Identifying an 861 Service Dial
861 speedmasters are the most accessable and easily maintained of all the watches covered on this site – they offer the best comprimise between value and durability.
However even these watches will loose value with a service dial. A service dial is an Omega made, and supplied replacement dial with a different specification to the original. These were fitted some time after 1994 when tritium was phased out, and these dials have no T marks each side of SWISS MADE, and no step.
The reason this destroys the attraction is that the dial is the heart of the watch, and a new dial is without any of the charm I seek in a vintage watch. On the 861 dials, it is easy to spot as ALL 861’s carried T marks up to about 1994. (Well beyond the scope of this site).

The differences are that the serice dial has:
- No T marks
- No step between the minute track and the central plate
- Superluminova for the markers
Superluminova is so much more effective than old tritium that spotting it is as simple as switching off the lights:

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