From The Archives: The Omega Speedmaster Holy Grail

Sixteen years ago this month, my friend and legendary chronograph collector Chuck Maddox passed away. The Speedmaster Mark II was the watch that got him into watches and Speedmasters specifically. However, his quest for the Speedmaster ST 376.0822 became incredibly famous. He searched for this watch with the intensity that King Arthur searched for the Holy Grail. He began calling the Speedmaster ST 376.0822 “the Holy Grail” because he was that obsessed with it.

Speedmaster ST 376.0822 — Image: Phillips

Omega Speedmaster ST 376.0822 Holy Grail (1987–1988)

If you are unfamiliar with Chuck and his work, visit his website, Chronomaddox. It’s a great source of information for chronograph collectors, although some of the articles contain information that time has proven incorrect. This article on Fratello about the Holy Grail isn’t new either. It dates back to 2018, but we have revised it accordingly.

Speedmaster ST 376.0822 with an Extract of the Archives — Image: Phillips

The “Holy Grail” nickname

The “Holy Grail” is not the first Speedmaster to get a nickname from its collectors. For example, “Broad Arrow” was also a common nickname for the CK2915. However, we could say that “Holy Grail” was surely one of the first nicknames that collectors gave to a Speedmaster. Chuck Maddox loved the Speedmaster ST 376.0822 for a couple of good reasons. Most important was the combination of the Speedmaster “Moonwatch” case and the legendary Lemania 5100 movement. This movement, which Omega dubbed caliber 1045, already powered the Speedmaster Mark IV, Mark V, and several other variations.

Thanks to the Lemania 5100-based movement inside, the Speedmaster Holy Grail looked more like a tool watch, featuring the central chronograph minute hand, day and date windows, and extra day/night (or 24-hour) sub-dial at 12 o’clock. Also, during that time (1987), Omega also used the famous ref. 1450 bracelet. It resembles the Rolex President bracelet, and many, including me, consider it one of the best Speedmaster bracelets ever produced.

Speedmaster Holy Grail — Image: Chuck Maddox

A lot of incorrect information was given for a long time

Until a few years ago, very little information on this watch was available besides the documentation on the Chronomaddox website. After Chuck’s passing in 2008 (read my interview with him here), all of his work was transferred to that website, and it has not been touched since.

You have to realize that for a long time, it did not matter much if a watch had received service parts or not. People simply didn’t know about this, just as they didn’t know what the original/initial execution of a watch looked like (read this article from over 20 years ago, and you’ll see a lot is “wrong” today). Even official materials from Omega, such as A Journey Through Time, displayed the Speedmaster Holy Grail with an incorrect set of hands, for example. That is easy to explain as the image in the book was of a prototype of the ref. ST 376.0822. Only later did period-correct parts become a crucial factor in collecting Speedmasters. It almost became disgraceful to use “just” authentic replacement (service) parts.

Speedmaster ST 376.0822 — Image: Phillips

This, and the fact that authenticity became a much more important aspect when collecting watches (since prices are much higher these days than when Chuck Maddox bought his Holy Grail many years ago), led to some great initiatives to get the absolute truth out there on watches like this Speedmaster ST 376.0822. However, even with access to Omega’s archives in Bienne, it is not an easy task. The owner of Omegaholygrail.com, for example, made an effort to get all the details right.

Featured image: Grégoire Rossier and Anthony Marquié