It just makes sense.

I am tremendously proud of my vintage Omega Seamaster. It is my first Omega and isn't something basic that everyone and their uncle's goldfish has, which is chiefly because I can't afford the basic and mainstream Omega's. A SMP 300 with anthrax on the caseback is still out of my budget. Hell, I can't even afford the plastic fantastic Speedmaster. I guess this goes to show you how lucky I got when picking this up and, to some extent, how little collectors care for these.

They shouldn't care. It keeps prices low for folks like me. Granted, there are other reasons why one wouldn't buy a watch like mine, like the crest on the dial, which is a bit of an acquired taste, engraving on the back and lack of water resistance. A Seamaster without water resistance, that's certainly something new for some of you reading this.

The movement makes sense. This is what this post is all about, the calibre 1342. Now, what I am about to discuss applies to many Omega (and even Tissot) quartz movements of the era, so don't think that the ingenious system I will discuss is unique to this particular calibre. Many moons ago I discussed the push button crown on my Tissot PR 516 quartz which uses the Tissot calibre 2031 i.e. a slightly lower grade Omega 1370. Pushing the crown once advances the seconds hand one second. Holding the crown in stops the seconds hand. Holding the crown in for five seconds, releasing it and then depressing it again rapidly advances the seconds and minutes hands. The exact same applies to my Omega, except it is done via a button within the crown. It's annoying, because you can't push the button with your fingers and need a ballpoint pen or plastic fork from a takeaways or fish and chips shop. Well, you don't need to worry about the button. The movement is designed to be so accurate that you will seldom need to fiddle with any of the hands. The hours hand is set like that of a GMT, being advanced in one-hour increments, so adjusting it for travelling is easy.

Another benefit is for those of us who are chained to a cold steel pole in a dark basement and routinely beaten with a lead pipe by something called "OCD." I am not diagnosed with OCD and I know that it's something more than just wanting things to line up and be symmetrical. Anyway, am I the only one bothered by minutes and seconds hands not lining up, as in the seconds hand is at twelve i.e. zero seconds and the minutes hand is between indices? I probably am. This system prevents that, but also means that a watchmaker needs to be absolutely on point when aligning the hands after servicing. The seconds hand of mine consistently misses markers by a tiny bit, which I'll try and correct whenever I feel damn well bothered to do so.

This system is interesting to say the least and, like I said with my Tissot, it is worthy of making a comeback in my eyes.