Omega Flightmaster: Supersonic Pilot's Watch

DrStrong shares an unexpected acquisition story of his Omega Flightmaster, a watch he initially found peculiar but grew to appreciate for its unique design and functionality. This article delves into the Flightmaster's history as Omega's pilot watch for supersonic travel, highlighting its distinctive case, GMT complication, and robust construction.

I have a deep love for Omega sports watches and I always keep my eyes open for nice examples. But this time, the story of my new purchase is unusual… as I was not looking for this watch at all !!

I have always considered the Flightmaster as a weird object, with a monster sized case and a busy dial that I did not understand… until a couple of days ago, when a friend of mine offered me this example and let me play with it…. then I discovered a super-cool 1970’s piece of design and a watch with very useful and easy-to-operate features !

The Flightmaster is a variant of the Speedmaster line, which was manufactured by Omega as their pilot watch “for the supersonic traveler” (!!) from 1969 through the early 1970's. The watch has a 12 Hour-GMT complication through a blue hand that is set through the auxiliary crown located at 10 o’clock on the case (the crown at 8 operates the inner bezel).

The case is 52mm in length, 46mm with the crowns, 43mm without, and 15mm thick, while its weight is at 139 grams. Cut from a single block of Swedish stainless steel, the upper case was pressed and tempered sixteen times before it assumed its unique elliptical shape designed to fit the contours of the wrist comfortably. Although a huge watch for the standards of the day, the Flightmaster benefited from its hidden lugs. The designers at Omega wanted a chronograph that would be big in order for professional pilots to be able to check the time instantly. The result was that the watch shape and taper actually dominated the wrist while at the same time fit and blended perfectly, even better than many smaller watches !

Unforunately, the case of my watch has lots its original finishing because of wear. But I will ask my watchmaker to work on it...

On its case back, Omega put the outline of a DC-8 super 61 jet: another icon of the 1960’s…

The chronograph incorporated a patented retaining crystal system and a round heavy duty O-ring that makes it waterproof for 12 atmospheres. The watch has been tested under space conditions and works even in a complete vacuum. Actually the Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov wore an Omega Flightmaster during training for his command of the first crew for the first joint Soviet-American space mission under the ASTP program (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project).

The auxiliary crowns on the left side of the case have a circular indentation in them and are colour-coded to their function: blue for the second hour hand, black for the under-crystal bezel. In addition, the pushers on the right side of the watch also have indentations on them as well and have yellow/orange paint on them. These are colour-keyed to the sub-register hands that indicate chronograph elapsed time.

My example is the special ‘professional’ versions, with yellow cadmium coated hands which were extra legible when aircraft cockpits were lit with infra-red lights (the ordinary production hands are orange).

My watch is from around 1974 (I am still waiting for the Extrait des Archives) and has the caliber 911. There was one earlier version of the Flightmaster in which the running second was replaced by an extra 24-hour hand and a colour coded register that showed AM-PM, making this a true GMT-watch. The caliber in that watch was the 910, but both are based on the famous cal.861.

My watch has a very clean dial with still the original colors, only the hands gave faded. There are other Flightmaster whose dial have faded to brown and guess what….this is my next target !!