The Omega Equinoxe Reverso that we Need to Bring Back

This is the Omega Equinoxe that you didn't know about. The funky Omega Equinoxe, or the reverso. It is a rare bird from the 80s and Omega only made a production run for one year. It's been doing the rounds again since Fact Philes posted a video on their Instagram channel. I pulled some more information and photos from the YouTube channel of Aleks Watches who did an excellent brief 5 minute review. 

It's a watch that has a very interesting history and it was a world first. Released in 1981 it is a piece that many people call a love child between a Reverso of Jaeger-LeCoultre and a Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet.

Why is the Omega Equinoxe so special?

At the time of introduction it was the first watch in the world to feature two movements within the same rotating case. On one side; an analogue time display and on the other  there is an LCD display which has a couple of complications. Despite the rumblings online, this qualifies as two separate movements. The movement is a quartz movement. It's a calibre that shows the analogue time display. The LCD side has a few complications; a countdown striker, alarm, time and date. 

You can't help fall in love with it. There is also not a lot of information out there. 

Not a lot of people know about this watch and the fact that Omega did this before Jaeger-LeCoultre did a reverse in their lineup which enabled horse polo riders to wear a luxury watch, and switch the case for protection. When the Omega Equinoxe was introduced it cost around 1,500 Swiss francs which was about 3 times more expensive than a Seamaster Mechanical watch. They are trading now around 2000 euros depending on the condition. If you are going after one make sure all the complications work. 

Why the limited run? 

The reasons why they didn't produce it for more than one year was probably because it was too expensive to produce and it didn't catch on as much as they'd hoped. It has a stainless steel case and this model was produced in two different versions. There is a full steel one and a two tone version 

I think the steel one looks more authentic, the two tone tries to pass off as luxury but I question how luxury do you want a digital watch to be? It's digital after all. Its a bit more rare and sought after nowadays because of the retro element. The case sizing is just about right in my opinion. A  28mm x 38mm stainless steel case, not huge not small.