First time I have seen one, but there was a diving watch made during the 70's using the pilot case of the flightmaster which was called the seamaster 200, so it might be a lesser known variant/cousin of the speedmaster markIII.

 

OK, think I'm completely stumped. Have wasted 2 hours scouring the internet and could not locate another dial like this. HELP.

 

The applied logo and very similar applied hour markers can be seen on some of the Seamaster "Jedi's".
Your dial looks closer to these than any Speedmaster Mk III.
Example: Omega Seamaster Deep Blue JEDI Chronograph C: 1974 (item #1128891, detailed views)

Can't find another with "Mark III" on it though.

EDIT: Don't mind me. I now see they're already shown in several variations as the (c) in Chuck's page that you've quoted. ;-)

 

The term Jedi was used by the late Chuck Maddox when desrcribing the 145.024, with a c861. It is a very rare watch, and not to be confused by Omegia Mania's misdescription of a 176.005 which is still a fine watch, however considerably more common.
Which gives me a excuse to show you this. Excuse the Bradford sofa cover on the bracelet, but its still new.

It is a reflexion of the esteme that he was held in, that Chuck Maddox managed to have the entire watch comunity follow his (perhaps tongue in cheek?) naming convention inspired by a film that came out some years AFTER the watches.

How many of us will coin not just one name, but a set for an entire series of watches?

(Thanks Chuck)

 

That is weird, I've never seen a mkiii with an applied logo :think:

Mine just has the good ol printed logo

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen this in the Omega book "A Journey through Time".

Maybe somebody with the book can confirm for us.

 

Seams like a manufacturer mistake by Singer by printing Mark III on the dial, looks like it was meant for Seamaster 176.005 dial (see pictures below). Singer made these dials for Omega in the 1970's

See pictures of correct blue 176.002 Mark III dial and 176.005 Seamaster dial.

 

It's hard to believe that omega could have allowed a printing error to leave its factory floor. we are taking about one of world's greatest watch manufacturing houses at the height of its popularity. Could Mercedes Benz sell a car with a model identifier that was spelt incorrectly? Could leica allow to market a camera that had a pink logo instead of a red one?

The question for me is why they made so "variations" of this watch in the first place and why did they allow it to be marketed and sold as a seamaster when it clearly belonged to another family (again have a look at omegas own website and the stock Image they use for the Mark III reads SEAMASTER and not SPEEDMASTER) . It's not as if the Speedmaster brand name was new or anything; it was already around 20 something years before and had been widely associated with the moon missions.

So my theories are:

1. This is original and omega allows the watch to be sold as a Seamaster Mark III. Why and how many were sold like this?

2. Someone printed Mark III onto the dial and retrofitted the dial onto the movement. However this seems to be the lesser likely case because the printing of the "Mark III" text is spot on. Moreover why would anyone do this when a "proper" dial should have been available at the time?

So if anyone had any ideas about solving this mystery pls advise.

 

i assume the 'mark I II and III etc referred to the case style and not the dial? is this correct? Its hard to belive the dials were a 'mistake'. so many dial variations. maybe just a less common one

 

That is possible, but the best way to check whether it is guenine, is to check with the book a journey through time.

 

You would be amazed what goes through the assembly line in the watch industry, this watch could be a prototype, never seen this chrono second hand before, do you know the watch reference number ?

See below a picture (taken from a Seamaster book), identical dial in a Big Blue case 176.004 but only signed "Seamaster Automatic" instead of Seamaster Automatic 120m/400ft which would be correct for Big Blue. Note with a Mexican jubilee bracelet, prototype or replacement ?

 

ursmidur, I think you could be onto something here. The closer I look I this watch, the more peculiar it seems: (1) the chrono second hand is different, as you've already indicated, (2) the hour subdial is different - this one has a grey background with a light blue small triangle, no other variation of this dial has this combination, (3) the chrono minute hand is different, the coloured part is clearly longer on this watch, (4) the date window has all four sides, whereas on other Mark III dials, the date window only has 3 sides. As you indicated earlier, this dial looks it was intended for the Seamaster 176.005 or the 176.007.

Which then leads to the prototype theory and the following question - was the Speedmaster Mark III actually intended to be a Seamaster? Think about the following points:

- the shape of the Mark III case is a different to any other Speedmaster, both previously and subsequently. It comes from the Flightmaster (pilot) line of watches, and is similar to (1) the 166.071 Seamaster memomatic, (2) the 166.090 Seamaster, (3) the 166.091 200m Seamaster, (3) the 166.093 1000m Seamaster, and (4) the 176.004 big blue Seamaster. The 145.024 has a similar shape, not exactly "pilot", but close - it is also a Seamaster chronograph. Do you see the pattern here?

- the Speedmaster Mark III has a Seamaster case back. Why did Omega do this??? The Speedmaster Mark II had the correct Speedmaster caseback, as did the Mark IV. Curious isn't it.

- Omega museum website, which presumably would have dug photos out of its archives, shows a Mark III (ref ST 176.0002) that clearly has a Seamaster dial. It is the silver dial with light blue hands. Whilst this particular colour combination is a little more rare (it seems) than the black or blue, has anyone actually seen this very dial on a Mark III - i.e. that is marked "Omega Automatic Seamaster" only? See picture below.

