The 1970s was a golden era for watch design with manufacturers driving innovation to keep up with rapid advances in technologies across multiple industries.
As commercial diving evolved, brands fought to cater for the increasingly demanding needs of the commercial diver, who existed in a relatively unexplored world, building megastructures, conducting scientific research, and waging wars in a seldom seen, and incredibly harsh sub-aqua environment. Names like Jacques Cousteau became commonly known in popular culture across the world, further compounding interest in sub-sea exploration, recreational diving and subsequently pushing development in the equipment that these pioneers relied on to survive.
Brands competed to be seen at the forefront of tool watch development, but perhaps none more so than OMEGA, which developed and produced the legendary PLOPROF 600 and PLOPROF 1000 ‘Grand’, to be sold alongside offerings from other brands, such as the Doxa Sub, and Rolex Submariner & Seadweller. A distinct and necessarily vibrant design language can be seen across OMEGA’s professional offering of the time, both in prototype and production form. It was this ergonomic ethos and combination of advanced technologies and materials that ultimately culminated in the production of the watch seen here, the OMEGA “Big Blue”.
The solid 180g milled stainless steel case, built for ruggedness but contoured on the backside for comfort, housed the advanced Cal.1040 - a self-winding calibre refined by Omega from the base Lemania 5100, to make it a reliable, durable and accurate time-keeping device. The Big Blue’s movement featured cutting edge Delrin components to help improve shock resistance and wear-resistance, it was the ideal calibre for an advanced dive chronograph of the time.
The indicated 120m water resistance gave a safety margin of a factor of two and OMEGA incorporated a special gasket arrangement which allowed the chronograph pushers to be utilised while submerged underwater, a feature that would be impressive for a tool watch in production today. On the outside of the case, the indices on the 60 click uni-directional bezel were filled, like the Ploprofs, with a luminous compound. On this example we see the fine print bezel, which is unusually completely free of cracks and chips.
The almost sculptural Flightmaster type case sits purposefully high on the wrist, allowing for the large, robust pushers to be housed and operated with ease, and helping to protect the inner workings of the watch, on which a Diver’s life would have relied.
The pictures very much speak for themselves. This is a wonderfully original example of a highly desirable model from a brand whose vintage offerings are of the highest quality. Most Big Blues have had substantial refinishing or service replacement components, and it is rare to find one in such original condition. This example retains its’ red caseback seal from factory, though it’s been broken for service work it’s nevertheless a sign of notable originality, particularly when it comes to case polishing. Two bracelets, pictured, including a rare 22mm Omega mesh, are included with the sale.
A movement only service was last completed in 2019.
