A huge chunk of a watch, with mirror dial and original bracelet.  Omega’s first in house developed megaquartz watch.  Model reference 396.0817

HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?

From the serial number on the movement we can accurately date this watch to being made in 1973.  This was the first year of the 1310 calibre production, and a year before this model was officially available according to Omega’s own website.  So this could have been made ready for the launch.

CONDITION

This is a bold watch.  Not only is the size quite big, even by modern standards, but the gold plated case and bracelet make it stand out even more.  Square watches take up more wrist area than round ones, so although the width is 40mm it does wear larger than that.  The bracelet construction is unusual – it seems to be a billet of stainless steel wrapped in gold or gold plate.  Importantly the bracelet is long enough for most wrists.  That Megaquartz 1310 movement was Omega’s first quartz movement they developed, but they did have the 1300 calibre before which was their version of the Beta21.  We have found a copy of the instructions for this movement, and everything is working well – this included the pushers to advance the date and second hand, as shown in the video.  Sometimes on these watches these pushers can become sticky because they are not used or have not been cleaned, but this example is good.  The dial is smoke mirrored, which is really difficult to photograph and the video is a better example of how this changes dependent on what is being reflected.  The glass does have a few scratches, but not bad enough to ask Omega to fit a new one (they restrict the parts to their own service centres).  However the scratches in the glass are reflected on the dial, so you may want to source a new crystal.  As quartz watches, especially quartz watches that were in the early development of quartz become more collectible this watch is only getting rarer to find and costlier to buy.

This watch will be supplied with our bamboo presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.

Please see the HD video for more detail.  All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned.  We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.

​SIZE

Width with crown  39.8 mm

Width without crown  41.6 mm

Between lugs  18 mm

Lug to lug length  46.0 mm

Case Thickness  12.1 mm

Bracelet will fit a maximum wrist size of 201 mm.  The bracelet can be sized for you if you give us your wrist size when placing the order.

All sizes are approximate.

Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses.  If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries.  Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us.   Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.

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