The History and Development of the Omega Cal. 33.3 Chronograph Movement
Omega stainless steel chronograph featuring the Cal. 33.3. Circa 1939. / Credit: Phillips
There are many legendary movements in the history of watchmaking. We often talk about the late 1960s, specifically 1969, when companies like Zenith released the El Primero and the Heuer Caliber 11/Project 99 came to be. There was, of course, the disruptive development of the quartz movement, before quartz it was the turning fork, and before that it was the popularization of self-winding movements in wristwatches.
Now, Omega was always in the midst of things, as it was – effectively since its inception – a popular Swiss brand. One of the more popular vintage Omega movements is the Omega 30T2. The Omega 30T2 movement became popular in the early 1940s and was known as a reliable manual wind movement; seen in mid-century vintage Omega dress watches. Our subject is instead the Omega Cal. 33.3, another extremely important vintage Omega chronograph movement in the history of the brand.
Vintage Omega Chronograph featuring the Cal. 33.3 movement. / Credit: Vintage Portfolio
The Omega Cal. 33.3 is a legendary chronograph movement that regularly goes for five figures today, quite a bit above the price of the regular vintage Omega. The reason? It is the antecedent of the even more renowned Omega Cal. 321. Omega notably worked closely with Tissot at the time and Tissot also used the Cal. 33.3 – as before the two had used third-party movements for their chronographs. In the early 1930s, when Omega was part of SSIH (along with Tissot), the group acquired Lemania who made their chronograph movements. As such, the Omega Cal. 33.3 was derived from a Lemania chronograph movement.
The first model to host the Omega Cal 33.3 was the ref. CK2048, released in 1937. The following year the ref. CK2077 was introduced – the only reference to have a screwdown caseback (others used ‘press-in’ cases). Seven other references were produced by Omega and used the Cal. 33.3, the movement was in use for two decades before being replaced by the Omega Cal. 321 in the late 1950s. A movement that became famous for its use in the Omega Speedmaster.
Unfortunately for the Omega Cal. 33.3, there are no space missions to help it skyrocket in popularity. However, Omega collectors caught on to the allure of the Cal. 33.3 long ago – as evidenced by its prices!
By: Andres Ibarguen