
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I have seen a 2577 Seamaster "Medical Corps" from 1953, but cant recall if it was red or orange sweep.
 
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