Omega 1310 Seamaster Quartz

Omega's first in-house quartz movement!

Description:

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The Omega 1310 Seamaster Mariner Quartz watches, with its distictive chunky octagonal case, is a favorite of collectors since it perfectly captures the bold style of the 1970s. In addition, it uses the Omega 1310 movement, which has the distinction of being Omega's very first wristwatch with an in-house produced quartz movement.

In the early 1970s, Omega made a significant investment in the development of quartz technology. This development was so expensive that it required a consortium of 20 swiss watchmaking companies to jointly fund the CEH research center (Centre Electronique Horlogerie) to develop the technology.

Quartz wristwatches required the development of three separate new technologies to make them possible.

1. precision manufacturing techniques for creating precise quartz oscillators
2. integrated circuit technology to create the tiny computer chips used to count the oscillations of the quartz crystals
3. miniaturized stepper motors to move the hands in response in fixed increments in repsonse to the computer chip

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Each of these technologies was a significant acheivement of its own. The first quartz prototypes were developed in 1962-1967 but it took until 1972 before these were released as a commercially available quartz watch movement, the Beta 21. Surprisingly, the last of these to be developed was not the integrated circuit, but was the stepper motor technology. The stepper motor technology wasn't available for the Beta 21 so that movement used an Accutron like indexing mechanism rather than a stepper motor like modern quartz watches.

Omega used the Beta21 in its Omega 1300 Electroquartz watches, but this movement was so expensive to produce that Omega concurrantly developed their own in-house quartz movement. This movement came out a short time later in 1973, the Omega 1310 Megaquartz.

The 1310 Megaquartz features a unique mechanism for setting. On the right side are two recessed buttons. Pushing the lower one increments the date by one. Pushing the top one stops the second hand for precise synchronization.

Omega Seamaster Mariner Quartz Advertisement (1978)

This Omega Seamaster 1310 features a very unique chunky machined stainless steel case. It's actually not quite as heavy as it looks and feels rather surprisingly comfortable on the wrist. The dial is very easy to read with long white baton hands over a black background.

The Omega Seamaster Mariner's dramatic case styling was also matched by a number of dramatic marketing efforts staged by Omega during the 1970s. In one instance, a couple of Mariners were affixed to the masts of a pair of sailing ships during the OSTAR transatlantic yacht race of 1976 and both came out perfectly. Another story claims that a set of Mariners were strapped to the mast of an arctic bound exploration vessel for three months. In any case, the 1310 has proven to be a very reliable and durable movement.

Condition:

Case: Excellent.
The machined stainless steel case is in excellent condition with the original brushing on the sides and highly polished octagonal bezel on the front of the case.

Face / Hands: Good.
The face and hands are in good condition. The face is nice except that it has a number of small dimples that are visible in certain lighting (see photos). The hands are perfect with no signs of aging. The beautiful long white seconds hand is aligned perfectly with the markers on the face which makes this watch feel very precise.

Crystal: Excellent.
The crystal is in excellent condition with no marks or scratches.

Band / Bracelet: Very good.
The bracelet is in very good condition as shown. It is not the original bracelet for this watch but it matches the watch styling quite nicely with the silver and black coloring scheme. The bracelet will fit an 8" wrist.

Function / Accuracy: Excellent.
This watch functions perfectly and keeps excellent time. The date and day of the week advance properly at midnight each day. The watch sets easily and smoothly. The top and bottom pushers for setting the seconds and the date respectively work perfectly with no sticking as is sometimes apt to occur with this caliber of movement. This sample works perfectly in all regards.