OMEGA

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Year : 07/1971

Case : Stainless Steel

Functions : Hour, Minutes, Second, Chronograph, GMT,

Size : 50 mm

Bezel : steel

Dial : tritium

Glass : Sapphire

Movement : hand-wound mechanical - Caliber : 911 - Jewels : 17 - Power reserve : 42 -

Water resistant : No

Bracelet material : steel

Buckle : deployant buckle

Warranty : 6 months

Movement : hand-wound mechanical

Perfect 95% - 99%

Omega Flightmaster Chronograph GMT vintage ST 145.026

Comment :
Very very rare Flightmaster with original Omega Extract archives - Perfect condition - 6 months warranty - Originally from the Omega factory in Bienne, Switzerland, the Auxillary Crowns on the left side of the case (above left) have a circular indentation in them and are color coded to their function... Blue for the second hour hand, black for the under crystal bezel. Over time this paint can flake out or due to replacement with a conventional crown, not appear at all. In addition, the pushers on the right side of the watch (above right) also have indentations on them as well and have yellow/orange paint on them. These are color-keyed to the sub-register hands that indicate chronograph elapsed time. Like the auxillary crowns the paint can flake and on many examples have been replaced with plain pushers... This color coding is consistant through out the Flightmaster line as shipped from the factory. Watches with paint and original crowns/pushers intact are worth more than a Flightmaster in otherwise comparable condition without... The Flightmaster has an somewhat undeserved reputation as being a "Monster-sized" watch. Yes if you look at the Flightmaster's exterior dimensions it is a large watch. However, similar to the Fender Stratocaster, the Flightmaster's shape and taper actually fits and blends in with the back of the wrist well and wears better than many smaller watches Aside from this the operation of the watch is the same as the moonwatch with a similar power reserve, etc. WR rating from the factory is 60 meters according to sales literature of the era. This is in no small part due to the use of a mineral glass crystal instead of a plastic crystal on the moonwatch. Another common feature across the Flightmaster line is a unique design on the caseback. Which consists of an Omega Symbol (logo), a jetliner (looks to my eye to be a DC-8 Super 61), and the name "flightmaster". Note that "flightmaster" is not capitalized on the caseback or on the dial. I don't really know why it was not, but it is an interesting item for conversation. The jetliner on the caseback leaves no doubt to the market's this watch was positioned to sell. The Flightmaster's are a variant of the Speedmaster line designed, engineered and marketed towards "Pilot-Types" by Omega from 1969 through the early 1970's. This was the last time that Omega developed a mechanical movement specifically designed for the needs of a pilot. One of the benefits of Detente between the Soviet Union and the United States was the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), and one of the "trickle-down" effects of the Apollo-Soyuz mission was that Soviet Astronauts had access to Swiss Chronographs to wear for a space mission for the first time. At right is an official NASA picture of Cosmonaut Aleksey Leonev wearing his Flightmaster which appears to be a Stainless Steel c.911 model. http://chronomaddox.com/flightmasterarticle.html