Made, tested, shipped

Dec 05, 2010,05:40 AM
 

Omega doesn't disclose anything about when a watch movement was constructed, and to my knowledge, never has.  All you know for sure is that a movement was constructed prior to the shipment date, and if a chronometer, prior to the earlier testing date. 

 

Made:

For the 100,000, they were constructed prior to the date of testing.  Exactly when, we don't know.  I have never seen discussion of how long after manufacture movements were sent for testing. 

 

Tested: 

An independent testing group issued the chronometer certificates with the actual date testing was completed.   Recall that chronometer testing takes place on uncased movements, not yet assembled in to a watch.  These testing completed dates are the dates Omega is quoting, and ranged from October 1964 to February 1966, if I understand it correctly.

 

Shipped: 

Omega provides, for any watch, an extract from the archives, of the date the watch was shipped from Bienne to the sales agent.  If the information in the serial number charts are to be believed, the earliest date  a movement with a 24,000,000 serial number (the 100,000 was in this range) was shipped was not until 1966. 

Assume this is true, and assume Omega used manufactured and tested movements in serial number order.  There was a delay of at least 15 months (October 1964 until January 1966) after testing until the first of the 100,000 were used.  The time since actual manufacture would be greater by whatever (unknown) gap there was between manufacture and testing. 

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Comments: view entire thread

 

Omega Constellations - the famous 100,000

 
 By: aroma : December 3rd, 2010-23:04
Hi All - here's a question for those far more experienced than me (Desmond please!!). We know from "A Journey Through Time" (page 199) that Omega submitted 100,000 calibres (5xx) for chronometer testing between 5th October 1964 and 10th Feb 1966 and that ... 

Most misunderstand Omega's use of serial numbers

 
 By: SamJH : December 4th, 2010-05:48
Omega did not , repeat, did not assign serial numbers sequentially. A sequence of serial numbers were assigned to a calibre for production before manufacture (not for sales and customer service as shipped). Thus, at any point in time, Omega was producing ... 

Omega chronometers

 
 By: aroma : December 4th, 2010-07:02
Thanks for that Sam, So, if I understand it correctly, the 100,000 that went through chronometer testing between Oct 64 and Feb 66 could all have been made in 1964 or could have been made during the period Oct 64 to Feb 66 and gone to COSC testing straigh... 

Made, tested, shipped

 
 By: SamJH : December 5th, 2010-05:40
Omega doesn't disclose anything about when a watch movement was constructed, and to my knowledge, never has. All you know for sure is that a movement was constructed prior to the shipment date, and if a chronometer, prior to the earlier testing date. Made... 

Omega's 100,000

 
 By: aroma : December 6th, 2010-02:52
Hi Sam, Thanks for the input. If I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that these movements were probably made well before October 1964 and were shipped en-masse to the testing lab and that it then took until Feb 1966 for the lab to complete ... 

I need to clarify

 
 By: SamJH : December 6th, 2010-03:45

I need to clarify

 
 By: SamJH : December 8th, 2010-16:53
"If I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that these movements were probably made well before October 1964 and were shipped en-masse to the testing lab and that it then took until Feb 1966 for the lab to complete the testing of the 100,000 un... 

One of my Connies

 
 By: aroma : December 14th, 2010-00:08
...  

Here are some slightly earlier results.

 
 By: grumio : December 5th, 2010-03:24
Hi all, given that we are talking Omega cal 5xx chronometer certifications, I thought there might be some interest in these results, taken from an earlier 1959 Omega technical guide. Quite remarkable results....  

very remarkable indeed...

 
 By: FanFrancisco : December 17th, 2010-05:54