Omega

After a long frustrating search I finally nabbed a nice one owner Mariner, bought in Dusseldorf in'76, worn until '94 and left sitting in a drawer (battery free than heavens!) until very recently. It ticks three important boxes for me:

1. It contains an example of the first totally in house produced Omega quartz movement, the cal 1310 was designed by Andre Triponez, one of the leading lights in early quartz movement development. It hacks, and the seconds, hour day and date can all be set independently due to an ingenious combination of magnetic/mechanical componenents controlled by the recessed pushers on the side of the case.

2. It's unusually tough for an early quartz as evidenced by the marketing campaign wherein Mariners were attached to the mast and keel of two boats competing in the June 1976 single handed transatlantic yacht race and were the only items on either boat that came out unscathed from the terrible weather conditions endured by the competitors that year.

3. It looks fantastic. The case designer is unkown to me (maybe has a touch of Gerald Genta about it?) The design cues might indicate a taste for English sci-fi TV programmes too!














Cheers

Ian