all original ...... oh, boy ! service case 2777 only without the -1. dial a nice creation; more a piece of artwork. the recently sold replacement hands from watchco. the movement number is much later than 1953. maybe more...... kind regards. achim http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=231197750772&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:AU:1120Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
HUGE hands, and the freshest thing from 1953 I've seen for ages (except for my Darlin' of course ) Good work
Watch is overpriced to be sure but did such a mixture (dial perhaps excepted) exist in Australia? The movement for one is consistent with the caseback marked '58 and the watchco hands you are referring to are for the www rather than the RAF '53.
watchco had the original hands as well. expensive, but rare as hens teeth. the issue date is a mystery. i have not seen that before; it is a complete replacement case and the lower engravings are not done in the factory. maybe a few other australian military collectors could chime in. it could not be a replacement for damaged omegas; the whole thing is later. case and movement. my guess would be, that somebody matched the engravings to the found movement. if correct, it should show up in the factory`s records. this is even past the first attempts by omega ( around 1956), to use the overstock of these cases to create the civil (later called) railmaster. dial never existed in this form. wrong font for the timeframe anyway..... kind regards. achim
o.k., now we need real answers: hard to see in the pics....are both stamped 53 or 58? if 53, the movement number is too late. 4-5 years too late. if stamped 58: mvmt. number will fit. as far as i know, the replacement cases were stamped 2777. not 2777-1 as all other issued 1953 mil. watches. the 2777 stamping only, is exact in the middle. an addition of -1 would offset the balance. all other issued 1953 mil. watches stamped 2777-1 are exactly in the middle as well. so it is a different back altogether.the very early railmaster white dial cases had 2777 only as well. executed around 1956. obviously there are 2 batches in existence. the profile is slightly different as well.
"..are both stamped 53 or 58?" You can read it as you like -- 8 inside - 3 outside Movement number of my watch - 14591910 tamura
As I suspected, there is more to this than meets the eye - have seen a few of these cases over the past few years marked the same way with different dial looks - all redone to my eyes including both examples here. Hands though look ok in these watches (as Achim said hard to get these in the right length) leading me to suspect this eBay item wasn't a one time franken.
watch auction ended now...... a few more remarks from me: the other 1958 issued watches had different year stamping fonts. the low number corresponds to the issued year; for 1958 there were only a few watches issued and therefore low numbers. what concerned me most was the dial. 100% reprint ; do not forget, that this was an amagnetic watch with a thick soft iron dial. lume plots machined into the dial and filled with lume. these other 1958 dials are thin dials; not good for amag. setup. whatever these are, they never came from the factory with these normal thin dial blancs. maybe some other owners can report their dial thickness ? kind regards. achim
Found this articel by bill sohne - http://omega.watchprosite.com/show-...t-settled-lets-talk-about-the-white-elephant/ "Two of Bill Sohne’s watches of ref. CK 2777 and having the mvt N° 14’158’9xx und 14’158’9xx have been produced in October 1955 and according available photos, both have been fitted with the “ swan neck regulator” "However, the Museum watches having the same ref. CK 2777 and a mvt N° 12’804’201(Jan. 1953) , 12’999’581 ( June 1953) and 14’591’921 ( Sept. 1955) " So only eleven numbers away from the third museum watch, 1955. tamura
bill`s swan neck variant is a factory variant/trial. was not repeated into serial production. very rare pieces. but yours is the normal movement. it is very interesting, that the numerals on your repainted dial are done by hand. by somebody who had a few whiskey`s ..... you can still see the repainters "notch" . the omega sign and font is wrong. the railway looks good. the arrow is o.k. would like to see more examples; intersting history here.....kind regards. achim
Ok - more text "Bill Just for information, the following is a translation of the “news” just received from Daniel Anselmi – he is still on the work and we shall than have a final report by the end of January 2006. In the meantime here is what he says: “ Two of Bill Sohne’s watches of ref. CK 2777 and having the mvt N° 14’158’9xx und 14’158’9xx have been produced in October 1955 and according available photos, both have been fitted with the “ swan neck regulator” However, the Museum watches having the same ref. CK 2777 and a mvt N° 12’804’201(Jan. 1953) , 12’999’581 ( June 1953) and 14’591’921 ( Sept. 1955) are not equipped with such regulator system, despite the fact that all are registered as “ RG “ but have no swan neck nor a RG regulator. It seems, therefore, that the serial N° 14’158…is the field in which all such watches have been equipped with a “swan neck regulator”, probably only during a short period, since we have never seen such watch. This is becoming more than interesting and Daniel has promised to continue his researches and we shall not fail to keep you informed about the development of this matter - that will be therefore the first good news for the beginning of 2006. Blessed Holidays John" Btw. a normal 283 movement can not be used with the thick raf dial, there are different parts.
you can change center second pinion, hour and minute wheels with the longer versions. and then everything is long enough to have a normal caliber fitted with the soft iron dial......kind regards. achim
I think a small run of these watches exist and at least for these 2 examples discussed in this thread, the dials are clearly repainted. Whether these watches originally came with either TA or FA dials as we know it from the '53 versions is unclear at least to me.
Of course it is a redial, but at least the engraving style was shown on the old omega homepage with a TA model.
That same omega is in the omega museum and is also pictured in AJTT. While omega has made some missteps in the past with regard to vintage (see omegamania auction) in this particular case I think the engravings were made in some sort of "official" capacity.
It is maybe the watch John talks about in bill sohne`s articel - eleven numbers away from my watch? Whatever I give up now I like the watch and keep it anyway