Speedmaster 376.0822
Discussion
The French call them 'les Speed’...
Omega has produced many limited editions and many variations of the iconic Speedmaster, most of which are fairly indistinguishable one from the other at first glance unless you’re a Speedophile. So what’s so different about this one? It looks like a normal Speedmaster in the traditional ‘moonwatch’ case, but on closer inspection a few immediate differences leap out; Speedmasters don’t usually have a date, let alone a day, yet this has both and unusually it’s a central minute chronograph rather than one that uses only the second hand and subdials. Less obviously, the traditional Speedmaster was a manual wind watch, this is an automatic. It’s not a limited edition, but it had a short life span and consequently only about 1500 were ever made.
It is powered by the Omega 1045 movement, which is basically a copper-beryllium coated Lemania 5100. The partnership with Lemania dates back to the 1930’s, indeed the cal. 321 and 861 found in the famed 1960s Speedmasters were made by Lemania.
Omega used the 1045 movement in about 3 different watches in the early seventies but all had cases other than the typical moonwatch case. It was only in 1987 that the classic, bombé lugged moonwatch case was uniquely used in conjunction with the 1045 movement, the first time Omega had an automatic in a moonwatch case, the first time the day/date appeared in traditional form in a moonwatch case and it would be the last time that an Omega used a Lemania movement, so a final culmination of a partnership that dated back over fifty years.
I say ‘culmination’ as the Omega 1045/Lemania 5100 is a bit of gem in its own right I think, conceived by Piaget, Baumgartner and technicians from SSIH, and built at a time when the whole Swiss mechanical industry was blighted by the Japanese quartz revolution, Lemania needed a robust, simple to manufacture, reliable and fully functional chronograph that was above all cheap. Now 'cheap' doesn't necessarily mean 'nasty', in this case a well engineered design solution that used pillar construction, stamped parts and a few plastic bits – doesn’t sound tasty does it? But, it does have what could be described as classic chronograph design features; it’s integrated (i.e. not a modular type), with a vertical clutch, (that gives a crisp let-off), and rotary cam, (a simplified column wheel as opposed to cam levers). Importantly though it features a directly driven chrono min/sec hand, the advantage of the direct drive is as there is no intermediary wheel so it is harder to jolt or stop the hand under 'g' load. The ‘plastic bits’ are actually Delron™, this was chosen as it self-lubricates, (as it’s a plastic), and is used for day/date wheels and the day change cam amongst other things, these are areas where wear is low anyway, so Delron™ was the functional, deliberate material of choice rather than being just a cost-cutting shortcut. (Incidentally, the 7750 uses some plastic too, but again, in a deliberate way, even more incidentally, a lot of the cheap Chinese 7750 fakes use metal parts instead!).
There is certainly nothing pretty about the Lemania 5100 in normal mode but with a copper alloy plating, (sometimes wrongly described as ‘rose gold’ on the interweb), on the 1045 it looks….well, still crap, but perhaps more acceptable – this is why there is only one watch that has ever used a complete display back for a Lemania 5100, and that was a very heavily spruced up one. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I actually like its unapologetically functional aesthetic, completely in line with its intended aim.
The strong suit of the movement though is the central chronograph hands, both chrono second hand and chrono minute hand are driven from the centre pinion, which effectively makes the whole watch your chrono subdial. The Lemania 5100 movement was in many issued watches in the seventies and eighties, the two main reasons cited for this are the readability of the chrono and the robustness of the movement. ‘Readability’ is perhaps a function of visibility plus intuitiveness, so here you have effectively a large stopwatch that reads off a scale we’re used to – the 60min scale. As soon as you see whereabouts the large minute chrono hand is on the dial you instinctively know how far through the hour you are, exactly like reading the normal minute hand of your watch. It literally couldn’t be easier.
Clear reading:
High crystal:
For me it’s interesting to see how various makers have gone about integrating the movements strong display potential to their specific dial design and hand sets, Sinn with its red tipped ‘Lemania’ style hands, Heuer with their orange tips and Omega with their all-white handsets. The chrono minute hand is differentiated in the normal convention with small ‘wings’ near the tip, not as swept as most Lemanias, but in the flatter Omega ‘t’ style.
As far as the Omega dial design goes, it follows faithfully the Speedmasters cues, which was always an essay in clarity anyway and Omega certainly didn’t drop the ball in this case either – in fact, the slightly larger diameter and the extended scale on the dial spacer give the dial an open and large look accentuated by the narrow, non-encroaching bezel.
The case of the 376.0822 is slightly thicker than the normal Speedy, and the case seems to have ‘grown’ around the pushers so they are semi-shrouded; this is also another strong point of this particular watch in that all other Speedies have more open pushers. The crystals dome is also slightly more pronounced and it’s all rounded off very nicely with the chunky, brushed steel bracelet with solid end links. More on that later…
From a personal point of view it has been following the movement that has led me to this watch, so not an Omega-centric choice at all, although the Omegas interpretation and execution is just about as good as you get I reckon.
