The “Holy Grail” 376.0822

The story

In 1999, the noted collector and chronograph scholar Chuck Maddox posted on TimeZone that hunting down the 376.0822 — after collecting most of the obscure Mark-series models — felt like King Arthur's search for the Holy Grail. He started calling it “the Grail.” The nickname stuck, and the hobby has used it ever since.

The watch earns the mystique. Built for just two years (1987–88), the ST 376.0822 packs Omega's calibre 1045 — a Lemania 5100-based automatic with day, date, a 24-hour indicator and the signature central 60-minute “airplane” chronograph hand — into a 42 mm Moonwatch-esque asymmetric case only about 1.4 mm thicker than standard. It was the first self-winding Speedmaster in a case like that.

Production is estimated around 2,000 (Sotheby's, Hodinkee) — or about 1,800 (craftandtailored). No Omega-published figure exists; the sources disagree, and the page says so.

At a glance

How to spot one

• Day + date at 3 o'clock (day-disc language varies by market — German discs exist).
• 24-hour register at 12, central orange/red airplane minute hand.
• Glass ring with 1/5-second divisions around the dial edge.
• Two bezel variants (early tachymeter vs. later).
• “CRS” inside the caseback — C.R. Spillman S.A., the same casemaker behind many Rolex Daytonas.
• 1450/809 bracelet pairing.

Why collectors care

A two-year production run, a Lemania 5100 heart, and a nickname bestowed by the hobby's own scholarship — the Grail is the automatic Speedmaster for people who find the Reduced too ordinary.

Sotheby's offered a 1988 example in its 2019 “To the Moon and Back” sale (estimate $12,000–18,000) — the kind of venue that confirms a reference has arrived.

Production estimates disagree: ~2,000 (Sotheby's, Hodinkee) vs. ~1,800 (craftandtailored). No Omega figure exists — both are estimates.