The Mark IV Service Dial with a “Touch of Blue”

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Looking back, 2006 was an interesting time for the online community of vintage Omega collectors. Much of what we now know and accept as fact was unknown, or less understood. The Omegamania Antiquorum auction had not happened, and A Journey Through Time had yet to be published. The work of prolific collector-bloggers Chuck Maddox and Steve Waddington was still in progress, and much of their research was unfolding publicly on watch forums like Timezone, Chronocentric, and Watchuseek in the form of conversations with each other and other collectors.

h-dials
Dial H1, which I believe ALL Mark IV’s were originally fitted with is seen on the left. On the right is H2, a service dial with a “touch of blue”. Photo found on uhrforum.de posted by XF-56

Poring over archived forum conversations of that time can be very educational, despite the fact that more current information may have proven some of their beliefs or theories wrong. One such thread sheds light on dial seen occasionally on some Mark IV Speedmasters. Dial H2, the “Blue Mark IV” is a less-common modern service dial, and was the subject of two particularly interesting Watchuseek threads in 2006.

In August 2006, a poster threw up a question to see how many Mark IV owners were on the forum. Sadly most of the pictures in the thread have disappeared, but the thread is full of fantastic debate. Thirteen posts in collector Georges Zaslavsky asserts that “The mark IV never had the blue 6-18 hour indicator” as one piece of evidence that many of the Mark IVs on the market were not correct. Another collector pointed out on the next post that his friend had the blue dial installed during service by Omega.

Mr. Zaslavsky then reached out to Marco Richon, who was still curator at the Omega Museum at the time and was in the process of putting together what would eventually become A Journey Through Time. Zaslavsky’s translation of Richon’s response is below (Actual French text of Richon’s response can be found in the thread), :

“Hello Mr Zaslavsky

I congratulate you on your purchase because we have never seen a such dial till today. The blue hour indicator is only and usually found on markIII, and all the markIV that we know have only a black dial with a black and grey hour indicators. It seems that your is in perfect order. But check again with a maginifying [sic] glass, if this is the original color or if that was added by a do it yourself enthusiast.

If she is original, I would be thankful you to rephotography [sic] this piece with macro pics by moving on the 24 hour indicators and on the “speedmaster markIV” markings by moving the hands on 8h20. Then send me by email the pics in the highest resolution possible, because I will include them in the next book I am writing “Omegamania” and that will be published in the beginning of the next year.

Concerning the speed 125, I can’t unfortunately give you the number of 2000, because it is the only number that I have.

In the wait of your news, please accept my sincere greatings. [sic]”

First off, how great is it that these collectors had such ready access to authoritative, primary sources and were willing to share this information publicly for our collective benefit? Zaslavsky interprets Richon’s hesitation and unfamiliarity with this dial as proof that the dial is incorrect. Eventually the owner of the watch in question posts before and after photos of the watch (I believe the before showed the more common dial H1, the after showed dial H2, sadly pics are long gone) and confirms his watch was serviced by Omega in 2005, and they installed the dial. A few posts down, the owner promises to email Richon and says he did. Another great nugget is dispensed in this thread from Richon, via Zaslavsky, that production of the Mark IV was “near 10,000 if not less.” (This matches up nicely with my production estimates). The thread continues for a while but the dial isn’t brought up again.

 

Two months later in October 2006, Steve Waddington (collector that owns www.old-omegas.com) created a new thread calling back to the August thread since he found another similar dial (again, photos are now missing) this time from a trusted source. The debate picks up where it left off with several members believing the dial has to be correct because Omega themselves installed it, and Zaslavsky disagreeing based on his interpretation of Richon’s email. At this point Richon had never replied to the owner of the watch in question after he had sent him photos. As things tend to, the discussion gets a bit heated. Steve Waddington essentially ends the conversation with a very strong and succinct summary:

“I’m sorry to have have started a thread that may be heading towards some name calling. That was not my intention.

All I have to say on this subject is as follows :-

  • It is my opinion that Mike Votecs watch is a 100% genuine Omega. It was built & rebuilt by Omega. ( Note I have not said 100% original )
  • The dial I showed & the dial in Mikes rebuilt MK IV ARE 100%genuine omega parts. There is absolutely NO DOUBT about this statement / fact
  • I have bought a number of Items from Larry ( the seller of the dial ). till now EVERYTHING I have bought from Larry has arrived in its original Omega ( usually sealed ) packaging.

The other point that I maybe didn’t stress enough is that these dials are marked T SWISS MADE T….. so they have NOT been recently manufactured.

So, this opens up a whole new direction of thoughts / questions.

Is it possible that Omega had a bunch of these made up in the 80’s/90’s. then the laws changed & they couldn’t fit them to the watches ?

Were the sales of the watches so poor that Omega dropped the model, before the stock of new dials were used ?

I’m sure some of you out there have other suggestions / possibilities.

Usually there is a date on the Omega packaging, I’d like to see the date on these packages. (Maybe I’ll E-mail Larry & ask for a Scan)”

The owner of the watch never posted to Watchuseek again and the thread was never resolved with a response either way from Richon. Richon went on to publish A Journey Through Time without any photos of a Mark IV that had color on the dial. But the amount of information conveyed in this thread is impressive and informs most of what is known about this dial. The dial is in fact still available from Omega (part 064PP1598007, matching the number provided by Mike Votec way back in 2006). It may not have been originally offered during the initial run, which would explain Richon’s unfamiliarity with it, but Omega certainly did use and still uses it as a service replacement.

 

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