zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

Nikos originally asked about a new dial, Here

I am also aware of that source i.e. service dial.

I am still looking to get the "original" smp1000m dial.

Any chance OMEGA S.A. in Bienne would have any left?

I personally think not, since from what I have
read, if you send your smp1000m for service,
they replace it with a service dial.

What do you think or know??????

OK, I KNOW there aren't many 1000M's around ( see next section ). I KNOW that there was one in Switzerland, that was owned by Richard Grimmel. Richard had it restored by Omega (Bienne) in 2004 & sold it to Chris Kraska (USA). Chris has subsequently sold it on.

Here is a picture of this watch

As you can clearly see this watch was fitted with a "service" dial ( as available from Watchco ) which is NOT the same as the original dial.

So this would lead me to say that Omega have NO original dials left & are now fitting the watches that they restore with "service" dials.

Also, any idea how many were produced in the 1970s?

Nope, none at all. I have seen a couple of posts where people state or claim to know how many were made. I have no idea where this Info comes from & I don't believe any numbers that I see without some sort of proof.

I don't guess at numbers. If I post a number here, someone may write "I read that xxx were made" the next then writes "xxx were made" & suddenly we have a new fact.

So I don't even guess at these numbers.

I do KNOW the watch was made with 2 different movements in it.
My 1000M info

So you can't even use the number of movements made to guess how many watches were made. Also the 1002 & 1012 were used in various different watches.

Also the Omega site says production run from 1971-1977, An Omega japanese magazine says 1971-1980.

A Omega U.K. 1978 catalogue has it inside.

So what is the correct version??

OK, "the Japanese Seamaster Book" that I have shows the date range to be 1971 - 1980.

Is that the same source as your Japanese magazine ?

You say it is in a UK Catalogue from 1978 ( would you care to send me scans, for my website ? I don't have that catalogue ).

I have found it in a UK Catalogue from 1979. This is not yet on my website, but here is the relevant page ( click on it for a larger version )

( for those of you who are NOT 1000M experts - that includes me - check out the hour markers & compare with the previous picture )

So according to the catalogues it was still available in 1979. I have some further catalogues from 1980 - 1984. The watch is not featured in these catalogues.

This would suggest that the watch was certainly available after 1977. but doesn't PROVE it.

Another piece of info , is that Omega is bringing out in April 2007 "Omegamania" book, which is to have a special section on history of Seamaster line.

Maybe some info will be there???

Yes, I'm aware of this. I saw a rough mock up version of the Seamaster chapter, when I visited the Museum in 2004.

Here's a link to my 2004 Musuem Post

I'm hoping the book will be packed with Info. I know it will be avilable in English :-)

AWAITING YOUR THOUGHTS....

Nikos.

You have them.

I hope this helps

Steve