Not a hot seller in 1987, as I mentioned, best guesses put it at an 18mth production run, probably halted due to lack of interest in mechanicals at the time, although as SSIH group had split some 6 years previously, did Omega just run out of supplied movements? Either way, the last 200 were converted with gold dials and bezels along with a bi-metal bracelet and sold only on the Italian market, and that was the end of that.
As to this individual one, I had the original hands put back on and the day wheel changed to an English one at Swiss Time Services and obviously a service and clean up of the case.
The 1450 bracelet has a few links missing but would extend out to a 7 ½ “ wrist, fortunately I have the wrists of a sparrow, so it fits fine, and what a bracelet it is – I’ve always liked the plain brushed steel Rolex bracelet best, out of any manufacturer, as they did it in a very plain way with good construction, and so it is with the 1450 – no shiny centre links, no embellishment, just plain brushed steel constructed in a solid way, apparently much favoured by the Omegaristi – and I can see why. It was used in a few other models of Speedmaster until the early nineties but it had a limited run, rather like the watch itself, and was the first one that had the ‘Speedmaster’ word inscribed on the clasp. Subsequent bracelets by Omega had the plain or polished-end centre link, (that looks like a 5 link bracelet), and I have to say I prefer the older, plainer style 1450. The chunky style suits the chunky case. The correct 809 end links are solid, the first time Omega started doing this in earnest. Out of interest, this would have cost you about £500 new in ’87, how times change...
In the context of the Speedmaster range, it stands out uniquely and features many ‘firsts’ as well as ‘lasts’.
From a Lemania point of view, the full movement couldn’t be much better presented or used any more efficiently.
From a chronograph point of view it as to be one of the more interesting automatics to handle and read.
So, for me just about perfect; great AK-47-esque movement, Speedmaster no nonsense clarity and the centre chrono feature. Tip-top.
More reading and links to the original 'Grail' meister, Chuck Maddox -
http://chronomaddox.com/c1045_in_detail.html
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/show-me-your-376-...
http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t...
And a clutch of Lemanias, L5100 EZM1, L5012 SAAF Lemania and the Omega 1045 376.0822:
Omega has produced many limited editions and many variations of the iconic Speedmaster, most of which are fairly indistinguishable one from the other at first glance unless you’re a Speedophile. So what’s so different about this one? It looks like a normal Speedmaster in the traditional ‘moonwatch’ case, but on closer inspection a few immediate differences leap out; Speedmasters don’t usually have a date, let alone a day, yet this has both and unusually it’s a central minute chronograph rather than one that uses only the second hand and subdials. Less obviously, the traditional Speedmaster was a manual wind watch, this is an automatic. It’s not a limited edition, but it had a short life span and consequently only about 1500 were ever made.
It is powered by the Omega 1045 movement, which is basically a copper-beryllium coated Lemania 5100. The partnership with Lemania dates back to the 1930’s, indeed the cal. 321 and 861 found in the famed 1960s Speedmasters were made by Lemania.
Omega used the 1045 movement in about 3 different watches in the early seventies but all had cases other than the typical moonwatch case. It was only in 1987 that the classic, bombé lugged moonwatch case was uniquely used in conjunction with the 1045 movement, the first time Omega had an automatic in a moonwatch case, the first time the day/date appeared in traditional form in a moonwatch case and it would be the last time that an Omega used a Lemania movement, so a final culmination of a partnership that dated back over fifty years.
I say ‘culmination’ as the Omega 1045/Lemania 5100 is a bit of gem in its own right I think, conceived by Piaget, Baumgartner and technicians from SSIH, and built at a time when the whole Swiss mechanical industry was blighted by the Japanese quartz revolution, Lemania needed a robust, simple to manufacture, reliable and fully functional chronograph that was above all cheap. Now 'cheap' doesn't necessarily mean 'nasty', in this case a well engineered design solution that used pillar construction, stamped parts and a few plastic bits – doesn’t sound tasty does it? But, it does have what could be described as classic chronograph design features; it’s integrated (i.e. not a modular type), with a vertical clutch, (that gives a crisp let-off), and rotary cam, (a simplified column wheel as opposed to cam levers). Importantly though it features a directly driven chrono min/sec hand, the advantage of the direct drive is as there is no intermediary wheel so it is harder to jolt or stop the hand under 'g' load. The ‘plastic bits’ are actually Delron™, this was chosen as it self-lubricates, (as it’s a plastic), and is used for day/date wheels and the day change cam amongst other things, these are areas where wear is low anyway, so Delron™ was the functional, deliberate material of choice rather than being just a cost-cutting shortcut. (Incidentally, the 7750 uses some plastic too, but again, in a deliberate way, even more incidentally, a lot of the cheap Chinese 7750 fakes use metal parts instead!).
There is certainly nothing pretty about the Lemania 5100 in normal mode but with a copper alloy plating, (sometimes wrongly described as ‘rose gold’ on the interweb), on the 1045 it looks….well, still crap, but perhaps more acceptable – this is why there is only one watch that has ever used a complete display back for a Lemania 5100, and that was a very heavily spruced up one. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I actually like its unapologetically functional aesthetic, completely in line with its intended aim.
