Posted by Let’s level set, shall we?
Throughout this site I use a lot of terms that could be considered lingo or jargon, and sometimes I use certain terms interchangeably to mean the same thing. And then there’s a whole set of classification and terms for dials that I simply made up. Let me at least try to clear things up…
Movements
The movement numbers refereed to on this site are 1040 and 1041, made exclusively for Omega by Lemania. I sometimes refer to them simply by the number, or I’ll refer to it as calibre 1040 or cal. 1040. Caliber 1040 would probably be the more accurate English spelling, but as you can guess from the name of my site I dig the French spelling.
Cases or Reference Numbers
In the 1970s, Omega used a numeric labeling system that generally described the features of the watch. All of the cal. 1040 references began with the number 176. The 1 signified a men’s watch that could be on either a strap or bracelet, the 7 meant it was an automatic chronograph, and the 6 meant that it was water resistant and had a date feature. The number after the period just refers to I tend to usually just refer to the unique model with the above features.
I usually refer to the seven cal. 1040 watches by the full reference number (i.e. 176.007) but sometimes I’ll get lazy and refer to the watches by just the numbers after the decimal point (i.e. 007). I may use the terms reference, case, or “ref.” interchangeably. To confuse matters, Omega sometimes added an extra zero after the decimal (176.0007). All of these mean the same thing.
Omega also used a two letter suffix to denote the material the case was made of. ST is the code for steel and MD for gold-plated. Three of the seven cases came in both steel and gold-plated. Sometimes I put the suffix before the reference instead of after, and sometimes I leave it out.
Nicknames
Omega gave us a few model names that make memorizing the reference number less important. For example, when I refer to a Speedmaster Mark III, Mark III, Mark 3, Mk. III or Mk. 3, I am referring to 176.002. The “official” nicknames and corresponding references are:
Speedmaster Mark III – 176.002 ST
Speedmaster Mark IV – 176.009 ST
Seamaster Yachting – 176.010 ST or 176.010 MD
Speedmaster 125 Chronometer – 378.0801
Collectors have given an unofficial nickname, Big Blue, to ref. 176.004 ST.
176.001, 176.005, and 176.007 don’t really have nicknames.
176.005 is often incorrectly referred to as a “Jedi“. Chuck Maddox gave several watches Star Wars-inspired nicknames in the 1990s and early 2000s, and named the pilot-cased cal. 861 Seamaster ref. 145.024 the Jedi. In 2007, Antiquorum held a special Omega auction, called “Omegamania”. In the catalog for that auction, they referred to the 176.005s listed as “so-called Jedi”. The error was immediately noticed and derided by collectors including Chuck, but the misnomer still persists. A Google search for “Omega Jedi” brings up as much 176.005 content as 145.024 hits, if not more.
Dials
In order to classify and organize the many dials Omega used in the cal. 1040 family I had to create my own taxonomy. My system is pretty basic- one letter followed by one number – so it might not be intuitive or easy to remember “Hey that’s obviously an H2 dial!”. So if you see me say A dials, Type A dials, or Dial A1, I normally create a link in the text that will take you to the collector’s guide for that dial type.