Not your usual Omega Speedmaster Professional...

Thirdfox · 07-02-2019 5:21pm #1

When people say Speedmaster Professional what comes to your mind? The hesalite three sub-dial black and white face? First watch on the moon?

When we start looking for different Speedmaster Professionals we'll start looking at sapphire sandwiches, moonphases (I have one of those for the date feature), various limited editions...

If I say Speedmaster Professional quartz you might think of the X-33 but what if I said there was a Speedmaster Professional quartz that uses only the LCD? I daresay most posters here wouldn't know about this watch.

The Omega Speedmaster Professional reference 186.0004 (1977-1979):

IMG_20190207_140858 by Secondfox, on Flickr

IMG_20190207_140819 by Secondfox, on Flickr

IMG_20190207_140631 by Secondfox, on Flickr

This particular example currently on my wrist was found sadly in a state of disrepair that reflected its 40 years of history/use - what I feared may have been rust on the bracelet and buttons turned out happily to be gunk that was cleaned out easily:
What it looked like when I first bought it:

Speedmaster 186.0004 by Secondfox, on Flickr

watch rust by Secondfox, on Flickr

After getting my hands on the watch I decided to treat it to a full Omega service and off it went to Bienne (the UK service centre no longer has the parts to service this vintage quartz piece). A few months later it's back in almost pristine condition (many examples have cracked bezels and no more bezels or dials are available anymore so it was extremely lucky that I found one with a good dial and bezel).

IMG_20190207_141129 by Secondfox, on Flickr

Other quirks of the watch (which was available from 1977 to 1979 only) include its caseback which uses the term Seamaster due to its water resistance - only later was the moniker changed to Speedmaster as the line became famous in its own regard.

IMG_20190207_140707 by Secondfox, on Flickr

My wife was bemused by the "clangy bracelet" as she calls it - but again finding an original bracelet in this condition is quite rare:

IMG_20190207_140730 by Secondfox, on Flickr

Here's a "lume" shot :-d;-)

IMG_20190207_141032 by Secondfox, on Flickr

I'm so happy to have been able to rescue this watch from lying in its 40 years of gunk and restore it to its fully functional status - anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of this piece and how exactly one uses the chronograph on this can check out this informative webpage dedicated to 186.0004 watches:
https://www.omegalcdspeedmaster.com/

Have a good Thursday all!

07-02-2019 5:30pm

Lovely.

I have a special affection for a quality, steel cased digital watch. I assume it comes from owning a few growing up. It's something they don't make any more..naturally you can still buy digitals but they're all plastic and toy-like.

njburke · 07-02-2019 5:47pm

Very nice, well wear.

Wibbs · 07-02-2019 6:12pm

Very cool and a rare watch to see. I always appreciate a post on the red headed stepchild that is quartz

I seem to recall there were a few prototypes readied up for NASA, where they removed the bulb and replaced it with a tritium source. There's a chap on the MWR(mil watch forum) that had one.

Thirdfox · 07-02-2019 8:02pm

Wibbs wrote: »

Very cool and a rare watch to see. I always appreciate a post on the red headed stepchild that is quartz I seem to recall there were a few prototypes readied up for NASA, where they removed the bulb and replaced it with a tritium source. There's a chap on the MWR(mil watch forum) that had one.

Hope he sold it for a good price

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/omega-a-pair-of-extremely-rare-stainless-5945156-details.aspx

$47,500...

Thirdfox · 07-02-2019 9:05pm

And while it might not qualify as HAQ it is rated at an above average +-5 seconds a month if worn - so far after 7 days on the wrist it's 1 second off atomic time - not too shabby!

mad m · 07-02-2019 9:07pm

It’s amazing how cool it still looks. Lovely watch.

Thirdfox · 07-02-2019 11:22pm

Yeah - we think of LCD watches as "cheap" nowadays but back when this available it cost much more than a comparative mechanical speedmaster

LCD quartz was the cool new thing - but seeing as this watch was only available for 18 months Omega must have decided it couldn't compete with Seiko and their new-fangled Japanese tech.

Wibbs · 08-02-2019 12:03am

Thirdfox wrote: »

Yeah - we think of LCD watches as "cheap" nowadays but back when this available it cost much more than a comparative mechanical speedmaster

As you note TF, the high end quartz back then usually did. In the early days of quartz even more so. The first LED digital the Pulsar cost many thousands of US dollars when a "good watch" was a 100 dollars and a mid grade "I've made it Ma!" watch was 200 odd dollars, maybe three. It was paraded out in TV talk shows as an "amazing thing", their Late Show and the like. The US president of the time Gerald Ford wanted one and his wife vetoed that idea as she thought and pretty accurately, that this would send a very bad signal to "ordinary people".

By the late seventies the digital was the thing. IMHO that and not the coming of quartz is what scuppered the Swiss and killed most of their companies at the time; digitals. The Swiss had been for the most part way ahead on the new quartz tech, but in analogue watches with hands, they were complete newbies at digital and bought in all their digital tech*. Which was fine until the Japanese got on board and produced way finer and more featured watches and at a cheaper price.

*Rolex tried to create their own digital and thought better of it after they made a pigs ear of it.

Trigger Happy · 09-02-2019 10:03am

I thought I knew a lot of what there was to know about speedies but I have learned a lot from this thread!
Nice watch OP!

Thirdfox · 04-07-2020 12:03pm

And after a little more than a year of ownership this watch is off to a new owner.

I was glad to have had the chance to have it in my possession (though to be fair it was always more of a safe queen than regularly worn) - I even went and got a 3rd party bracelet so I could keep the bracelet sent back from Omega in as pristine condition as possible.

And when I was thinking of maybe putting up an ad two days ago on TZ/Reddit/WUS/here lo and behold I find someone on TZ had put out an ad looking for one.

I doubt he'll find a better example of this watch other than NOS ones from the 1970s (apparently they do exist and one sold for €4200 last year) :eek:

attachment.php?attachmentid=518832&stc=1&d=1593859882

attachment.php?attachmentid=518832&stc=1&d=1593859882

Here is the watch pack up in the travel case (only a short hop to UK)

attachment.php?attachmentid=518833&stc=1&d=1593859882

Still on the 3rd party bracelet but I swapped it back around for the buyer.

attachment.php?attachmentid=518835&stc=1&d=1593860223

Omega even give you a protective case for the travel case too

- though after spending 700 euro on a full restoration for a quartz (vintage) piece - I'd expect a few cases alright! - naturally everything was sent on to the buyer.

The happiest thing I think for me is that unlike myself (who was preserving it more as an investment piece and waiting for the right person to come along) - this buyer is "the right person" and tells me that he intends it to be a daily wearer - and that makes me very happy to hear (plus yay some more Sólás R&D funds).

Sold it at a fair price but to be honest I'm pretty sure this piece will still climb in value in the future too - so hopefully the buyer can enjoy the piece and get something back from this quartz Omega in the future (not what you'd normally expect from an Omega quartz piece

)

Not your usual Omega Speedmaster Professional...

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