Timeline Watch
1970

Omega de Ville

US troops invade Cambodia

1970 Omega 930 Chronograph de Ville with silver dial in mint condition.

Omega 930 Chronograph de Ville. Manual winding movement cal. 930 same used in the Omega Bullhead and it’s based on 861 / Lemania 1873 used on the Moonwatch. The calibre 930 was relatively short lived and was not originally popular. It is estimated some 10.000 pieces of this movement were produced and used only in two models.

The movement was an evolution of Omega’s 27 CHRO range and formed part of the wider 861 family of watches, developed from the 320 and 321 series.

The Omega 930 Chronograph de Ville watch was marketed as a dress chronograph and is a hard to find watch, and the only Omega I can remember with the date window at 9 o’clock. I have four, the tropical dial is very unique but the blue is also rare.

Check my other 3 different dials colors here; 1-light patina 2-like new. 3-tropical dial.

Omega de Ville watches were launched in 1960 and marketed as water resistant timepieces. Their varied and adaptable designs became very popular and by 1967, it had become the largest range within the Omega brand.

Omega was founded in 1848 by Louis Brandt at the age of 23. The brand’s reputation grew fast and in 1895 the watches achieved a precision of 30 seconds a day.
By the turn of the 19th century Omega was one of Switzerland’s largest watch companies with 240,000 watches produced annually and employing 800 people.

Omega made its debut in sports during the Gordon Bennett international ballooning Cup in 1917; since then Omega has gone on to be the official timekeeper at 21 Olympic Games.

In 1936 Omega set the remarkable World precision record of 97.8 points at the Kew-Teddington observatory in England.

In 1957, with motorsport in mind, Omega launched the Speedmaster, which in 1965 was chosen by NASA as its official chronometer in Space. Four years later the Moonwatch was the first watch to be worn on the Moon, when on 21st July 1969 Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind. Currently Omega belongs to the Swatch Group.