# What Defines A Rare Omega I Wonder? 1/1000 Special Additions? Or 1 Of



## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

Afternoon all

Well, as many of you who know me know, although I love all things Omega and have eclectic tastes from my early 28.9 and 33.3 chronographâ€™s to my Plo-Profâ€™s, the real passion I have is around early quartz Omegas. Not these mass produced ETA lumps Omega have been churning out since the 1980â€™s but the real first generation quartz watches, back from a time where they were absolutely ground breaking and cost more than any of their mechanical brethren.

We all now that many a forum aficionado will scoff at the soulless devils who have batteries instead of hearts but there are few amongst you who couldnâ€™t say that Omega didnâ€™t lead the quartz charge on behalf of the Swiss and that some of the watches they produced in the 1970â€™s were land mark achievements, whether that taking part (and without doubt capitalizing more than anyone else) on the first Swiss quartz watch; the Beta 21 (Electroquartz) or the ground breaking Chronoquartz of 1976, which was the worlds first anologue/ digital chronograph.

In terms of my own collection, I have owned hundreds of Omegas over the year, at my worst â€˜hoardingâ€™ stage I had over 100 in my own collection but over the course of the last two years I have slimmed this down to about 30 pieces, some are real rarities and other worth only a few hundred pounds.

Anyway, my mission over the last year has been obtaining the un-obtainable, it started with a hunt for a 2915-1, lots of people told me it couldnâ€™t be done and I managed it and found an example which is one of the very few with an extract of archive confirming itâ€™s status as a 2915-1. So this led me on a personal quest.

I am the only person I know of who has owned an Omega Elephant, a cal 1500 Megaquartz prototype of which they manufactured 5 and where the pre production watches of the Omega Marine Chronometer which appeared at he Basel fair in 1971.

That watch is now on display at STS, although it was running perfectly it shared absolutely no components with the production watch and as such I ran the risk that if it ever stopped it would be done for, so I let it go to somewhere it could be enjoyed by many.

Anyway, jumping forward to this year I was presented with an opportunity through a close friend to own not one but two Omega prototypes, one is the only example I know of and have ever seen, the other one of two I know of in the world, so I guess that constitutes rare? Maybe not is someone on the forum has Buzz Aldrins Speedy in a draw?

Anyway, lets cut to the chase:

My first watch is an Omega cal 1310 pre production prototype Megaquartz, although you will notice it is cosmetically virtually identical to the production TV dial, the case is plated brass and the movement is a pre production movement (benching at 0.09SPD so 3 SPM as opposed to the 5 SPM of the production watch) the movement very similar to the Omegamania watch.

The watch is a real oddity, it looks production ready but they never made a plated version of the watch, only SS and 18K. The case has a unique serial number stamped down the side but some of the details are really unique, example being they have gone to the effort of putting a constellation logo on the case back but instead of simply fitting a solid gold one (which they must have had thousands of from other models) this one is base metal plated.



Although the 32Khz Megaquartz are reasonable common and value wise still under Â£1000 I have never seen a gold cased prototype, only the Omegamania watch and the one that pops up in the US from time to time on ebay, a real rarity and a treat to know own.



As you can see from the above image the unique serial number is stamped in to the case side



Anyway, on to the main event, my second offering is something quite special (to me) as this represents my grail watch, a watch I have coveted for nearly 10 years, I know of one other example which is also in private hands, not even the museum have one and it represents the epitome (for me) of Omegas watch making, so here she is:



It is an Omega Megaquartz cal 1510 prototype, otherwise known as a â€˜Stardustâ€™ and the identical sister to Omegas Marine Chronometer. The watch has a 000 serial number movement and although appearing cosmetically identical to the production watch is in fact a prototype movement.



The case is a real chunk, solid stainless steel and it wear like a house brick, it appears almost production ready with starburst finish (although it is far coarser than other starburstâ€™s I have seen.

The case is heavily machined to accommodate the movement, although the case back (secured with the usual period four screws) is machined to fit the wrist.



I am a close friend with the owner of the other example (it may even make an appearance on this thread) and having discussed this at length we are both fairly sure that these watches were basically pre production test watches to decide on a final case design.

So there we go chaps, although they may not be to everyoneâ€™s taste I wonder how many people would be spanking their monkeys over a prototype Oysterquartz etc etc?? Any prototype Omega is something quite special and to me these are true grail watches and will be remaining with me for a very long time to come.

Cheers Tom


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

A few additional images







What makes them really interesting is the subtle differences in both movements between the prototype movement and the production movements;


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## kevkojak (May 14, 2009)

The more I read from you Tom, the more I become convinced you have a time machine.

Not only that, I'm not convinced you have a key to the back door at Omega and the safe combination!

Christ knows where you turned those up, you must have one hell of a little-black-book of Omega collectors though.

I've not been big on vintage Omega for a good couple of years now, clearing out my entire collection over the course of 6 months to fund the opening of my shop. That said, should you ever decide to flip the 1510 I will move heaven and earth!

Kev


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

Love these, they look fantastic. It makes me more determined to get together enough cash to treat my late father in laws 1310 megaquartz to the STS treatment and get it up and running again.

Enjoy...)


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

They are both really special watches, I'm thrilled with both, Kev it's highly unlikely the 2.4 will ever finds its way to a new home but will of course let you know ðŸ˜‰


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## chris.ph (Dec 29, 2011)

both stunners :thumbup: :thumbup:


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

How d hell did you find prototypes?

Please do tell!


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

scottswatches said:


> How d hell did you find prototypes?
> 
> Please do tell!


Well.......... you basically have to spend months, which turn in to years trawling the internet looking for leads, then fly to Switzerland, make some impromptu new friends who introduce you to other people, who introduce you to other people, who know a man who knows a man! But that is genuinely what I love about collecting watches!


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

Glad to hear you have worked hard to find what you wanted.

Also glad that it wasn't on eBay, misdescribed, cheap and I missed it!

Wear in health


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## Caller. (Dec 8, 2013)

As someone who knows nothing of the heritage of these watches, but is an Omega fan, I found the history lesson fascinating and both watches look stunning. Thanks for sharing this.

I must seek out a book on Omegas history.


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

Well, I've had the Megaquartz F2,4Mhz for 10 days now, the bloody thing hasn't deviated by a single second on or off the wrist........ ha ha ha, that said I've also been wearing my Pie Pan this week and on and off the wrist it's deviated by 8 seconds in today, which is pretty impressive too


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