Likes Likes:  333
Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 32

Thread: ««««««««« WRUW - Wednesday - 15 April 2020 »»»»»»»»»

  1. #1

    ««««««««« WRUW - Wednesday - 15 April 2020 »»»»»»»»»

    Good day, IWL

    Name:  P92873.JPG
Views: 248
Size:  327.7 KB

    Stay safe.



    [Since I'm still at home with nothing important to do, here goes a comment or two about the Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow automatic (ref.: 3851.20.12):

    When Omega launched this model (2001) everybody easily understood their goal: to create a competitor to face the all mighty Rolex Daytona.

    With that purpose in mind, Omega took the old Speedmaster design and turned it into a technological tour the force. A new movement (cal. 3303) based on the well-respected Frédérique Figuet cal. 1185 was created and the responsible for the project was Marc-André Miche, a former Rolex expert.

    To achieve a longer power reserve (55H) and better stability, the original FP 1185 became larger (11 lignes versus 12 lignes) the barrel-drum received a gold coating and the movement winding efficiency was vastly improved. A larger balance was installed and an adjustment system roughly similar to the one used on the 2500 movements was included.

    The Nivarox balance spring was made of a thermo-compensated Anachron alloy. To avoid the irregularities leading to poor isochronism, a free spiral balance spring was chosen.

    Tested in 6 positions, the movement (rhodium plated, decorated with Geneva Waves, circular graining, polished flat screws and circularly polished wheels) easily got its COSC certification.

    Double rings and special attention to the watch WR led to 100mWR without the need to implement screw down pushers or screw down crown. As a less common feature, the chronograph pushers can actually be used underwater; not sure how useful that really is, though.

    The dial, with blue applied marks and large broad arrow hands, is a delight to read and, at least on this subject, clearly superior to the Rolex Daytona.

    All was looking good, however, the future of this watch was not going to be particularly bright: a very well-known, respected collector and Omega enthusiast raised a few doubts about the reliability of the movement and,despite the statistically irrelevant sample evaluated, the cal. 3303, attacked by an ever growing social-media, started to have a bad reputation.

    I don't know if Omega did any change to improve the movement reliability but, as far as I know, in general, the Broad Arrow was not more problematic than any other model.

    Despite the later attempt followed by several well-known top watchmakers trying to objectively oppose verifiable facts to what was becoming a dubious myth, the damage was already done. As far as I'm concerned, I never had the slightest problem with my watch.

    Again, all this 'noise' let the pre-eminence of the Rolex Daytona untouched. Omega didn't give up, but that's another story... ]
    Last edited by CFR; Apr 15, 2020 at 09:19 AM.

  2. #2
    Name:  20200415_083231.jpg
Views: 160
Size:  75.7 KB
    G-Shock: GW3000B-1A
    Rolex: Submariner 14060M
    Accurist: 1961 Shockmaster (Gold) & 1965 Shockmaster (Steel)
    Omega: Speedmaster Professional 3570.50.00
    Meistersinger: Perigraph AM1002
    Ben Sherman: S489.OOBS
    Rotary: 1990 Quartz (Gold)
    Steinhart: Ocean GMT 39mm
    Certina: DS Super PH500M & DS PH200M
    Timex: MKI Mechanical

  3. #3
    Another Member crownpuller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Bristol UK
    Posts
    6,020
    Archimede Pilot 39 in the sun today:

    Name:  1504.jpg
Views: 116
Size:  203.9 KB

    Some people have opinions - The rest of us have taste.

  4. #4
    Member Pip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Berkshire, UK
    Posts
    1,361
    Another day of WFH.



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  5. #5
    Moderator gnuyork's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Marietta, GA
    Posts
    7,255
    Quote Originally Posted by CFR View Post
    Good day, IWL

    Name:  P92873.JPG
Views: 248
Size:  327.7 KB

    Stay safe.



    [Since I'm still at home with nothing important to do, here goes a comment or two about the Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow automatic (ref.: 3851.20.12):

    When Omega launched this model (2001) everybody easily understood their goal: to create a competitor to face the all mighty Rolex Daytona.

    With that purpose in mind, Omega took the old Speedmaster design and turned it into a technological tour the force. A new movement (cal. 3303) based on the well-respected Frédérique Figuet cal. 1185 was created and the responsible for the project was Marc-André Miche, a former Rolex expert.

    To achieve a longer power reserve (55H) and better stability, the original FP 1185 became larger (11 lignes versus 12 lignes) the barrel-drum received a gold coating and the movement winding efficiency was vastly improved. A larger balance was installed and an adjustment system roughly similar to the one used on the 2500 movements was included.

    The Nivarox balance spring was made of a thermo-compensated Anachron alloy. To avoid the irregularities leading to poor isochronism, a free spiral balance spring was chosen.

    Tested in 6 positions, the movement (rhodium plated, decorated with Geneva Waves, circular graining, polished flat screws and circularly polished wheels) easily got its COSC certification.

    Double rings and special attention to the watch WR led to 100mWR without the need to implement screw down pushers or screw down crown. As a less common feature, the chronograph pushers can actually be used underwater; not sure how useful that really is, though.

    The dial, with blue applied marks and large broad arrow hands, is a delight to read and, at least on this subject, clearly superior to the Rolex Daytona.

    All was looking good, however, the future of this watch was not going to be particularly bright: a very well-known, respected collector and Omega enthusiast raised a few doubts about the reliability of the movement and,despite the statistically irrelevant sample evaluated, the cal. 3303, attacked by an ever growing social-media, started to have a bad reputation.

    I don't know if Omega did any change to improve the movement reliability but, as far as I know, in general, the Broad Arrow was not more problematic than any other model.

    Despite the later attempt followed by several well-known top watchmakers trying to objectively oppose verifiable facts to what was becoming a dubious myth, the damage was already done. As far as I'm concerned, I never had the slightest problem with my watch.

    Again, all this 'noise' let the pre-eminence of the Rolex Daytona untouched. Omega didn't give up, but that's another story... ]

    Thanks for the info. And very nice watch indeed.

  6. Likes Samanator, Strela167, CFR, watchdaddy1 liked this post
  7. #6
    wind-up merchant OhDark30's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    4,736

    ««««««««« WRUW - Wednesday - 15 April 2020 »»»»»»»»»

    Yesterday (with a wave to Robert):


    Today:
    It's the final countdown! PM me before they're all gone!

  8. #7

  9. #8


    Sent from my MI 8 using Tapatalk

  10. #9
    Working on my social distancing skill. Learned a lot about how locks work.


    Name:  20200415_074725.jpg
Views: 132
Size:  67.1 KB

  11. #10
    Hall Monitor Samanator's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Sebring, Florida
    Posts
    9,570
    Longines ceramic.




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    Cheers,

    Michael

    Tell everyone you saw it on IWL!

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
About Us
We are an independent and wide-ranging forum for watch enthusiasts. From mainspring to microchip, from Europe to Asia, from micro-brand to boutique - we cover it all. Novice or expert, we want you to feel at home. Whether it's asking a simple question or contributing to the fund of horological knowledge, it's all the same hobby. Or, if you like, you can just show us a picture of your new watch. We'll provide the welcoming and courteous environment, the rest is up to you!
Join us