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Of
the four c.1045's that I have all of them
have had Spanish language stampings on the
bracelets and have had Spanish (3) or
Portugese (1) language day rings on/in them.
The rounded square dial c.1045 (Fig. 2) is
the one in my collection that has the
Portugese day ring. From what I have been
able to puzzle out Omega sold a lot of these
models in Latin American market as this is
where the bracelets seem to be coming from...
I've talked to dealers who have said that
Omega sold a lot of these models to european
ex-patriot's living in Latin America. Among
the big selling points are that the 24-Hour
dial would allow them to figure out what time
it was at "home" by adding the time
difference with their home country, and that
Omega is a widely known and respected
watchmaker around the world.
Note:
The English Day Ring is obtainable and can be
swaped into the watch when it is in for
routine maintance. I have done this on three
of my c.1045's and will be doing it shortly
to the fourth. The Omega Part number is:
1045-1516 A (9/97).
With the
emergence of the internet and the ease of
seeing a demand and interest in watches in
other parts of the world, there seems to be a
migration of these models from Latin America
to the north where they are sold by dealers,
stores, and by sellers on the internet. I
have not been able to determine if these
models were ever offered by Omega in the US
or in Europe, indeed it is possible that
they, like the later West German market only
models, were not originally offered in the
U.S. or
Europe.
The
176.0012
model as pictured above in Fig. 1 is
in my opinion the most common model. They
regularly show up on that famous internet
auction site and on other places on line.
Bear in mind that they are not common watches
when compared with Mark II or Moonwatch
Speedmasters, just seemingly more common than
the other models sharing the c.1045 movement.
This model features a modular
construction
that allows the movement and crystal to be
removed from the case as one unit. This
feature is also seen on the Omega Speedmaster
Mark IV and the Omega Speedmaster 125.
The next most
common (Ref.
176.0014)
pictured in Fig. 2 is the rounded
corner square (or TV Shape) dialed c.1045.
These are fairly common as well. Next in most
common is the Tourneau shaped
176.0015/176.0016
(Fig. 3) which is somewhat less common
than the other two models, but does show up
from time to time. An interesting point is
that I've seen a number of this model offered
up on that most popular auction site from
sellers in Austrailia. Why this particular
model would be prevelent in that area of the
world is a mystery to me. Another point that
bears mentioning is that there are two
discinct variations of this style... One is
fitted with an integrated Bar Braclet, the
other has a more conventional case that will
accept spring bar's and a 22mm bracelet or
strap. The cases are different but look very
similar. I have added a special
section
below to further discuss the differences
between these two
variants.
The final two
models are very uncommon.
Neither the "West German market" Mark V
Speedmaster (Ref.
376.0806)
pictured in Fig. 4, or the Moonwatch cased
Ref. 376.0822
pictured in Fig. 5, are commonly seen. I've
only seen a couple of Mark V's appear on the
market (usually on eBay.de), and I've only
seen two of the Moonwatch cased c.1045's. I
have written a
companion article on the Speedmaster Mark
Series
which also talks about the Mark V. The
Moonwatch cased c.1045 I saw was on that
auction site from a seller in Germany (which
I regretably passed on as I had just been bit
by the collecting bug) the other is owned by
Gerry L. who's 376.0822's picture I adapted
from one of Gerry's posts (thanks
Gerry!).
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on 27 December 1999, 
