The 1968 Mexico Olympics Omega Speedmaster

Omega has a long and illustrious partnership with the Olympic games. Following the brand’s first year of being the official timing partner in 1932, Omega has fulfilled this honor on 28 occasions. Many of the technologies we see during the Olympics, and general televised sport, and now take for granted were developed and put into practice by Omega. They were the company that brought real-time timing to the viewers’ screens, via the Omegascope. Later, the brand developed a system called the Omega Scan-O-Vision, which measured finish line crossings to within one thousandths of a second. One pertinent example was the development of the touch pad for swimmers. The pads were placed on the edge of the pool and were operated by a swimmer’s hand, negating the need for poolside timers. This was in 1968…the birth year of a very interesting Omega Speedmaster 145.012.

The Mexico 68 Insignia

The opening cermonies

The torch ceremony

Spectators desperate to get a glance at the action!

Track and Field – The thrill of the Games

The Omega Speedmaster is so often linked to the moon landings, but we want to share with you a cool watch that was sold in Mexico in 1968 and comes in a commemorative Omega Olympics box. The Olympics of 1968 were held in Mexico, the first time the games were held in Latin America. It was also the year that our Omega Speedmaster reference 145.102 was delivered to Mexico and became associated with the Olympics in some way. The box in which the watch has lived its life strikes us as some kind of presentation item, as we see regularly with arrange of brands at sporting events.

This makes total sense to us, as the Speedmaster was a timing machine par excellence and would be the perfect choice to time the speed masters on the tracks of the games. We love the Speedmaster because it is so sporty and elegant, a truly versatile watch that would work in many different sporting or more sedate scenarios. We can never know if the watch was presented to an athlete or a timing official, a team member or visiting dignitary, but we do know that this is a cool watch with an interesting provenance.

The tropical dial is a nice additional touch. As is seen from time to time, these Speedmasters have the ability to turn a wonderful range of brown hues. This example changes depending on how the light catches it…roll your wrist and watch it come alive!

You can find out all about the watch for sale here

And what a great package to support the watch. The amazing Mexico 86 Omega box, in lovely unrestored condition, is a rare find in itself. Also included is a large-scale German language Omega commemorative magazine celebrating Omega’s partnership with the Games. And finally, to keep the torch alight, a pair of Mexico 86 matchboxes; one featuring canoeing and the other football. The full sporting package for the truly sporting watch!