One of the challenges with collecting cal. 1040 chronographs is that despite the fact that there were seven distinct case shapes (eight if you count cal. 1041) is that dials and hands were compatible across all references.
Omega being Omega, they also released multiple dial options for each reference. Some variants were retired before sales to the general public began, some were retired and replaced during production. Others were created by Omega sometime after the entire family was retired and used as service dials.
There are 29 distinct dials that could be found by diligent collectors, and 4 that seem to only live at the Omega museum (see matrix below). Of the 29 only nine or so remain available from Omega as service dials, so those remaining nine are now seen more commonly than the rest and often on unexpected cases.
The following is an attempt to classify these legitimate dials by type for collectors and serve as a resource for many of the questions that we get from time to time along the lines of “how many dials were there for ref. 176.XXX?” This also should help make the seemingly endless variety a little more manageable.
Photos were mostly snagged from the web, cropped and used for educational purposes. Through formatting some of the clarity of the photos was lost. I apologize for that but the photos should be good enough to convey the distinguishing characteristics.
Click here for the original cal. 1040 Dial Encyclopedia thread I created on Omegaforums. Click below for a detailed looks at each subfamily of dials:
Type A Dials – Seamasters 176.007, 176.001
Type B Dials – Seamasters 176.007, 176.001
Type C Dials – Seamasters 176.007, 176.010
Type D Dials – Speedmaster 176.002
Type E Dials – Speedmaster 176.002
Type F Dials – Seamaster and Speedmaster 176.004
Type G Dials – Seamaster 176.005
Type H Dials – Speedmaster 176.009
Type I Dials – Seamasters 176.010, 176.005, 176.007
Type J Dials – Speedmaster 125 378.0801/178.0002
Type K Dial – Prototype 176.001
Click here for some tips on spotting cal. 1040 redials and other dials I consider not legitimate.
Click here for some data on dials for Seamaster 176.007 and here for some data on Speedmaster Mark III 176.002.
Dial – Case Configuration Matrix
Below I’ve attempted match up the dial variants with the case or cases they were offered on, or at least are frequently seen on. The dials shaded in red are not likely to be found on the market, but the the rest are dials that collectors could potentially find.
Looking for the guide for cases? Click here.
Looking for the guide for bezels? Click here.
Looking for the guide to movements? Click here.