I've been searching for a good vintage Omega for some time as a gift for my husband (our 10th anniversary) and now may have found The One. It's advertised as a 1954 Seamaster and looks beautiful in the picture. I've seen so many dodgy 'restorations' and 'Franken-watches' I would really appreciate some sound advice before buying. Here's the information I have at present: "This Omega Seamaster is well serviced and it is a bumper automatic movement with a 2 piece stainless steel case with a screw in back and no personal engravings. From lug to lug this piece is 40 mm long and wide not including the signed Omega crown it is 34mm. The hands are original and the crystal is perfect. The case reference number is 2635-9-SC. This is a 354 Omega bumper automatic caliber movement and produced at the Omega Swiss factory in the year 1954. There are 17 clean and inspected jewels to this beauty and the serial number of 14.1 million and again produced in the year 1954. The band is leather at 18mm in width never worn not a bend." So says the advert. SELLER'S ASKING PRICE $775 USD Many thanks for your advice!
Hi there, That's a lovely gesture you're making for your husband. I'm sure he will be thrilled! That watch looks a little over prepared and has probably been refinished. Instead, you might try the Sales forum here. There's a few similar listed watches for a bit less, and much, much more original/authentic. Like this one (which comes from a very well respected member here on the forums): https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-seamaster-ref-2576-textured-dial.26830/ Definitely wait for more feedback, there are people who know a lot more about these than I do.
The seller (Darlor Watch) is not one I'd buy from at all, here's an old discussion that the owner of the business himself was involved in: https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-30t2rg-original-dial.1798/ Well worth a read before you buy that, as suggested by @oddboy I'd look at the FS forum here first, you'll get better value and quality. Mr Darlor's definition of "original" is quite different from that of most reasonable people.
Boy I reread that old 30t2 thread and laughed out loud. The Darlor chap is full of $&@# and a troll to boot. LuceVdw, I'd also add that there are currently a wide range of very nice watches on sale on the Private Sales forum. It isn't often you get such an unexpectedly wide range of choices in terms of size and style, especially from such reliable forum members, all at the same time. I'm not sure why, but it's a great time to browse!