Instruments · Stop-watch; instrument component

Stopwatch / timer by Omega, 1960-1979

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.

Maker / attribution: Omega (maker)
Date: 1960-1979
Historical period: Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Country of origin: Unrecorded in source
Object type: Stop-watch; instrument component
Holding institution: Science Museum Group, London
Accession / object no.: 1997-1654
Credit line: Sotheby's (New Bond St.)
Catalogue title (original): Plastic housing marked OMEGA for use with Omega stopwatches

Record summary

Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 1997-1654), this is a stop-watch; instrument component by Omega, dated 1960-1979. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Instruments collection. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.

Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.

Catalogue description

The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.

Historical context

Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)

Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.

Electronic timing replaced mechanical instruments in sport, industry and navigation.

Read the period in the timeline More instruments from this period Earlier: Modern Mechanical Horology

Atlas type guide

Timers, stopwatches, chronoscopes and time recorders

Instruments for measuring short intervals or recording when something happened form a large and practical branch of horology. Sports stopwatches and split-seconds timers, laboratory chronoscopes (such as Hipp's, which measured thousandths of a second for psychology and ballistics experiments), metronomes for music, watchmen's clocks that recorded patrol rounds, and the time recorders that clocked factory workers in and out all derive from clock and watch technology.

These objects matter historically because they show timekeeping leaving the observatory and the drawing room and entering industry, science and sport. Many were mass-produced, and their dials, scales and patents chart the rise of electrification and industrial management.

What to look for

Scales graduated in fifths, tenths or hundredths of a second, or decimal minutes for industrial use.
Start, stop and reset push-pieces; a second hand that can be stopped independently (split seconds).
Recording devices: paper discs or tapes, printing mechanisms, keys or punches.
Patent numbers and dates on the dial or case, which give a terminus post quem.

Dating clues

Hipp chronoscopes were made from the 1840s into the twentieth century.
Employee time recorders spread from the 1890s (Bundy, IBM, International Time Recording Co.).
Quartz and electronic timers replaced mechanical stopwatches in sport from the 1970s.

General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.

Mechanisms mentioned

No escapement or complication is named in the source record. See the encyclopedia for how such pieces work.

Record completeness

Maker or attributionRecorded
DateRecorded
Place or countryNot in source
MaterialsNot in source
DimensionsNot in source
Narrative descriptionNot in source
Inscriptions / marksNot in source
ProvenanceNot in source
Several photographsNot in source

Editorial status: Documented — facts as published by the source; not independently verified by Atlas editors.

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Sources & image rights

Record source: Science Museum Group, London.

Image rights: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Science Museum Group) — permission review.

Images are hosted by the Atlas for study and credited to their owner. Rights holders may request correction, credit changes or removal via the editorial office.

Cite this record

"Stopwatch / timer by Omega, 1960-1979." Science Museum Group, London, 1997-1654. Catalogue record in The Horology Atlas, WatchMuseum.org, https://atlas.watchmuseum.org/museum/stopwatch-timer-by-omega-1960-1979-b6cc18.