Reference Guide
Karmin seeks clarity on the mysterious Omega Seamaster Chronograph reference 176.001, a watch he acquired at a flea market. This post delves into the historical confusion surrounding this reference, its relationship with the 176.007, and the debate over its bezel configuration, inviting community expertise to uncover the truth.
Dear fellow Omega - purists,
After having contacted him following a post on his friend building up an extensive (to say the least) Omega collection, Ruckdee advised me to post on this forum regarding a specific question for which I have not found, so far, any clear answer. It could be that some of you might help in the quest of the truth, and I would be grateful in advance for any information I could gather.
Some years ago, I found on a flea market a nice seamaster chrono. I was attracted by its shape, its dial, its overall condition and by what I believed was a reasonnable price :
Back home, I tried to gather some information on the model, and in particular on the reference engraved, 176.001 :
This exercise has definitely brought some confusion in my mind, since information is unclear about this model. What seems to be more or less clear is that :
- Ref 176.001 and 176.007 are very similar
- Ref 176.001 and 176.0001 are identical
- Ref 176.001 has been replaced by 176.007 (or 176.0007) in 1972 (as shown on the information notice from Omega):
- Some casebacks of ref 176.007 are engraved with both reference 176.007 and 176.001, the latter being crossed, which confirms the previous observation
What is still unclear regards :
- Are 176.001 and 176.007 cases absolutely similar ?
- Is ref 176.001 a prototype that was never produced, but immediately replaced by 176.007 ?
- Re. bezel : inner bezel (with tachymeter scale) could not fit on my watch, but has an external bezel ever existed for this ref ?
I have to admit that I gave up couple of years ago, but the post of Ruckdee revigorated my interest for this mysterious reference. I would therefore be very glad if any of you could post pictures of other examples of ref 176.001, or what is believed to be so, so that I could get closer to some certainties...
Thanks in advance for your help. This is my first post on the Omega Purists forum (I am more JLC-oriented), and hope I did not breach any unofficial rule here. Furthermore, some of you may have intervened on other fora some years ago, when I first tried to understand all this; they could here pursue their reflexions...
Best regards to all of you,
Karmin
Karmin, First of all, the 176.001 and 0001 represents the same watch. Omega, added one zero when they changed their systems (late 60's or early 70's). Allow me to add more mystery to your quest with my 3c: Searching on the vintage Omega information site (I don't know if I can post a link) but you can reach using a web search tool), I was able to locate the 176.001, 3 watches, one with an external bezel , despite of the statement " ... and inside "0-60" tachymeter scale ". If you went there, be a
A better picture shows that all have an internal bezel. Thanks
the only thing i would disagree with Nilo on is the outer bezel. i dont think your watch has anything missing, i just dont think it had any inner/outer bezel of any sort unlike the square ish model which has an inner tachymetre bezel. my reasons for thinking this are that it is a seamaster with a wr of 60m so the timing is more usable for dive timing and doesnt need a tachymetre. lovely condition piece best graham
All 176.001/0001 on the Omega black book carries an internal bezel. Cheers
there you go then Nilo, i'm wrong again. story of my life best G
But when nilomis mentioned the possibility of an "internal bezel", I realized I was wrong and that I had to refresh my memory again. Here are a few photographs reproduced in good faith and without permission from the black book. If this is a violation of forum rule, I apologize and please remove them immediately. I meant to share this for an educational, non-profit purpose only. I know this does not answer your question. But it may be a viable lead for you to continue your investigation with. Ch
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