1960’s Seamaster De Ville advice/opinions

Good morning all,

Firstly, thanks for welcoming me to the Forum. I am a new member, and have been browsing over the last few weeks, schooling myself on Chronstops. From research on here, I (hope) I have just purchased a good one!-will start a new thread when it arrives!

Now onto the topic in hand..

An elderly neighbour of my fathers recently gave him her late husbands watch. An Omega Seamaster De Ville. It’s well worn and has battle scars. No box or papers, but my father was told it was purchased new sometime in the 60’s.

I would appreciate your expertise on the watch, and am looking forward to finding out more about it. I have taken some photos, which I will upload.

Although I’m a novice when it comes to vintage Omega’s, I am a little unsure about this one..could it be a fake, or a redial?

The reason I ask is that the ‘M’ On Automatic is curved and not pointed, the ‘O’ on Omega appears to be offset slightly, and there is no Swiss Made marker. ( From research, I know not all had this).

I have tried to photograph the watch as best I could, but the crystal has some heavy scratches, making it difficult to get a good photo of the text on the dial.

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks, Paul.

Hi Paul!

the dial is clearly repainted.

I'm not shure if the indices and hands are correct

Despite from that everything looks original and in quite good condition including an original beads of rice bracelet with correct endlinks.


Hope that helps

Morning all, thanks a lot for the helpful info. My suspicions were correct!

I agree, I think dad will just wear it and enjoy it for what it is. i probably won’t even tell him it’s had a repainted dial😉

Out of interest, roughly what year is the watch? How can I remove the rear case cover to get the serial number of the movement?

thanks, Paul.

Hi Paul,

should be around 1965, 1966

The SMD can't be opened easily, sorry!

It doesn't have an easy to remove screw back caseback like other watches.

These watches don't have a caseback that can be removed. Instead, the movement is acessed through the front. As Passover writes it isn't that easy, but in my experience it can be done if you are the kind of person who has a steady hand. I for one do it quite often and have had no problems. Just be sure to be careful not to damage anything and if in doubt go to a professional. This video shows how to get to the movement.
EDIT: he uses a screwdriver to get the crystal out - I wouldn't recommend that! This is just to give you an idea of how the watch is assembled.

Oh, and also: even though it's a redial it's still a nice watch - especially with the bracelet.

Thanks very much for the info. I’m quite a practical person, so I might see if I can open it up and have a nose. Is the original beads of rice bracelet desirable, or just nice to have, because it’s original?

Both.

Yes, both. Yours seem to have stretched a bit though which is fairly common but of course impacts value.