I received the following email yesterday: Hi Chuck: I am a very fan of all your information about OMEGAS, for me your site is like a Bible, and is for that reason that I am sending to you this pics of an OMEGA case that is fot me unknown, please help me to find out the model, if it is an speedmaster or a seamaster,and what movement should be inside this case, Thanks a lot, your friend from Mexico Hector Hector, Pleased to meet you. Thank you for your kind words... I have never seen a case like this from Omega in the past... In looking at the inside caseback under high magnification through the crystal, it provides a clue to what the case may be. Since the Caseback says 145.014 and we know that the 145.014 is the Mark II Professional case, I surmise that this case is a Mark II Pro case which has been "Re-sculpted" to give it the external appearance of a moonwatch. The effort is not entirely dissimilar to the Re-sculpted cases that Gilliam in Germany crafts out of 176.012 cases: I suspect someone has done similar work on the case you've come across... I hope this is helpful to you... Chuck =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Hi, Chuck, thank you very much for the information, this case was actually offered as a mark II case but since it was offered as a spare part and being so different to the regular mark II cases I thought that may be the case , the crystal and the case back were separate parts put together, and may be the case belong to some vintage seamaster, but looking different pics of some seamasters I did not found this profile of ccase, so thanks a lot for the information and is for me a pleasure that you post this storyon your site, thanks again, and Best Regards Hector =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A very interesting item and would make for a very interesting watch. I've often said that while the Mark II looks much more modern and seemingly is more rugged due to it's armor like case when compared to the moonwatch, this case's appearance doesn't often look good on a strap. This case style nearly cries out to be on a bracelet. With this case we see a method to have a "cross-bred" version of a Mark II that might look a little more handsome on a leather strap. Enjoy! -- Chuck |
Watch Blog
Thursday, May 8, 2008
From my email In Box, an interesting Omega case...
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sad news to report, the loss of an innovator...
Sad news to report on the loss of an innovator... I received a query in my email early this morning asking about dealers for Ventura watches. I immediately went to Ventura's watch site and found it was no longer active. So I sent an email to recent Ventura V-Matic Loga purchaser David Alstott to see if he had heard of anything.
Sadly what he reported back to me, while not a complete surprise was saddening and very disappointing to me: Dear Friends, Note: Both the above passage and the passage below seem to be at the very least a couple of weeks to several months old. Perhaps this is not "news" in the freshest sense, but it was certainly news to me and something I had not seen in my travels. David also sent me this link to a thread on PuristPro which I will excerpt here: Concerns about mechanical driven capacitor watches. Seiko, Citizen, Ventura. Jan 19, 2008,16:43 PM The fellow who contacted me initially replyed to me [after I forwarded David's response] that Princton Watches, an authorized dealer of Ventura, currently has closeout deals on it's remaining stock of Ventura's. People who are interested can visit their site, although considering the fact that most of the mechanical Ventura's had a "snapback" caseback which was pressed on with a force of at least a ton, service is up in the air for these watches currenty. I've long said that of all the watch firms in operation that Ventura and Ventura along had a product line that I at least liked every model it produced. Some models I was much more enthusiastic about than others, but until they started "Icing" some models and producing some gold cased white dialed watches, they stayed true to their coredesign roots and produced elegant Bauhaus styled watches. While other firms routinely issued Valjoux 7750 based chronographs with 25 Jewels, Ventura's models sported 38 Jewels. All of their mechanicals were elegantly finished and on display via a sapphire back and all had a minimum W/R of 100m dispite the snap on displayback. Their watches were typically available in both Stainless Steel and Titanium, and their Titanium models were nitrogen hardened to the extent that their hardness were only rivaled in hardness by IWC's Titanium process. If they made a mistake it was trying to compete in the savagely contested $1000-$6000 price range where the bulk of Swiss watch manufacturers compete. It's tough for a small firm of recent vintage to compete with the Omega's, TAG-Heuer's, Breitling's and similar brands with long established reputations and consumer awareness. I had hoped that a firm operating from a fresh sheet with refined and focused product line could survive the competition. Ventura's ceasing production of mechanical watches several years ago to re-focus it's energies on the high end quartz powered niche. Unfortunately, it would seem that this effort to remain solvent wasn't successful and this move could be seen by history as the beginning of the end. I for one am very saddened by Ventura's demise. I own a pair of V-Matics, the V-Matic Master [pictured immediately above] and a V-Matic Loga both in Titanium both on bracelet. I only hope that other firms will look to create models which capture some of the style and elegant beauty of these fine fine timepieces. I am a big fan of Bauhaus design, these watches, which epitomize Bauhaus so well will likely age very gracefully, their modernistic lines and styling cues seeming just as fresh 50 and 100 years from now as they did the day they rolled off the production line. -- Chuck |
Monday, January 7, 2008
4th possibility for David Scotts Moonwalking Waltham...
One of the things that has been of interest to watch collects, particularly those who also share an interest in Space exploration is the question of which Waltham Chronograph Astronaut David Scott wore on the Moon during EVA-3 of the Apollo 15 mission. In the past, I've purchased a pair of Waltham chronographs, which seem to fit the general description of a watch which "I used my backup Waltham watch (which was) of a similar type [to the Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph]": Olaf Oldigs from Germany contacted me with news that he had purchased another Waltham chronograph which he felt might be another Candidate but asked me to refrain from posting pictures until he had the time to have the watch serviced and detailed. Over the weekend he send me the following photographs [click through for enlargements]: Personally, I think this is the most handsome candidate I've seen so far. Looks a little more rugged than my "Carrera"Styled example [second from the top] above, but not as bulky as the top most example of mine. Thanks to Olaf for his interest and permission to post his pictures. Anyone else have an interesting candidate to nominate? I'd love to see them! -- Chuck |