Omega stop watch reported to have been used in the 1972 Olympics..watch is being cared for by Frank Menez, NAWCC member.

The watch above is a beautiful Omega chronograph; the one below is a lowly Omega stopwatch.

By the way, the back of the watch below is nicely engraved "BMW 703." Does anyone happen to know what a BMW 703 is, or what significance that might have to this watch?

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Steve Maddox
President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas
IHC Charter Member 49

Steve,

My bet is that "BMW 703" relates to a Sports Car Racing Team, the "703" of course being the number on the car. There are ways of tracing that number through the Sports Car Club of America among other places if indeed I'm correct on that being its origin.

Hope that gets you started.

Lindell

Lindell,

Thanks for the reply and the suggestion! I just performed a "Google Search" for the phrase "BMW 703," and the only meaningful result came as a part of what appears to be a "news article" about the Kurdish region in Iraq. The following is a brief excerpt:

"A smartly uniformed, good-looking man in his early thirties arrived in style: a 1991 BMW-703; he spoke in awkward, limited Bavarian German. He was, according to his own words, the commanding officer of the PUK peshmergas (military) in the capital. This meant that he was boss in Irbil. A leader of the occupation force. His importance and rank was also noticeable as we drove through the town and various checkpoints. Sundry peshmergas saluted and the civilian uniformed policemen gave the right of way. If nothing else the car demanded respect. A black BMW-703, with a peculiar non-Arab foreign licence plate...."

So according to that, the BMW 703 must be a model of automobile, but I'm certain that my watch is a lot older than the fellow's car mentioned above. As a matter of fact, I think I've had it longer than that myself, and my best guess about its vintage would be late 1950s to early 1960s.

My guess is that it might be some sort of "promotional item" that somehow accompanied an automobile, but that's just a guess. From what I know of automobile racing, most "team numbers" only have two digits, and from what I know of BMW products, most of them are known by three-digit numbers (often with a single letter at the end).

In any event, as I'm sure everyone here knows by now, little "mysteries" of this sort are particularly interesting to me!

Thanks again!

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SM