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1] The boilerplate response I've already committed to electrons elsewhere:
A personal admission: I'm the one to blame for "the Grail Watch" moniker...
My first Vintage Omega eBay purchase was nearly a 376.0822 out of Germany in January of 1999. Because the 376.0822 was in Germany, I didn't know any German (hell anyone in Germany at the time), I went instead for a 176.012 the most common of the 7-8 Speedmaster c.1045 variants which sports a Mark II/IV style case) out of Iowa for around the same money (about $600 USD). I had owned my Mark II for 15 years at this point, that style case was a known quantity to me, and if I had a problem with the watch I figured I could gas up my Explorer and drive out to Iowa if need be, I couldn't really do that with the German watch.
About a month later I realized I wish I had bought both examples... So I stared looking for another example to purchase. And I searched, and searched, and searched. The only one I found was listed at over $10,000 on a Japanese website and there wasn't a speck of English on that site aside from "Omega Speedmaster" and Arabic numbers. It took me a year and a half to find another one (aside from the Japanese origin one) offered for sale and it was on eBay out of Philadelphia. I got into a three way shootout for it with a fellow TZOFer and one of the well healed Japanese collectors and came out in 3rd place with an winning bid well north of $2,700 (this is summer 2001). I finally tracked one down about six to eight months later with the help of another TZOFer and brought home my example. During this quest I searched with the intensity that King Arthur searched for the Holy Grail and I began calling this model "the Grail" because I was that obsessed with it.
I know at least a half a dozen collectors who now own the Grail who can tell similar tales of the hunt, the near miss(es), the disappointment, the despair and the final joy of getting one. Hence, "the Grail"!
As for the 376.0822 (Grail) itself... - It is considered one of the rarest of the c.1045 Speedmasters (only the Mark V comes close to the Grail's rarity).
- It is the first time Omega offered a Moonwatch case styled Speedmaster with:
- an Automatic Movement
- Day
- Date in a window aperture (the 345.0809 had a date pointer)
- 24-hour indication
- It also utilizes the 1450 bracelet, which was by far the best bracelet Omega had used with the Speedmaster up until that time and is highly coveted by collectors
- It sports the most easily readable dial of the c.1045 Speedmasters. (frankly, the other c.1045's dial readability isn't even in the same league as the Grail. I've had owners of other c.1045 Speedmasters scoff at this assertion until I pull out my 376.0822 and bit tongues and cheeks rapidly occur)
For these reasons it is in very high demand by collectors and avidly sought when offered. I have my example which is mid-90's or higher in terms of condition, and I'd love to have another example at a somewhat lower price. Who knows... In a year or two when I've revamped my desktop computer setup and done the new car thing I might be in the market again.
I (and other owners) believe that were NASA to conduct a Chronograph contest like the one's that resulted in the adoption of the moonwatch the watch most likely to topple the moonwatch would be the Grail. Unfortunately that won't happen because Swatch/Lemania has stopped production of the c.1045.
The sad fact is that if Omega had started with this model of the c.1045 first and produced it in quantity, it's not a stretch of the imagination at all to think that this model would still be in production, be in demand among customers to the extent it might even rival the popularity of the moonwatch. As it is, sadly, Omega stopped it's usage of the c.1045s after producing far too few examples of this model. Swatch Group recently purchased Lemania Watch company, promptly renamed it "Montrose Bregruet" and ceased production of the Lemania 5100 movement. The sad end of the c.1045 Speedmasters has an even sadder ending with the end of Lemania 5100 production.
As a result of the virtues of this model, the low production run and the high interest among collectors, this model of the c.1045's outstrips all of the other models in market value. This model routinely fetches prices greater than $4,000 when offered for sale and has even approached selling prices in near and above $5,000. I've archived several recent auctions in this folder on my webspace.
If you see one of these and you think you might be interested, be ready and have your monetary ducks in a row. If you're not in the market, watch anyway. Nearly everytime there will be lots of fireworks at the end of the auction gunfight. It can truely be a spectacle to watch!
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