I have been researching this site for a while and finally decided to create an account. I am relatively new to Connies, so I wanted to seek some advice, if possible. I picked up this 1966 14 karat gold Connie from a local seller in the Los Angeles area. It is a nice watch overall, but certainly needs to be cleaned. My main question is about the dial. It seems to me that it was either repainted, or someone decided to try to trace the original script, and did not do a great job. Am I correct in my assessment regarding the dial? I have two other watches, one of which is gold capped and has a white with gold markers dial with original script, but it is not a pie pan. All three watches that I own have 564 cal movement. Therefore, my other question is whether the white with gold markers dial will fit the 14k gold watch, or if I'm better off waiting and looking for a pie pan dial? I will add some pictures and hope my questions make sense. Thank you in advance to anyone who is willing to offer advice.
Dial has been rather poorly redone in the past. You can restore this one....a good redial costs a few hundred bucks. Or you can source another one...if money wise makes more sense. I would not franken the watch with an incorrect dial.
Thank you, Mircea. That is what I was thinking, just wanted to see if there were other options. Do you, or anyone on this site, know where I can get the dial redone correctly?
My watchmaker uses a few different guys depending on the budget of the client. Obviously, the higher the price....the better the quality. All based in Europe. I don't know if it makes sense to send the watch to Europe for that...Im sure there are good option in US, too.
Thanks for your input, Mircea. I don’t think I want to deal with shipping the watch to Europe. I’m going to look for something relatively closer. Any leads are appreciated.
Correct dials for the 168 do come up on ebay. Creating a franken by using an incorrect dial is a poor option. You will always know that its wrong and so will any WIS looking at your Connie. A redial is an option but I would only do that if you have tried to find the correct dial first. Good luck with the project.
Buy something like this https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/163896748142 Swap the dial and sell the ugly one. (not the good one).
Thank you, Aginoz. Yes, I will have to hunt one down on eBay. I have a little room, given that I paid $900 for the watch. I wish it had a perfect dial like my other two connies, but I was due for a bit of a project. Cheers!
Thanks for your reply, hoipolloi. That is a nice dial. I will definitely have to wait for something a little cheaper, as I have to factor the return I can get after swapping dials. Also, I should keep original movement with my watch and only swap the dials, right?
That’s a beautiful watch. I wish mine was that nice, but that’s the fun part of hunting these watches down at reasonable prices.
Will a dial from a 561 movement fit my 564 movement? Also, were the hour markers painted, or unpainted originally?
Please clarify this question. There are both applied metal hour markers and painted hour markers on your dial.
I get it. I was referring to the gold hour markers. I’ve seen some dials with a black line over the gold and some without it, like on my dial. I know there are some dials that came with onyx markers, and some that were painted on (like the 168.025). I’m not too familiar with my watch as I just got it and prefer to look for an original dial that hasn’t been messed butchered. Thank you for any insight.
From quick research, I found out that omega painted markers on dials after 24 million serial number, but if someone can confirm that, I would appreciate it.
I don’t think that the markers on your dial would have been painted. And the hands also have no place for a line of paint or inlay.
Thank you Dan S. Do you know if a dial from a 561 movement will fit my 564? I assume it will, only difference is the quick set date option, but I’m trying to confirm so it expands my search a little bit.