Seamaster 1000m, Ref. 166.0093, however…

[Francois Boucher]

This came up on another forum.

What do you make of this? Strange dial, hands, and stranger still: that bezel…





The numbers on the bezel probably show no-deco limits for the depths indicated on the bezel, in meters. Here are these limits, according to the US Navy tables of 1973, and as they are shown on the bezel of the Omega and classic Doxa bezels:



…close enough, I guess…

Now:
1. Where are these hands from? Ever seen anything like this?
2. In particular, what is that short orange hand mounted in its middle? Compass? Just a short hand to show that the watch is indeed running? (Required by ISO 6425, as everyone knows…)
3. The Omega sign inside a red cartouche usually is found on the dials of Omega Quartz models… But here, "Automatic" is also clearly written on the dial… what gives?

[Nalu]

My understanding is that this watch is a one-off made on a SMP1000 case variant for the Janus project. There is an Omega extract of records that accompanied the one I saw previously. Having said that, the one I saw before looked NOS and not wabi'd like this one is. Maybe it was an LE or maybe there was more than one prototype?





I think the orange hand is a seconds and is there purely to provide an indication of whether the watch is running. As for the crazy hands, Omega was coming up with all sorts of wacky prototypes back then and nothing would surprise me.

[Nalu]

I'd add that it's not exactly the SM1000 case. The SMP1000 has a curved case back. Unfortunately none of my photos show it well, I'll have to correct that.

However, the prototypes of the SMP1000 did have a flat case back which looks a lot more like the watch above.

I've had a look at Beautiful Watch and the COMEX SM is gone

[Nalu]

OK, it seems this watch was made as a prototype of the SMP1000 in 1970 for Jacques Monjoin who was working on the Janus project. That would explain the flat case back and the no-deco bezel. Of course, all the previously-known prototypes had a cal. 1002 and an SMP600 dial in them, but this watch has a cal.552 and this crazy dial.

Your friend has a very rare dive watch and a piece of history.

[David Woo]

SM 1000, talk about a dive watch grail...
Nice piece, Francois.
DW

[Nalu]

The owner can get an extract of records if he sends it to Bienne, but please advise him not to change anything about this watch. At most a movement service and a new crystal - everything else should remain unrestored!

[Francois Boucher]

OK, it seems this watch was made as a prototype of the SMP1000 in 1970 for Jacques Monjoin who was working on the Janus project. That would explain the flat case back and the no-deco bezel. Of course, all the previously-known prototypes had a cal. 1002 and an SMP600 dial in them, but this watch has a cal.552 and this crazy dial.

Your friend has a very rare dive watch and a piece of history.

Indeed. That caseback is illustrated in Journey, page 331. It was flat in the beginning, then slightly curved later.

Thanks for all this information! It's very interesting!

More details here.

[Joe K.]

Hi Francois,
Indeed the bezel appears to be a non-decompression calculator.

We have discussed a similar watch a few years back. It appears to be a prototype Omega developed for a Comex project. I can't find the information on that watch, but do recall there was an extract of records for it.

I believe the center hands is an indicator the watch is working. The dial is interesting. Perhaps it was co-opted from another development project. In particular, I am thinking of the Megaquartz 1000M project. I think that had a similar dial (?) but maybe I have things mixed up...?

Hope this helps.

This came up on another forum.

What do you make of this? Strange dial, hands, and stranger still: that bezel…





The numbers on the bezel probably show no-deco limits for the depths indicated on the bezel, in meters. Here are these limits, according to the US Navy tables of 1973, and as they are shown on the bezel of the Omega and classic Doxa bezels:



…close enough, I guess…

Now:
1. Where are these hands from? Ever seen anything like this?
2. In particular, what is that short orange hand mounted in its middle? Compass? Just a short hand to show that the watch is indeed running? (Required by ISO 6425, as everyone knows…)
3. The Omega sign inside a red cartouche usually is found on the dials of Omega Quartz models… But here, "Automatic" is also clearly written on the dial… what gives?

[TLex]

Weird and wonderful, I like it!

[watchking1]

Good stuff guys!!

[S.L]

The dial is interesting. Perhaps it was co-opted from another development project. In particular, I am thinking of the Megaquartz 1000M project. I think that had a similar dial (?) but maybe I have things mixed up...?

Here's a pic showing the Megaquartz in the background,



/Stefan

[Snogge]

Funky !

[Dimitris]

Very strange watch!

Why a watch made for deep diving research has a ''no deco'' bezel?

regards
Dimitris

[AAP]

I wish I had saved off a copy of the "Extract of Records" image Beautiful Watch had.

[Francois Boucher]

I wish I had saved off a copy of the "Extract of Records" image Beautiful Watch had.

Large pic here.

More pics here, where it still is on sale…

Article here.

[Francois Boucher]

Very strange watch!

Why a watch made for deep diving research has a ''no deco'' bezel?

regards
Dimitris

No doubt because it was used for more "reasonable" scuba diving…

In any case the deep divers do not need the time: they are communicating by hard wire with the surface & each other. Still, it seems a simple timing bezel might have been more useful.

But what do I know! I have dived to 40 meters, max… (I'm a PADI divemaster, No 211951).

[isedhardy]

Funky !