Omega

The Omega Chronostop - Ref. 145.008

Watches. These small works of living art that are my weakness. My Achilles' heel - my kryptonite, if you will. Case In Point: The Omega Chronostop.

Released in 1966, the Omega Chronostop was considered one of the top-line “sports” watches of its time. The Chronostop housed an extremely accurate, caliber 865 movement (sometime referred to as “The Lemania 865”) running at 3Hz (21,600vph).

The Chronostop came equipped with the same manually wound, 17-jewel movement as its more sophisticated cousin, the Speedmaster, only without the added registers (and for about half the price).  And what with its high accuracy, newly engineered shock resistance and internal anti-magnetic protection, the Chronostop received top prize at the prestigious Federation Horologer competition in 1967 in Geneva.  Once considered a luxury watch, the Chronostop is still regarded as a great value on the vintage market.  A total of 124,000 were produced and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a good specimen.

There are essentially three Chronostop models and/or variations of the original release.  Reference 145.000 was a Tonneau-shaped case with black, tritium-point luminous hour and minute baton hands.  Its chronograph function had a sixty second stopwatch with an orange-colored dial.  The stopwatch function was activated by pushing a button located at the 2 o’clock position.

Reference 145.008 (manufactured 1966 to 1969) came in a 41mm, stainless steel case (waterproof to 120m), and was equipped with either a leather strap or steel bracelet.  These variations of the Chronostop also shared a similar rotating inner-bezel set by a crown located at 10 o’clock.  All the variations display times to 1/5^th per second.  

Because of its relative success, many versions were released between 1967 and 1969.  One variation, the Omega Seamaster “Pilot” Chronostop, featured a rotating 24-hour (or “Roulette”) bezel with a second time zone.  A second variation (released in 1967) featured a “Regatta”, a special yachting timer designed for boat racing enthusiasts.  Finally, there is the Seamaster Chronostop Jumbo Diver, which was released in 1969.  This model was very popular among amateur divers because of how easy it was to check one’s dive times.  This model was delivered in a rare, oversized case with a manual-wound 865 made specifically for this variation of the Chronostop.  All models have a similar black dial, with baton hands, as well as an orange “stop-second” hand that is controlled by a mono-pusher at 2:00. 

Some of you know I had been hunting for this watch for a while now, and admittedly I was very lucky to stumble upon a practically (NOS) specimen.