Black glossy Speedmaster dials

Nla91 · Mar 16, 2018

Hello all,

I became aware of this quote from moonwatchonly.com about the Ultramans dial.

"OMEGA Museum’s team has recently noted that the dial (at least of 3 examples observed) of the Ultraman was different than those of the standard ST 145.012s. So we had a more careful look at our own Ultraman… and indeed the dial is different in color and finish: the Ultraman’s dial is pure black and has a satin varnish, while it is dark grey (anthracite) and the varnish is matte on standard ST 145.012s. A similar satin finish has already been observed on rare blue-grey dials of the same period."

This is interesting as my 145.012-67 with serial 2607XXXX has a pure black glossy dial as well. When compared to other references it is clearly different.
Are we sure it’s not just a batch of dials with this finish or is the Ultramans unique?
And is it only 145.012-67's which feature this glossy dial?

Another recent sale on the forums featured a 145.012-67 with a glossy dial but with a serial further away from the Ultramans: https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-speedmaster-145-012-67.61652/

Foo2rama · Mar 16, 2018

I think they are referring to the soleil dials in grey and blue. Glossy?? Hmm... the museum has some not right watches.

kov · Mar 16, 2018

Sorry but to me the watch on your picture has a standard dial - in a great shape but standard - nothing comparable to an Ultraman dial.

You will certainly have to put both watches aside to understand what I mean, having both under same light, to better compare.

mr_yossarian · Mar 16, 2018

Hard to tell from your picture. But this is the black glossy seen on some 145.012s. Has nothing to do with the Ultraman though.

Nla91 · Mar 16, 2018

kov
Sorry but to me the watch on your picture has a standard dial - in a great shape but standard - nothing comparable to an Ultraman dial.

You will certainly have to put both watches aside to understand what I mean, having both under same light, to better compare.

My interest is not to figure out whether mine is a Ultraman or not (it is not for sure) but i'm curious what makes the Ultraman dial special.

Nla91 · Mar 16, 2018

mr_yossarian
Hard to tell from your picture. But this is the black glossy seen on some 145.012s. Has nothing to do with the Ultraman though.

Is the glossy dial only seen on 145.012's?

Inox · Mar 16, 2018

105.003 dial in one of my 2998’s. Surely more gloss , like a more fatty surface, than any of my other speedies but still not soleil glossy. Just thought there was a slight variation through time and batches.

zimmerit5 · Mar 16, 2018

The dial on my 145.012 has a bit of shine on it’s surface and is within the ultraman serial. The chrono hand was swapped some point in time by its previous owner.

pitpro · Mar 16, 2018

So the question I have is-
Does just the Ultraman have the satin black dial?
Or do other 145.012's in the Ultraman serial range
also have satin black dials?
Maybe just the dial process was changed in this period and the only
thing Unique about Ultraman is the Orange hand.
Or is the Uniqueness the Orange hand and the only
145.012 having a satin black dial?
Just through the hesalite pics will never answer this conclusively I wouldn't think.

djmusicman · Jan 12, 2025

1968 professional and an Ed White from the year before. The 1968 speedy pro has the same glossy dial as the ultraman.

mr_yossarian · Jan 13, 2025

While we're at it. Owned too many regular 145.012s with glossy dial. Somewhen along the way a dealer invented that Ultraman-myth..for reasons I assume. Even 145.022s had them.

Glossy early 145.022-69 next to a matte 105.012

ndgal · Jan 13, 2025

The black glossy Speedmaster Professional dial is not unique to the "Ultraman".
As noted by @mr_yossarian there are plenty of "regular" 145.012-67 that have the glossy dial, as well as some 145.022-68 'Transitional' from certain batches, and I have also observed the Glossy dial on some 145.022-69.

The "Glossiness" of the dial is absolutely not unique to the Ultraman. It is just of sheer coincidence that batch of dials Omega received from Singer during the time span in which the "Ultraman" were assembled were of the glossy variant, which of course added to the myth.