Rare Omega 53 "Fat Arrow" Military Watch

Here we have for sale is an Omega 53 “Fat Arrow”

These watches in particular have become wildly popular over the last few years and they’re increasing harder to come by especially in good condition. We’ve got a great fully operational example, so don’t miss out!

A Military issued timepieces are one of the coolest segments of the vintage watch world - that’s a fact. Manufactured under the strenuous requirement of the British Ministry of Defence, those watches were made to go to the battlefield, literally!

To today's watch collectors, an arrow on the dial of a vintage watch signifies that the timepiece was once the property of Her Majesty’s Government.

In 1953, Omega built timepieces under guidelines issued by British Ministry of Defence. These guidelines were strenuous, and covered every component of the watch from the movement to the dial and hands. For example, the case could not have any highly polished parts, and the movement had to be protected from magnetic fields by an inner dust cover.

Over the years, several different manufacturers supplied these watches according to MOD standards, from well-known brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC, to lesser-known companies like Smiths.

But the variants produced by Omega in that single year of 1953—bearing an Omega reference number of 2777-1 and a NATO number of 6B/542—have an interesting bit of history that set them apart from the others.

When these watches left the factory, the luminescent material that adorned the indices and hands was Radium. However, sometime in the 1960s, the watches were returned to the manufacturer and the Radium dials were exchanged for tritium. When the dial was changed, the pheon was repainted, this time thicker, and an encircled T was painted on to show that the luminescent material was tritium.

These thicker arrows have led to the nickname “Fat Arrow” among watch collectors.

Extremely Rare Omega 1953 RAF “Thin Arrow” Pilots Watch.

At the beginning of 1952, in the midst of the Cold War and ongoing hostilities in Korea, The British Air Ministry ordered 5,900 wristwatches from its long-standing London supplier, Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Ltd. They, in turn, contracted Omega to manufacture the watches to the precise specification of the Air Ministry. The original order was issued to Omega on 27 June 1952 and delivery of the watches was to be made in May 1953.

The Omega Thin Arrow watches were designed and manufactured to a very high standard. They were originally made to be waterproof and the 283 calibre shockproof movement was finished in rose gold. The inner casing was constructed from soft iron to make the watch antimagnetic. This ensured that the aircraft’s instruments did not affect the watches crucial performance during flight operations.

Brand: Omega

Year: 1953

Model: Fat Arrow 53

Reference Number: CK 2777-1

Serial Number: XXXXXXXX

Material: Stainless Steel

Movement: ‘Specially Adjusted’ Cal. 283

Case Diameter: 37mm

Lug Width: 18mm

Bracelet/Strap: Black fabric NATO

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