Fit to Purpose - The Speedmaster Mark II Reissue
Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 8:21 am
Oh, the irony.....the first Speedmasters were built as racing watches when Omega threw their hat into into the NASA testing and the rest, as they say, is history. After several missions, Omega got feedback from Astronauts and NASA about changes they wanted to make to the "Moonwatch"
1) a crystal that wouldn't be prone to "pop off"
2) a sturdier bezel insert
3) a case without as many edges
To which, Omega designed the MKII to address these requirements - unfortunately, time ran out and by time the MKII's were ready for evaluation, the was no longer a need. Ironically, the watch that became the Moonwatch was never designed or intended to go to the moon while the watch that was designed to meet NASA requirements never made it to testing.
The good thing is the Mark II's were released to the public and, not as popular as the moonwatch, became a cult classic with either the black/white or grey/orange dial configurations.
This review is not meant to be a "spot the difference" between the vintage and modern so I'll just touch on it briefly and then take a tour of the reissue.
1) Modern Tachy Bezel is not as wide giving more exposure to the beautiful dial
2) Both have orange markers on the racing track but the Vintage has an orange "lap" on the track, the modern has an orange ring beneath the bezel
3) Modern Movement upgraded
4) (very) slight difference in case specs
5) Date in the Modern dial
6) "professional" on the vintage dial replaced with "Co-Axial Chronometer" on the modern dial
Photo from ABTW:
Now that's covered...moving into the modern reissue
For the movement nerds:
Calibre 3330 is an automatic chronograph movement by Omega based on the ETA 7753 but with the addition of a column wheel chronograph switch and Co-Axial escapement, Free sprung-balance equipped with Si14 silicon balance spring. Officially certified chronometer.
Power reserve: 52 hours
The case exhibits a glorious combination of radial sunburst brushing on the top, a polished transition case line to a tradition brushed sides to another layer of polished case before hitting the case back - unimaginably well executed and beautiful (Also not the "new" bracelet with screws instead of pins)
Moving around the case to the back notice the Date corrector push button on the left side of the case (and the nice detail of a polished surface separating the side from the caseback - nice touch by Omega, in my opinion)
The caseback reveals the historic polished omega hippocampus and Omega symbol and text around the outer edge indicating Column Wheel, Si14, 100m, the anti counterfit globe
The Tachy bezel has lume underneath the track. The bezel is black with cut out numbers to allow the lume to shine up through the numbers - a sandwich bezel and really, really cool. Love the depth and 3-D effect
And the lume is amazing
Dial details: the orange ring beneath the tachy bezel is only visible at an angle (not straight on) and seems to "glow"
Honestly, I was not convinced about this before buying it but can 100% say it is way cool. It is not a gimick and ads to the overall experience
The subdials are sunk and have concentric rings - love and love
Hour and Minute hands are "blacked out" at their base giving them a "floating" appearance on the dial
Chronograph hands are all orange - central, minute and hour totalizers while the running seconds is in white for visual separation of functions
Depending on angles and lighting the tachy bezel can look solid black or translucent and the dial can go from light to dark grey
On the wrist it wears incredibly comfortable....I've worn SS, Ti, ceramic and this fits and wears well. The case size is:
42.4 across, 46.2 tall and 15.2 thick
1) a crystal that wouldn't be prone to "pop off"
2) a sturdier bezel insert
3) a case without as many edges
To which, Omega designed the MKII to address these requirements - unfortunately, time ran out and by time the MKII's were ready for evaluation, the was no longer a need. Ironically, the watch that became the Moonwatch was never designed or intended to go to the moon while the watch that was designed to meet NASA requirements never made it to testing.
The good thing is the Mark II's were released to the public and, not as popular as the moonwatch, became a cult classic with either the black/white or grey/orange dial configurations.
This review is not meant to be a "spot the difference" between the vintage and modern so I'll just touch on it briefly and then take a tour of the reissue.
1) Modern Tachy Bezel is not as wide giving more exposure to the beautiful dial
2) Both have orange markers on the racing track but the Vintage has an orange "lap" on the track, the modern has an orange ring beneath the bezel
3) Modern Movement upgraded
4) (very) slight difference in case specs
5) Date in the Modern dial
6) "professional" on the vintage dial replaced with "Co-Axial Chronometer" on the modern dial
Photo from ABTW:
Now that's covered...moving into the modern reissue
For the movement nerds:
Calibre 3330 is an automatic chronograph movement by Omega based on the ETA 7753 but with the addition of a column wheel chronograph switch and Co-Axial escapement, Free sprung-balance equipped with Si14 silicon balance spring. Officially certified chronometer.
Power reserve: 52 hours
The case exhibits a glorious combination of radial sunburst brushing on the top, a polished transition case line to a tradition brushed sides to another layer of polished case before hitting the case back - unimaginably well executed and beautiful (Also not the "new" bracelet with screws instead of pins)
Moving around the case to the back notice the Date corrector push button on the left side of the case (and the nice detail of a polished surface separating the side from the caseback - nice touch by Omega, in my opinion)
The caseback reveals the historic polished omega hippocampus and Omega symbol and text around the outer edge indicating Column Wheel, Si14, 100m, the anti counterfit globe
The Tachy bezel has lume underneath the track. The bezel is black with cut out numbers to allow the lume to shine up through the numbers - a sandwich bezel and really, really cool. Love the depth and 3-D effect
And the lume is amazing
Dial details: the orange ring beneath the tachy bezel is only visible at an angle (not straight on) and seems to "glow"
Honestly, I was not convinced about this before buying it but can 100% say it is way cool. It is not a gimick and ads to the overall experience
The subdials are sunk and have concentric rings - love and love
Hour and Minute hands are "blacked out" at their base giving them a "floating" appearance on the dial
Chronograph hands are all orange - central, minute and hour totalizers while the running seconds is in white for visual separation of functions
Depending on angles and lighting the tachy bezel can look solid black or translucent and the dial can go from light to dark grey
On the wrist it wears incredibly comfortable....I've worn SS, Ti, ceramic and this fits and wears well. The case size is:
42.4 across, 46.2 tall and 15.2 thick
and glad to return a fraction of the knowledge I've been given here
