Measure
36 mm without crown, and 45 mm lug to lug, this is a oversize case for that
time, usually 29 mm , 31 mm and 32 mm was the common size in this type of early
wrist watches, original wind crown at 9, left hand winding watch, early
wristwatches ( 1900 to 1910 ) where used in the right hand, in the inner side
of the wrist as you can see in the pictures of the advices from 1907.
This is
not a conversion woman pocket watch, is the first batch of this emblematic
Swiss company to change the way to use a watch after 400
years of customs and uses history. Another characteristic of this early Omega was
the absence of sub second quadrants at 6, maybe because Omega use a Lepine movement
and after the success of wristwatches start to develop wristwatches with sub
second quadrants at 6. ( Picture of the
very first Omega wristwatch with Arabic numerals from 1902 and also without sub
second quadrant at 6) Roman numerals, porcelain
dial in good conditions, original blue steel spade hands in
extremely good conditions, without oxide and rust. Fixed lugs, the 0,935 silver
solid case was cleansed gently with only a
cloth, it has no scratches or marks, is in mint condition. Silvers cases was the
second option in high prices after Gold, over Nickel and steel.
This is a
historical watch, caliber 13''' L+S, Breguet blue hairspring, this caliber was created in 1896, is the early
beginning of one of the most famous and Luxury brand watches in the world,
impossible to find in these conditions after 110 years, running and ticking
like the first day in the beginning of 1900.
1909 was a
year full of milestones that left footprints...The British Nimrod Expedition to
the South Pole, led by Ernest Shackleton, arrives at the farthest south reached
by any prior expedition. The first Giro d'Italia bicycle race starts and
finishes in Milan; Luigi Ganna was the winner. Louis Blériot is the first man
to fly across the English Channel (thus a large open body of water) in a
heavier-than-air craft. The United States Army Signal Corp Division purchases
the world's first military airplane, a Wright Military Flyer, from the Wright
brothers. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens in the United States.
Births... Jean
Bugatti, German-born automobile designer. Gene Krupa, American drummer. Edmund
Berkeley, American scientist. Benny Goodman, American musician. Errol Flynn,
Australian-born actor. Osamu Dazai, Japanese novelist. Ferdinand Anton Ernst
Porsche, Austrian auto designer, businessman. Also Guglielmo Marconi, 1st
Marquis of Marconi, get the Nobel Prize
in Physics.
When we think in others milestones, this watch was produced and start ticking 3 years before the sinking of the Titanic, and was made entire with solid silver so to last a long time, because stainless steel was discovered in 1913. In some way this Omega wristwatch is a prototype in itself, an innovation, a change of consumption habits, men were still wearing pocket watches, and it was not until after the end of World War I, that wristwatches began to be in Fashion, this watch saw the sunlight almost 10 years before.
When I think in some digital watches, even some ruined high end time pieces from the 50's and 60's, I believe that in 110 years more, most of the watches built in the 20th century will have dissapeared, and this beauty will have 220 years, like the British Verge fusee pocket watch constructed in the 18th century, like my favorite pocket watch build by J.A Johnson in London in 1779...and still works perfectly.
