Speedy Tuesday – Omega Speedmaster Perpetual Calendar
Omega’s Speedmaster comes in many shapes and colors, but chances are very small you’ve come across this particular model before. This Omega Speedmaster Perpetual Calendar is the most complicated piece that Omega did in series and it was created to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Switzerland in 1991.
Strangely enough, Omega only made 50 of them and they all were meant to be Japan market only. Why would the Japan market be so interesting to have a watch that commemorates the 700th anniversary of Switzerland? If anyone knows, please shoot a message or leave a comment.
Omega Speedmaster Perpetual BA 175.0037
One of our readers, Rob, loves the Speedmaster and he bought this beautiful gold Speedmaster Perpetual from a private collector at the end of 2014. This collector originally sourced this 1991 Speedmaster Perpetual where it was originally delivered, in Japan. As written above, this reference BA 175.0037 (or PIC 3650.10) Speedmaster Perpetual was made for the Japanese market and limited to 50 pieces only. As you can see on the photo above, the watch came on a full gold bracelet. The current owner has put it on a leather strap (not the header photo, which is taken from this lot at Antiquorum) to safe the 18 carat bracelet from any wear or tear. It is in brand new condition, so any damage would be a pity after so many years of cherishing it.
As I’ve been told, the watch originally came either with the 18 carat gold bracelet or with a nice brown alligator strap (as the one on Antiquorum). The original price is not known to me as well.
The Omega Speedmaster Perpetual is the most complicated Speedmaster to date. The Omega Museum claims it is even the most complicated watch they produced in series. Although I’ve seen a couple of Speedmaster watches with calendars and moon phases (click here, here, here, here and here), I never came across this Speedmaster Perpetual in real life. The complicated thing is of course the perpetual calendar, which has been programmed to show the correct day, date, month, moon phase and leap year up to the year 2100.
Inside, there is Omega’s caliber 1160 movement. This movement was developed by ETA-Kelek and features the perpetual calendar, moon phase and of course the chronograph function. The dial that shows all this information to the lucky owner is a gilt one, with polished riveted gold hour markers, black stick hands for hours and minutes and a gold chronograph second hand.
This Omega Speedmaster Perpetual has of course an 18 carat gold case with a 39mm diameter and a sapphire crystal fitted. The case back is solid gold and has a commemorative engraving, as you can see below.
The last one sold by Antiquorum went for HKD 168.750,- in January 2013 which at that time was approximately $22K USD or € 16065,- Euro (using Historical Exchange Rates). As I concluded in the past as well, Japan is a country with a lot of love for the Speedmaster, hence all these Japan market editions.
This Omega Speedmaster Perpetual is a beautiful piece and was probably based on the Omega Speedmaster Calendar from 1990. That one has a slightly different lay-out, as the moon phase indicator is located at 6 o’clock in one of the sub dials instead of a separate position at 3 o’clock. The Speedmaster Calendar had a caliber 1150 movement inside. These models can still be found (in full gold and bi-color only) without too much effort though. You could also say that the Speedmaster Perpetual and Speedmaster Calendar are based on the Speedmaster Reduced.
The Omega Speedmaster Perpetual was originally delivered in a special wooden box for this model, as can be seen above (photo credits Antiquorum).
More information can be found here. See the photo gallery below for more images of Rob’s Speedmaster Perpetual. A BIG thank you to him for showing his watch to other Speedy Tuesday fans.
