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Additional Thoughts...

In Response To: Some 176.001 Info *PICS* *LINK* ()

Some 176.001 Info *PICS* *LINK* Posted By: SteveW62 Date: 4/18/07 21:45 GMT

In Response To: How about "WHOOPS: eBay"? (Chicagoland Chuck Maddox) Hi Chuck, cool auction !

Hi Chuck, cool auction !

I'm afraid I'll have to "sit on the fence" about the watch itself. I have never seen a speedmaster MK III in THAT case in ANY of the period literature that I have seen.

Hi Steve! How do you like my suggestion for an acronym for this weekly event?
I too can't honestly say that I've seen ad's from Omega for Mark III Speedmasters in anything other than a Volcano case, but there is the case of the Interesting Mark IV Cushion case from YEARS ago...

Danish Mark IV Variant / Mark IV(b):

This [Mark III] example seems VERY similar to me...

I don't have a copy of SAGA in front of me, but I'm really still undecided about these watches and whther they are just redialed Seamasters ( a small theory here... A Seamaster is designed to get wet, many some of them have got water damaged & the Speedy MK III dial was the cheapest/easiest dial to get/fit ? )

I really don't know [or believe] that the Seamasters of this era were really all that more water resistant than the Speedmasters of that era.
Aside from that, your theory does seem plausable. I believe that Speedmaster dials are easier to source than Seamasters dials.

Maybe this question will be answered in Marco's new book.

I hope Marco's book answers a lot of questions!

But what REALLY woke me up about this auction is coming below....

I do have some concrete info on the 176.001.

I think it was an experimental watch ( prototype if you like that was never manufactured for end customers.

Looking through my "archived" pics on my PC I found this. I'll freely admit, I have no Idea where I got it from. It either came directly from the Museum themselves as a reply to a query , or someone that I know with a 1971 dealers catalogue sent me this scan.

I would tip on the Museum.

Here's the Pic...

Some points (no Particular order ).

It's dated 1 Nov '71 ( Bottom right corner
The writing in the bottomleft corner is French & says something like "replaced by 176.0007 18.3.72" ( 18 March '72)
Perhaps we can get Georges or Pascal to translate for us?
The dial is only marked Omega Automatic, so not directly a Sea or speedmaster, even though the heading at the top of the paper suggests it would be one of those models
This watch looks more like the FIFA Prototype than any other Sea or Speedmaster I've seen. The FIFA also is a product that is in limbo in the Omega history. We know it existed and exists, but Omega doesn't like to talk about it much.
It's waterproof to 6 ATM ( 60 meters
It doesn't look like it has a rotating bezel, but would look good with one IMHO
I would GUESS It has a "Puck" type system, where the movement sits in a puck, that is pushed into the outer case, There are various 1040 (or 1041 ) powered watches with this type of case system
I'm not sure I agree with this point, but...
Isn't the Centre minute hand ( with the "arrowhead" ) unusual ? I've never seen this on an Omega before
Yes, the Chrono Minute hand looks closer to a Rolex Daytona or Tudor Oysterdate Chronograph Second hand than a typical Omega hand.
I think the dial needs bolder Hour markers. The dial just looks "weak" to me. Not "finished". I don't like it
I agree... There are hardly any Hour markers and I agree with the rest of this point.

I'd bet this was a prototype that never got far & the case backs that were made up in advance for this model, were restamped by Omega themselves & used on the replacement model.

That's possible, however, the caseback of the example which is on eBay doesn't look, to me, that it was done with the care Omega might use. It looks more like "Home work" as John Diethelm was known to say.

I'd like to know if any watches "escaped" from the factory in the (theoritical) 5 months that the watch could have been on the market...... ( enough "Iffy" words in there ?

Plenty! =)

PLEASE, If anyone sees a watch looking like this, contact me.

Contact me first! [Just kidding!] Contact us both.

Chuck, could I please ask you to add this scan to your Excellent Dimensions of Selected Omega Chronograph webpage? I use that a LOT. Not neccessarily for the dimensions, just for a handy way of finding a picture.