“Prototype”. The word is enough to make any collector’s heart beat faster, and with good reason. Prototype watches are usually not commercialised and realized as piece unique - or, in the best case scenario, in series of few pieces - thus making them by definition immensely scarce. From a technical and marketing standpoint, prototype pieces offer an invaluable insight into the commercial logics of a company, showing what was in development and when - allowing collectors to hypothesise the why. Finally, under a collectability point of view, prototypes never fail to surprise even the most jaded collectors as they either are the archetype of a production model or even better - such as in this case - the only examples produced of a discarded project: true unobtanium in its purest form.

Indeed, the present watch is one of such hallowed prototype pieces. Donning a white dial, this Speedmaster is set apart from all the rest by a never-before-seen red “Monza” signature at 6 o’ clock. The parallelism with the Daytona signature on the Rolex chronograph is immediate: both are sports chronogrphs direct competitors, and indeed the Daytona Cosmograph takes its name from another town with strong automotive links. It is not impossible that the “Monza Speedmaster” was considered as the new-millennium competitor of the Daytona Cosmograph. Whatever the reason for its creation, it goes without saying that the present piece can be considered one of the ultimate Speedmasters, a true unicorn of the field.

Furthermore, while no extract can be produced for the watch as it bears no serial number - no serial number is a common occurrence in most prototype watches - Omega confirmed to us, via email, that indeed the Monza Speedmaster was a project undertaken by Omega during the 1990s but eventually aborted. Furthermore, after looking at pictures of the watch, they state a lapidary “everything looks correct”.

We are deeply indebted to the Omega Archive for their invaluable support in researching the present piece.