Perhaps the Mark III was merely a "gap filler" watch, that is, Omega wanted to release a new watch into the Speedmaster line but didn't have any watch to do it with. So it took an existing Seamaster that was being developed, whacked on a "Speedmaster Mark III" dial, and off it went to the general market. Anyone think this is possible?

I am heading to the Omega boutique this afternoon to get the A Journey Through Time book.

 

These are good points mate, my MKIII does actually has a Seamaster Caseback :think:

 

Actually Auto Speedmasters from the 70-ies were part of the Seamaster line, hence the caseback. Example is also Mark 4.5 that also has Seamaster medalion caseback... and numerous others.
Exemption of this rule is Moon Pro series, it allways has Speedmaster caseback.
Rule of the thumb is: if an Speedmaster (out of the Moon series) has a Professional written on dial, it 'may' have Speedmaster caseback... but again, it is not error if it has Seamaster caseback!

 

Its very interesting point,looking at this dial and the Seamaster 176.005 they look exactly the same except for the Mark III script, also they share the same set of hands except for the chrono second hand as mentioned before, the running second hand looks similar but has been painted with a thick layer of paint,only the 24 hour disc is in a different colour, looks like the Mark III grey dial version but the disc isn't part of the actual dial.

At last picture of a blue Speedmaster Mark III factory dial but not signed Mark III :-s where is the logic here ? Another mistake in the factory perhaps, everyone can make mistakes

Well looking forward to see a picture from A Journey through time, been trying to get a copy my self but it isn't easy.

 

At your last picture is an dial that is not Mark III dial. It belongs to one of the Speedmasters in Auto familly not Mark familly!
Dial from Mark familly should have clearly stated this fact on it. Omega didn't make any mistakes regarding this issue... makers of the franken watches did!

Only permissible difference on a Mark lll dial is with word 'Professional'. Early models didn't have this word and word 'Automatic' was under other two words at the center top of the dial. Later model has word 'Pro' at the center top and word 'Auto' besides date window on the right! Both have clearly stated words 'Mark lll' at center top!

 

Sounds good but as far as I know the 176.002 Mark III was the only Speedmaster that came with this blue dial configuration, would love to see a picture of a correct example of a Speedmaster with this dial from the auto family

 

I agree with you... that's the reason why I mentioned makers of franken watches. Truth is that my knowledge about Auto familly is very limited... I'm more oriented towards Mark familly because I'm collecting samples from this familly (have them all except Mark V).

 

Thanks guys for following this little saga, I really think that we are onto something here.

I picked up my copy of the Omega - A Journey Through Time book from the boutique this afternoon. To my disappoint, the book is extremely vague about the Speedmaster Mark III with only half a page being dedicated to it. The lack of detail is very surprising, as it did not even cover the "Professional" dial variation.

Below is a half page dedicated to the Speedmaster Mark III.

To add to the plot, the book mentions this little gem, a "Big Blue" produced and sold as a Speedmaster Mark III - YES, there appears to be a diver's version of the Speedmaster Mark III, complete with its own rotating diver's bezel. I'm guessing that at least some of you will be as surprised as I am to see that such a model exists.

If the above is possible, then I don't see why a Speedmaster Mark III with a "Seamaster dial" or even a "Seamaster Mark III" dial is not possible.

The next steps from here:

(1) Open the case back and see whether there are an peculiar markings - possibly indicating a protoype watch?

(2) Obtain an "Extract from the Archives" certificate from Omega and understand the provenance of this watch.

Cheers

 

I just bought a Seamaster Mark III exactly as discussed here. I will post some pictures of the watch asap.

Bummer. It is "just" a Speedmaster.

 

Pics of the watch please?

 

This one was on ebay recently.

Omega Speedmaster Mark III Chronograph "Seamaster Mark III" Possible Prototype | eBay

 

This one was on ebay recently.

Omega Speedmaster Mark III Chronograph "Seamaster Mark III" Possible Prototype | eBay

I highly doubt that it is a prototype

 

These watches, the Seamaster Mk III's are a mystery and I'm not even sure they exists or if they are some readial versions. In general I think the Mk III's and V's are not so common on the forum threads despite their funky look and quality. They are also very underestimated if you ask me, alongside the 125. Maybe we need a whole cal. 1040/1045 thread here on the Omega forum?

 

There are two of those already made by me in the past: https://www.watchuseek.com/f102/ome.../omega-1040-1041-1045-tribute-legends-lemania-chrono-movements-review-7805.html and https://www.watchuseek.com/f20/omeg.../omega-1040-1041-1045-tribute-legends-lemania-chrono-movements-review-7388.html

 

Well just to muddy the water further, I have a Seamaster in a Mark III case but with a different dial and hands, my watch has the same dial and hands as a "Big Blue".
There's a thread posted by another member who has one identical to mine, unfortunately I cannot post a link or a photo so here's the title of the thread.
Thread: Big blue-ish Seamaster 120m + tachymeter?

 

I am a frequent peruser of the net and have never seen this dial before. So very rare indeed if it is in fact real.