Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jun 27, 2009

LOT 261

Omega ?Speedmaster Professional Mark III, Automatic?, movement No. 34246228, Ref. ST 176.0002. Sold on November 13, 1972. Fine and rare, large, self-winding, water-resistant, tonneaushaped, stainless steel wristwatch with date, round button chronograph, 12-hour register, central minute recorder, tachometer, 24-hours with night/day indication, and a stainless steel Omega ?Holzer? bracelet with deployant clasp. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and a modern Omega box. To be sold without reserve

HKD 7,000 - 14,000

USD 1,000 - 2,000 / EUR 700 - 1,400

Sold: HKD 10,200

C. Two-body, ?Pilot-line?, brushed, screwed-down case back with engraved ?Seamaster? logo, hooded lugs. D. Satiné blue with faceted black painted indexes, luminous dots, inner Arabic five minutes, outer minute/fifth second scale, outermost tachometer scale graduated to 500UPH, subsidiary dials for the seconds and the 12-hour register, the 24 hours with night/day indication by means of an arrow on a revolving disc, 60-minute register by means of a orange and black central ?jet? hand, aperture for the date. Luminous white baton hands. M. Cal. 1040, copper-colored, 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock-absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring, micrometer regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Dim. 40 x 52 mm. Thickness 16 mm. Approx overall length 175 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 3-8

Good

Slightly scratched
Movement: 3

Good
Dial: 3-02

Good

HANDS Service hands

Notes

Ref. ST 176.0002, launched in 1971, holds a unique place in the Omega collection of the 1970?s. Its case is from the Pilot line of cases which was used for the Flightmaster and the Seamaster, making it the only Speedmaster Professional to share its case design with both chronograph and non-chronograph models. It is also the first self-winding Speedmaster Professional (patent CH 558.556), preceding by two years the famous Speedy 125, whose movement is a certified chronometer version of this caliber. The reference was made with two distinct dial designs, the first black with luminous markers, the second satiné blue with applied indexes. The Omega advertising for the Mark III states, ?After six landings on the moon, there was only one thing we could teach the Speedmaster. To wind itself.? Ironically, had the Speedmaster been self-winding in 1962 it probably would never have passed NASA?s stringent tests - self-winding movements do not wind in zero gravity environments, and these movements tend to be less robust than manual winding ones.