The strong suit of the movement though is the central chronograph hands, both chrono second hand and chrono minute hand are driven from the centre pinion, which effectively makes the whole watch your chrono subdial. The Lemania 5100 movement was in many issued watches in the seventies and eighties, the two main reasons cited for this are the readability of the chrono and the robustness of the movement. ‘Readability’ is perhaps a function of visibility plus intuitiveness, so here you have effectively a large stopwatch that reads off a scale we’re used to – the 60min scale. As soon as you see whereabouts the large minute chrono hand is on the dial you instinctively know how far through the hour you are, exactly like reading the normal minute hand of your watch. It literally couldn’t be easier.
Clear reading:
High crystal:
For me it’s interesting to see how various makers have gone about integrating the movements strong display potential to their specific dial design and hand sets, Sinn with its red tipped ‘Lemania’ style hands, Heuer with their orange tips and Omega with their all-white handsets. The chrono minute hand is differentiated in the normal convention with small ‘wings’ near the tip, not as swept as most Lemanias, but in the flatter Omega ‘t’ style.
As far as the Omega dial design goes, it follows faithfully the Speedmasters cues, which was always an essay in clarity anyway and Omega certainly didn’t drop the ball in this case either – in fact, the slightly larger diameter and the extended scale on the dial spacer give the dial an open and large look accentuated by the narrow, non-encroaching bezel.
The case of the 376.0822 is slightly thicker than the normal Speedy, and the case seems to have ‘grown’ around the pushers so they are semi-shrouded; this is also another strong point of this particular watch in that all other Speedies have more open pushers. The crystals dome is also slightly more pronounced and it’s all rounded off very nicely with the chunky, brushed steel bracelet with solid end links. More on that later…
From a personal point of view it has been following the movement that has led me to this watch, so not an Omega-centric choice at all, although the Omegas interpretation and execution is just about as good as you get I reckon.
Not a hot seller in 1987, as I mentioned, best guesses put it at an 18mth production run, probably halted due to lack of interest in mechanicals at the time, although as SSIH group had split some 6 years previously, did Omega just run out of supplied movements? Either way, the last 200 were converted with gold dials and bezels along with a bi-metal bracelet and sold only on the Italian market, and that was the end of that.
As to this individual one, I had the original hands put back on and the day wheel changed to an English one at Swiss Time Services and obviously a service and clean up of the case.
The 1450 bracelet has a few links missing but would extend out to a 7 ½ “ wrist, fortunately I have the wrists of a sparrow, so it fits fine, and what a bracelet it is – I’ve always liked the plain brushed steel Rolex bracelet best, out of any manufacturer, as they did it in a very plain way with good construction, and so it is with the 1450 – no shiny centre links, no embellishment, just plain brushed steel constructed in a solid way, apparently much favoured by the Omegaristi – and I can see why. It was used in a few other models of Speedmaster until the early nineties but it had a limited run, rather like the watch itself, and was the first one that had the ‘Speedmaster’ word inscribed on the clasp. Subsequent bracelets by Omega had the plain or polished-end centre link, (that looks like a 5 link bracelet), and I have to say I prefer the older, plainer style 1450. The chunky style suits the chunky case. The correct 809 end links are solid, the first time Omega started doing this in earnest. Out of interest, this would have cost you about £500 new in ’87, how times change...
In the context of the Speedmaster range, it stands out uniquely and features many ‘firsts’ as well as ‘lasts’.
From a Lemania point of view, the full movement couldn’t be much better presented or used any more efficiently.
From a chronograph point of view it as to be one of the more interesting automatics to handle and read.
So, for me just about perfect; great AK-47-esque movement, Speedmaster no nonsense clarity and the centre chrono feature. Tip-top.
More reading and links to the original 'Grail' meister, Chuck Maddox -
http://chronomaddox.com/c1045_in_detail.html
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/show-me-your-376-...
http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t...
And a clutch of Lemanias, L5100 EZM1, L5012 SAAF Lemania and the Omega 1045 376.0822:
Really fantastic looking watch with a fabulously robust movement. For me the standard Speedy Pro is too thin relative to the case length lug to lug, but this one is better proportioned.
This really is "the one to have" if you're a Speedy fan IMHO. The Lemania movement is one of the most usable chrono's out there.
I'm just not enough of a fan of the Speedy Pro to pay what they now command.
This really is "the one to have" if you're a Speedy fan IMHO. The Lemania movement is one of the most usable chrono's out there.
I'm just not enough of a fan of the Speedy Pro to pay what they now command.
I currently swim in the realm of £100 watches and am not sure when I'll ever get to having £2k+ swimming around for me to go and treat myself to one... but one day.... Thanks gentlemen, as ever, I stand on the shoulders of giants when it comes down to it, but hopefully I've put together the most pertinent points that a variety of people have made over the years. Glad you've enjoyed the read 
andy tims said:
I'm just not enough of a fan of the Speedy Pro to pay what they now command.
I totally agree on the pricing of these it has to be said, it's only the most ardent of fans that will fork out for this one I think - the price hasn't really shifted since the big Omega auction of 2007. On the upside I think it'll hold what I've put into it and it does appeal across a range of different collection niches. The current pricing of new ones is edging into the realm of collectable vintage ones, it's a strange world...Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff