For a complicated best swiss fake watch, the Flightmaster is easy to read, thanks to its brilliant information design. Two of its crowns and the pushers for the chronograph were color-coded to the function, leaving no guesswork in operation. The blue crown controls the auxiliary 12-hour hand, the black one rotates the internal bezel and the chronograph pushers are color coded half-red and yellow, to match either set of available hands. Just in case you forgot this was a pilot’s watch, there is a Douglas DC-8 engraved into the back… Based on the massive size and complication, I think it should have been a 747.
How could Omega follow up on this success? In 1969, they released the Flightmaster. This was the first cheap copy watch made by Omega to appeal specifically to pilots. It was a 44mm hunk of steel shaped into a futuristic styled case that looks like the intake of a jet engine. The case was finished in a distinctive sunburst finish and sported three crowns. It has a blue 12-hour hand that can be adjusted independently to show another time zone simultaneously without having to resort to military time. Its orange chronograph hands could be substituted to cadmium yellow as a no-cost special order option…. yellow shows up better under the infrared cockpit lights of a plane.
The replica Omega Speedmaster was introduced in 1957 as a racing chronograph. Through no action of Omega’s marketing department, the watch became a classic in its own time. Omega replica Speedmasters were discovered by professionals. They were used by pilots and astronauts, receiving the highest honor awarded to a watch; the astronauts would wear their Speedmasters to the moon in the Apollo missions.
The 910 and 911 movements are based on the excellent Lemania-made caliber 861 from the Speedmaster. Any watchmaker who knows about mechanical chronographs should be able to service it. Omega thoughtfully produces almost every part for this swiss replica watch, except for the case, making restoration relatively easy.
