The 1968 Omega Chronostop

Omega is widely known for their contribution to watches in the form of the legendary chronograph, the Speedmaster. The Speedmasters history with NASA is one told often and is a staple of Omega’s history. But, during the same time period, Omega produced another chronograph, one a bit different than the Speedmaster. The watch was a bit quirky, but packs a huge punch and has become very collectable. That watch is the Chronostop.

The Chronostop was originally released in 1966, and was meant to be part of the Seamaster line of watches. But in 1967 it was transitioned to their Geneve line of watches and was suppose to be a more affordable chronograph, marketed towards the younger crowd. While this was a different crowd, Omega, as they do with all their watches, ensured the highest quality came through their Chronostop.

The Chronostop is a single-pusher, one minute chronograph. The watch has a chronograph pusher where 2 o’clock is, and the crown to set the time at 4 o’clock. There were two movements used in the Chronostop - the caliber 920 which included a date complication, and the caliber 865, which did not include a date and is the watch we are looking at today. These two movements are extremely high quality manual wind chronograph movements that were only used in Chronostop watches. There were around 124,000 models produced with the 865 movement and around 61,000 models produced with the 920 movement which appeared in 1968.

There are many variations of the Chronostop, with many different dial colours, dial configurations and case designs. The model we have is the reference 145.009, and has an incredibly beautiful slate grey dial, stainless steel case, and orange chronograph hand that matches the orange Omega logo. The one-minute chronograph complication is such a unique thing to see in vintage watches, and is such a fun watch to wear.

The watch is available on our store here.

Enjoy!