The Omega Speedmaster Tokyo 2020 Olympics Collection

The logo for the Olympics is one of the most widely recognized symbols on Earth, despite appearing only once every two years. The five rings are five different colors – blue, yellow, black, green, and red – and the logo seems to have been originally intended to represent the five inhabited continents, which are Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and Oceania. (It is probably reasonable to assume that we are still some years away from having to add a ring for Antarctica).
The logo was invented by Pierre Coubertin, in 1913; Coubertin is sometimes called the father of the modern Olympic games, thanks to his essential role in establishing the modern Olympics, and he was the founder and first president of the International Olympic Committee. The logo debuted at the 1920 Summer Olympics and it has appeared, with only minor modifications, at the Olympic Games ever since.

Omega has been the official timing partner of the Olympic Games since 1932 and historically has been central to the evolution of modern timing systems for sporting events. At the conclusion of the 1932 Olympic games, William M. Henry, the games’ technical director, thanked Omega, saying in part, ” … it is impossible to consider the remarkable success of the 10th Olympiad, and the unequalled athletic performances realized there without recognizing the role played by Omega watches in this large international event … the thirty split seconds chronographs you provided have been the only ones that the Organisation Committee put at the disposal of the official Olympic judges for all the sports on the program of 1932. They gave full satisfaction in all circumstances and their incontestable precision was the object of much praise from their users.”

In addition to a truly enormous number of stopwatches and other mechanical and electronic timing devices designed for use during the Olympics, Omega has also produced a number of watches in limited editions over the years, intended to both advertise and commemorate its role in keeping time at the Games. One of the better known but perhaps less accessible is a group of Speedmasters created for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, which are essentially the modern Olympics logo in horological form.

Technically, these are all five of them classic Speedmasters, with sapphire crystals instead of the standard acrylic Hesalite crystals of the Moonwatch. Cases are 42mm, with tachymeter bezels, and the movement is the tried-and-true caliber 1861. The calibers 861/1861 replaced the original caliber 321 in the Speedmaster in 1968-1969, and were in use right up to 2019, when Omega rolled out the current, co-axial, Master Chronometer version of the movement, caliber 3861. The Tokyo Olympics limited editions differ in one other important respect from the standard “sapphire sandwich” Moonwatches, in that instead of having a transparent sapphirre caseback, they have solid casebacks engraved with the Tokyo Olympics 2020 logo.

This limited edition was when it was introduced, not available in any market other than Japan, where each watch could be purchased separately. Omega produced 2020 of each of the five versions, but they also produced sets of all five together – just 55. You occasionally see individual Tokyo Olympics models offered for sale but the full sets are, obviously, a lot harder to find. The fact that Omega released these watches only into the Japan domestic market occasioned some (understandable) feelings of frustration among Omega enthusiasts and collectors.

One of the first things Speedmaster fans noticed, was that there were close similarities between the limited edition Tokyo Olympics models, and earlier limited editions – with the exception of course of the Tokyo Olympics commemorative caseback. The take on this varies depending on who you ask, but one way to look at it is that you have, in the Tokyo Olympics models, another opportunity to acquire an interesting Speedmaster design variant. In any case, the watches taken simply as Speedmaster design variants, hold a lot of interest and are a demonstration of just how much variation – an infinite variety, really – the basic design can support. We all have our favorites, two of mine are the red ring and Panda variants.

This is where things start to get very inside baseball. The Panda dial variant was described by Fratello’s Robert-Jan Broer, a man who knows a thing or two about Speedmasters, thusly in 2018: “It is clear where its inspiration came from, as the Panda dial is very sought-after. Originally, in 2003, Omega released a Speedmaster Professional for the Japan department store Mitsukoshi. I remember that the late Chuck Maddox managed to buy one back in those days, which was quite special. Only 300 pieces made, and I assume that most of them stayed in Japan (which has a large Speedmaster community). You will find franken versions of the Mitsukoshi, where the dial and hands were ordered as spare parts and swapped with the standard black dial and white baton hands. But that doesn’t make it a Mitsukoshi of course.” Chuck Maddox is a legend in the Speedmaster community.

About the red ring variant, RJ had this to say, “Although the red ring was used before, on the gold BA145.022-69, it is new to the regular Moonwatch model in steel. In 2016, when Omega introduced their Moonphase Co-Axial Master Chronometer models, such as the green bezel version with a bi-colour case, they also released one that was very special: in platinum. Limited to only 57 pieces, this heavyweight champion also sported a red bezel and came on this beautiful red alligator leather strap. Also, this version sports the caliber 9905 movement and has a LiquidMetal bezel.”

Taken all together, they’re a group of Speedmasters with connective tissue to some of the most avidly sought limited editions, and with a connection to the history of Omega as an Olympic timing partner which is at least as important as the relationship of the Moonwatch to crewed space exploration. If you’re a fan of the very intricate history of the modern Olympic Games, and the role Omega has played as an essential partner, and you’d like to have a tangible connection to that history this is a great place to start, and finish.

See The Collection Here