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The Omega Chronostop - Ref. 145.008
Aug 07, 2018,16:30 PM
The Omega Chronostop - Ref. 145.008
Watches. These small works of living art that are my weakness. My Achilles' heel - my kryptonite, if you will. Case In Point: The Omega Chronostop.
Released in 1966, the Omega Chronostop was
considered one of the top-line “sports” watches of its time. The
Chronostop housed an extremely accurate, caliber 865 movement (sometime
referred to as “The Lemania 865”) running at 3Hz (21,600vph).
The Chronostop came equipped with the same manually
wound, 17-jewel movement as its more sophisticated cousin, the Speedmaster, only
without the added registers (and for about half the price). And what with its high accuracy, newly engineered
shock resistance and internal anti-magnetic protection, the Chronostop received
top prize at the prestigious Federation Horologer competition in 1967 in Geneva. Once considered a luxury watch, the
Chronostop is still regarded as a great value on the vintage market. A total of 124,000 were produced and it is becoming
increasingly difficult to find a good specimen.
There are essentially three Chronostop models and/or variations
of the original release. Reference 145.000 was a Tonneau-shaped case with black, tritium-point
luminous hour and minute baton hands. Its
chronograph function had a sixty second stopwatch with an orange-colored dial. The stopwatch function was activated by
pushing a button located at the 2 o’clock position.
Photo Courtesy of Google Images
Reference 145.008 (manufactured 1966 to 1969) came in a 41mm,
stainless steel case (waterproof to 120m), and was equipped with either a
leather strap or steel bracelet. These
variations of the Chronostop also shared a similar rotating inner-bezel set by a
crown located at 10 o’clock. All the
variations display times to 1/5th per second.
Because of its relative success, many versions were released
between 1967 and 1969. One variation, the
Omega Seamaster “Pilot” Chronostop, featured a rotating 24-hour (or “Roulette”)
bezel with a second time zone. A second
variation (released in 1967) featured a “Regatta”, a special yachting timer
designed for boat racing enthusiasts. Finally,
there is the Seamaster Chronostop Jumbo Diver, which was released in 1969. This model was very popular among amateur
divers because of how easy it was to check one’s dive times. This model was delivered in a rare, oversized
case with a manual-wound 865 made specifically for this variation of the Chronostop. All models have a similar black dial,
with baton hands, as well as an orange “stop-second” hand that is controlled by
a mono-pusher at 2:00.
Some of you know I had been hunting for this
watch for a while now, and admittedly I was very lucky to stumble upon a practically (NOS) specimen.
Similar to the original Omega Seamaster
Bullhead chronographs (REF 146.x), I have
seen the hammer prices continue to increase on several getting-harder-to-find Omegas. Now might be the time to scoop up a few but
be sure they fully check out. Are the
dial, hands and movement all in good condition?
Frankly, when you find an example that could be considered ‘new old stock’,
don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.