Omega 1956 6B/542 Rhodesian “Thin Arrow” Pilot’s Wristwatch
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.
These 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 They were originally made to be waterproof, and the 283 calibre shockproof movement was finished in rose gold.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 anti-magnetic. This ensured that the aircraft’s instruments did not affect the watch’s crucial performance during flight operations.
It is believed that only around 5,900 of these watches were ever manufactured and issued to the RAF in May 1953. Consequently, they are rather appropriately referred to today as the “53 Omegas”.
The watch for sale is an extremely rare example of its kind that was issued to the Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF) in 1956.
Having originated from the Southern Rhodesian Air Force that served under the British RAF during WW2, the RRAF was officially formed on 15th October 1954.
Throughout the Rhodesian Civil War from 1964 until 1979, the RRAF consisted of more than 2,300 personnel, of which only around 150 were pilots, most of whom would have participated in combat missions. Rhodesia gained its independence in 1980 and became the Republic of Zimbabwe.
The markings on the reverse of the case back confirm the watch for sale to be an Omega ’56 Rhodesian. It features the usual NATO reference of 6645 101000 with 6B/542.
“016” represents the individual serial number of the watch, with the number “9” representing the month of issue (September), followed by “56” for the year of issue. The watch’s serial number suggests it is one of the earliest examples to have been issued to the RRAF in 1956.
The watch features a rarely found “Thin Arrow” dial variant that is believed to have been specifically produced for the RRAF. The red second hand is also a familiar trait that has been observed on the relatively few other examples that are known to exist.
The watch is powered by the same Omega 283 calibre movement as the RAF examples issued in 1953. However, its case bears the unusual and rarely found Omega reference 2777-3. This is opposed to the usual 2777 and 2777-1 found on the Omega RAF ’53s.
According to the Omega archives, it is believed most, if not all, these very special watches were originally delivered to the UK and were subsequently forwarded to the RRAF by the UK Ministry of Defence.
