Link to Chuck Maddox website
| History of Lemania / Omega links | |
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The strong bonds between Lemania and Omega date from the 20’s : during the economical crisis of the period Omega and Tissot signed an agreement (1925) before merging in the same group : SSIH (Socièté Suisse pour L’Industrie Horlogère) , two years later Lemania joined the ossociation of companies. Therefore the groupment between Omega and Lemania dated by far before the aquisition of Omega and Lemania by the Swatch Group.
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Lemania develloped a large number of movement for Omega , the probably most known is the Omega caliber 861 which power the Omega Speedmaster since 1969 (today the movement number changed for 1861but it is basicaly the same movement)
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In the erly 70’s Lemania start to work on an automatic chronograph movement creating the ancestor of the 5100 : the caliber 1340 (Cal Omega 1040 according to their numbering system) . The 5100 can be concidered as a simplified version of the 1340 adding features (24 hours register) and simplifying the manufacturing process (pilar construction and use of platic parts)
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The first Omega to use the Lemania 5100 was introduced on the market in 1974 , Omega use their own numbering system to designate the Lemania 5100 : Omega 1045. The finish of the movement is specific to Omega and stamped with their name A number of Omega speedmaster have been produced with this movement from 1974 up to 1987. Unfortunatly it seems nearly impossible that Omega will ever produce any watches with this movement again because production has ceased
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| The Omega Speedmasters fitted with 1045 movement | |
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1974 – 1975 Speedmaster Automatic Ref ST176.0012 First Speedmaster powered with the Lemania 5100 , quiet common model not to be missmatched with the "Mark IV" model
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1975 – 1976 Speedmaster automatic Ref ST176.0014 and ST 376.085 (not shown here) model nicknamed "TV dial" : the shape of the dial looks like a TV set … might not look trendy today but it was for sure "on the move" in the middle of the 70’s ! |
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1976-1977 Speedmaster Automatic Ref ST176.0016 Omega is back to a more "traditional" case but still integrated design with no lugs
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1984 Speedmaster Mk V Ref ST876.0806 This watch have only be sold on the German market with a very particular case design
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1987 Speedmaster Ref 376.0822 The Lemania 5100 in the famous "moon-watch" case : probably the nicest Speedmaster powered with a Lemania 5100 … and one of the rarest !
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