Omega

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

These days, the only true LEs are the Museum Collection pieces. I do like ones like the meteorite dial, but the ones done for movie promotions and those that only play slight homage to the original are not generally my cup of tea.

The piguet based 32xx is an insult to the original 321 or 861 powered speedy, it is not what has made the reputation of Omega in terms of accuracy, reliability and durability. The 321 was a reference and is a reference in terms of chrono movements, perhaps the most liked chronograph with the rolex 727 and the zenith 146.The 32xx hasn't passed nor endured the tests of selection of the original movement and it would have been more appropriate by Omega to have used the original lemania 2327 which is used by Breguet and Vacheron than sticking a Piguet inside of their leading chronograph. 

..

[from Google images]

. . . might've sealed the deal in my book.

Cordially, Art

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What I most liked of your watch is the number of it .....the one I would have chosen if I could , also a fantastic piece, thanks for sharing

they seem to think of any reason to have one. if sales of the speedy pro moon watch drop they just think of a reason, slap a new dial on it and call it a ltd ed.

i used to collect the museum pieces and had the first 5, but the prices went to just ridiculous levels with the #6 and was a watch that looked more like a patek top hat than any Omega i recall. in the end i offloaded all of them except the Petrograd which i love for its unique and very vintage shape.

Omega need to think carefully before releasing more limited editions or they might as well make all their pieces ltd ed's like Panerai do.

the end of my rant

G

pick up the 50th one tomorrow!  can anyone please help me. im being told the least amount I can pick one of these up for is about 6500 used!  I called one  boutique and they quoted me 9k for this watch, 9k!!!

A reason why I wanted the 50th was because of the enamel dial, the gourgous box and the tools, buckle and extra strap it came with, making it very easy and enable me to not have to go in search of all those pieces(the strap and buckle).

Can anyone suggest a nice speedmaster for me, maybe a place to buy the straps and buckles?

should i just get the 50th at the 6500 price?

Thanks!

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..away from Omega's stable, the brand Omega itself may no longer be remembered as being legendary.  The Speedie has built and spearheaded Omega to a great order in a way like collectors associating the legendary Valentino Balboni to testing every single Lamborghini from production or removing Submariner from Rolex.  Never believe in Limited Editions when i consider more than 50 or a 100 watches a year or throughout the production lifetime. I for one thought the 50th Anniversay was "limited" to only 1,957 pieces? Yes, I was also convinced by Omegamania but not forgetting there were controversies afterwards following the end of the successful auction at Omegamania.  I am happy that i bought the 3573.50 not thinking it will be limited at all, Imran.  Thanks for sharing as i never realized they removed the winding rotor on the 50th Anniversay, added Co-Axial to the base movement used in their Schumacher Speedies with date and co-axial and turn it into a hand-winding? I guess its about being happy we what we have and Imran, i like that really black enamel dial of yours  

I guess flaws eventually become endearing

J

a omega speedmaster 35205000 from european watch.  Great guys over there, heres a pic:

I decided based on comments and also thoughts on what was different comparing this to the other 50th i decided to go with this, save about 3k and ill go buy a nato and an alligator and clasp from omega.

Thanks everyone!

now how about some wrist shots

J

just ordered an alligator strap and buckle, comes tomorrow:

 

 

Ordering a bunch of natos, thanks for that brand suggestion!

I just literally ordered an omega sporty alligator strap and deployment buckle from an omega dealer, will be here tomorrow, will snap some fresh pics when its on!

Thanks