WATCH POP

Hello everyone,

This is my first post to the forum, so go easy ;)

I've been lurking for quite a while (before which I did the same in the PMW forum). I've now decided to save up for a 'keeper' of a watch - specifically the Aqua Terra Big Size Chronograph (2512.52.00).

I found out about it in a fit of desperation. While I was initially focused on the original Speedmaster, I was turned off to it by the fact that it wasn't especially water-resistant (I'd like to swim with it occasionally without worrying about breaking it), wasn't an automatic, the tachymeter seemed (as it does most anywhere), superfluous, and that it didn't have a date.

I'd previously had the Montblanc Timewalker Chrono in mind, but again, water resistance was an issue.

So I decided to look through all of the watches on Omegas site, and came upon the AT Chronograph. Now another problem has cropped up - the granularity of the minute dial - it seems that it's only got ticks at every 5 minutes - this is frustrating, because it's usually minutes that I'm especially concerned by.

Does anyone have this watch? Have you found the lack of minute markers a problem?

The watch otherwise is just a pleasure to behold.

Thank you for any help! This is the one that doesn't have minute marks. The model you are referring to actually has minute marks on the subdial. Even without marks, the minute subdial is pretty easy to read, because it's not continuously moving, only jumps every minute.

By the way, it's pretty big. mjb Thanks for the reply! You're right about the model I was referring to - the other one was the Railmaster which I ended up finding after using the Omega watch finder on their website.

I'm even more confused as to the minutes dial now (which I'm assuming is the subdial on the right?). It's got the biggest markers at 30 & 15 minutes, then smaller marks at what would be 5 & 10, an then the smallest marks between 0-5, 5-10, and 10-15? How is that possible (meaning 2.5, 7.5... ? ) And most importantly, how do I know that just 1 or 2 minutes has passed? Is it THAT big that I can tell?

Also, do you have the thickness as compared to the PO Chrono (the one with the orange dial)?

thanks!
-lev (replying to myself)

Are they available for this watch?

thanks!
-lev The AT chrono is a lot thinner than the PO chrono, as the PO is rated to 600m whereas the AT is 150m from memory. ATCh has a solid back, it comes with the cal. 3301, which is the less decorated version of the 3303.

the minute subdial is kinda confusing on the aqua terra version, with the markers indicating 2.5 and 7.5 and so forth... i think it was done more for an aesthetic purpose rather than for any practical reasons... the railmaster version has symmetry AND easy to read subdials -Nothing in life worth having comes easy- "Can you feel it? SamKan!" Just for the sake of discussion, here's the Railmaster chrono, which is just a delight to wear. Of course, part of the
Railmaster look is the vintage/retro vividity (yes I know, I made that word up) of the dial... but it's unmistakable.
If you can't figure out what time this watch is signaling with this dial, you ought to get a digital anyway. It also has a
solid back, but that's okay.

I'm not sure I would swim with it, though, even with the 150M rating. That's probably paranoid given Omega standards, but
chrono pushers make me nervous under water except on my 300M SMP.
Ray

Sapphire-sandwich Speedmaster, Railmaster chronograph, and five Seamasters (classic Bond, GMT, 45.5mm Planet Ocean, electric blue, and SMP chronograph) make up the modern core of a collection that features over 33 vintage Omega's dating back to 1935, including 14 other Seamasters and nine hummers (f300's). The hand will never land on the smaller in between marks.
The red lines in the picture are the ONLY 4 possible minute hand positions between 0~5.

just past 0 mark, 1
almost reach middle mark, 2
just past middle mark, 3
close to 5 mark, 4

Quite easy to read if you get familiar with it. mjb I was thinking the same thing after I replied - being a fan of minimalism, I'll definitely have to check it out, certainly an interesting implementation.

thanks!
-lev Thanks for the reply - so do these case backs simply not exist, or? I understand the that the chronograph is not as detailed as the AT, but for me, the beauty of the mechanics is nice to look at ;)

thanks!
-lev