Omega Flightmaster 145.026

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Every watch enthusiast has heard of the Omega Speedmaster, Seamaster and Railmaster. But the Flightmaster has flown under the radar until recent years, perhaps because when it was originally released in 1969 it was way ahead of its time.

The Omega Flightmaster’s design was big and bold and designed to meet the needs of aircraft pilots and travellers, providing the perfect instrument to accompany them on their journeys. The Douglas DC-8 airliner engraved on the caseback says it all: This is an aviation watch, made for jetsetters. 

But, just like the Omega Speedmaster which was originally designed to be a watch for motor racing, the Omega Flightmaster also found use within U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz space program, being worn by at least two Soviet Cosmonauts,  Aleksey A. Leonov and Valeriy N. Kubasov. While there are a number of images showing them wearing their Flightmaster’s during training, it is still not proven beyond-doubt that they actually wore them during flight. In a telephone conversation that took place on May 12, 1975 between a staff member at Omega and astronaut Thomas Stafford, Stafford “confirms that the Russian cosmonauts will wear the Flightmaster”, which would indicate they did in fact wear them, but without photographic evidence we may never know for sure.

Either way, there’s no doubt the Flightmaster would have been up to the task. Every element of the watch was carefully considered and has a particular, highly-functional logic to it. You only need to look at the colour-coding of the crowns to see the exquisite detail. For example, the blue crown operates the blue GMT hand, the black crown operates the rotating inner-bezel and the red/yellow crowns operate the chronograph function. 

The watch was ahead of its time when released, but the times have caught up with it and it’s now seen as a watch with super-modern looks. In our opinion, the Omega Flightmaster reference 145.026 is a highly collectable investment piece. We’ve already noticed prices creep up over the last few years, and when the collector’s market inevitably locks its gaze on the Flightmaster in the near future (like it has with many other vintage chronograph models from various brands), prices will skyrocket. 

The watch is in superb condition commensurate with its age, with only a few minor scuff marks on the case. Few examples still exist in such excellent, original condition.

The watch has never been polished (as you would hope), and all the edges on the case are razor sharp. The hands and dial are all original (Note the “T SWISS MADE T” at 6 o’clock on this piece, Omega replaced many of the dials on these watches that they serviced with dials that just read “SWISS MADE”) and are in excellent condition. In addition, the watch is fitted with a brand-new, original Omega Flightmaster bracelet.

One of the most obvious signs of wear on Flightmaster watches is the paint in the crowns, which tends to wear or flake when worn heavily over time or when the watch is polished incorrectly. The paint in the crowns in this particular example is in fantastic, like-new condition. 

The watch comes with a brand-new modern Omega box and instruction booklet.

The watch has been recently serviced and is in excellent working condition.

Hailwood Peters provides a one-year warranty on the watch and guarantees it for authenticity.

<h3>Further Viewing</h3>