Omega

ImranLondon
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Omega 50th anniv, .........where did it all go so wrong...

It should have been probably for collectors the most important collectable Speedmaster ever.... I remember being so hyped up for this piece, and at the time I had a collection , which when I look back today was lacking in nothing, 2915, Apollo Soyuz, 1967 Racing...all there.

I have to confess at the time I was probably a little blinded by Omegamania. But then I was not alone in this. The hype, in my case made me blind to what many of you..spotted straight away..that the 50th anniv. piece was flawed. However, I am still the  owner of one....even though many times I have come close to divorce..

The sad thing is, commercially it was a flop..

have a look..

Retailers so disparing with this piece, that not only was it not sold out...they are now reducing the price. Just compare to what happened with the non limited 50th.Anniv Submariner, it was selling like the Submariner was going out of production.

But, this is not a post about resale in terms of investment or anything like that, but we can judge the success of a watch in that way...and ultimately we can judge Omega, as to how well they faired in the 50th. anniv celebratory model.

so what went wrong....

well, the first item that almost everyone pounced upon was the movement... it was not a Lemania. Even this could be forgiven, but to take an automatic and take the rotor off, showed no respect to collectors... especially in watch costing about Euro 6000.

I will say that the finish was excellent, but another nail was the fact despite Omega saying the cal.3201 would never be used again...it was, in a museum chrono. Omega have a habit of creating mistrust...as we shall see again..

on the plus side....the winding is creamy smooth, almost Lange like, and on average looses about 6 seconds .........

IN A MONTH,,,,

The glass was not hesalite, but sapphiree, this irked many a collector too, but for me was a feature I could happily live with especially in combination with the 100m water resistance. But again for Purists..this was too much too bare.

The dial: a gorgeous enamel, now this was the decider for me, I adored it.

but again the deception from Omega.... shortly after, they bring the 44mm Speedmaster with black enamel dial, despite in 2007 giving exclusivity to this model..

Just how are collectors supposed to feel when this happens?

then the bracelet... the good: yes at last screws.....but then the bad... its not the same as other screw pins, no, its a screw and pin set up, meaning fiddling with screws on both sides. More secure?, perhaps, more of a pain..yes definately

what I did like about the bracelt was that it was personalised to the watch, with individualised clasp and individually numbered

of course, the packaging was amazing, but for collectors this is the icing on the cake....not the cake.

Omega will ofcourse point out that there was another 50th anniv.model with Lemania, with hesalite etc. But I have to say, why? and 5000 pieces is in my book not very limited anyway.

What should have happened? everyone here will have their view, but I think, we could have lived with the piece far better had they been brave enough to put the Nouvelle Lemania movement .. the true heir to the 321. But politacally this was impossible, Breguet would have not been too happy (as well as VC, Patek etc). Omega should have been more brave, as just this one aspect, may well have saved this piece.

Despite all its flaws, I still have mine... and the bond has started to grow stronger. The flaws, have given this piece character, its almost human, not perfect by any means, but with an emotional quality... this piece seems to have life in it.

One day, maybe we will forgive it, maybe the next generation of collectors will love it for what it is, the 50th celebration of perhaps the most iconic watch in the world.

Best to all,

Imran