Hi
My first post and I'm already testing the water for a sale!
Well maybe not.
I bought this watch in Mauritius 1968 while serving with the Royal Navy.
I was a keen Scuba diver.
It is Cal 552 and has candlestick hands, no date.
Eventually I was seduced by the super accurate quartz watches and the Omega stayed in its box.
Several years later I was presuaded to give it to my father-in-law.
I wasn't conviced he would look after it properly but gave in to pressure.
I was right, although he wore the watch regularly it wasn't serviced much if at all.
I spoted it in a jar at his house and asked what had happened to it. His reply "it's no good any more, it can't be regulated!" Odd choice of words, but I let it go, it wasn't my watch.
When he died a few years ago, I asked if the watch was still there and if so could I have it back.
So now it's mine once more.
Cosmetically the watch is in good condition. The case back has a couple of scratches, I'd say a failed attempt to open it, made worse by an attempt to buff out the scratches!
The watch still runs and the auto winder works fine but it is extemely fast.
I noticed that it had been magnetised, I do a little bit of tinkering with old watches (I'm nowhere good enough for this watch) but I have a demagnetising tool. Very slight improvement.
I took the back off mainly to find out the serial number and CAL.
I noticed that the balace wheel moves quite slowly. My theory is that the escape wheel isn't catching the drive train quickly enough, allowing it to spin. If I'm correct, this may have caused damage/wear to the gear train.
There is a black goo on the winding stem (non Omega), if this got onto the balance wheel spring it would explain a few things.
I'm in the process of sending it to Omega for an assessment. Hopefully it won't need much more than a service.
If you do the math, you should be able to figure out that I'm getting on a bit, so the question of should I sell the watch when it's fixed is in my mind. I have no one to leave it to, and lasting for a lifetime has a different perspective now . Although I guess the watch has done just that.
I've seen pristine examples going for £6000, this watch isn't pristine, but baring the case back isn't bad at all.

Any ideas as to how much I should consider this watch to be worth?

 

Pictures needed and for prices eBay completed listings will give you a gauge on value

 

1. Pictures;
2. Wait with sending it to omega; and
3. Wait for opinions about servicing, value and all other stuff regarding vintage watches.

 

As wrote before, pics are necessary for helping you. And don’t send it in Omega for the service. They usually replace the old parts with service ones and the price of the watch will fall down.

 

Hi
OK spured into action, these are the ones a took a few weeks ago.
The bracelet as you can see is not Omega, the supplied strap was a supposedly waterproof treated fabric.
It lasted about 15 months and I almost lost the watch in the ocean when it failed!!!

 

This watch is in very good condition. Seems to be never polished. The insert of the bezel is perfect without cracks or dings. Some macros of the dial will help but I bet it has no signs do you remember if the hands are original to this watch or they were changed in the past?

 

This shows the CAL and Serial

There is/was a slight mark on the crystal caused by me but it was polished out.
It was serviced regularly by me until about 1976.
My F-in-L was too tight to spend any money on it so the only thing done to it, was regulating, hence the scratches on the back.
So I'm pretty certain it is still all original. Everything except the winder stem (my Brother-in-law was informed of this when he checked how much it was worth, Thought I might be trying a fast one! Forgot that I bought it and didn't charge anything for it, just a gift.
Also the winder doesn't pull out as much as it should so I'd say it's not even a copy, just something that sort of fitted.
I think I mentioned tight
He also didn't belive in keeping documents so no service records, receipt of purchase or box.
When it was returned it looked exactly as I remembered apart from the scratched back.
I have a few photos of me wearing it but you can't see any detail.
Must say I pretty amazed at the Lumen, it's still brighter than new watches I have.

 

What's the serial? Looks like a F

 

Case back is 165024 ans serial you should be able to see on the 4th photo is 24208970
So according to your chart that makes it 1966 to 1967 which is about right, I bought it in 1968.
I've just spotted sets numbers scribed onto the back, Service codes?

 

Yes, likely service codes.

 

Lovely looking watch with a great history.

I'm not an expert on these but given the small triangle, 24 mil serial and candlestick hands, does it seem like the bezel might be a service replacement?

 

You would expect a bezel like this... But I also dont know enough about the 300....

 

It is a mistake to use that bezel chart as a definitive reference for if a bezel is original to a watch. Has uswearch made clear what the sample base is? Even in his post it is edited to make clear the non serif bezel was around in 1967. So I would expect this is the original bezel for the watch

 

I meet the OP this morning and we agreed a price and I ended up buying the watch

It originally came on a coraform strap which just before the OP was about to do a dive snapped!!

The dial is lovely case looks un-polished but has the usual scratches and dings as you would expect from a tool watch which was used for diving, bezel is very nice with a few scratches the worst ones are between 0 and 5 markers

Crystal is original with a fair few scratches but polywatch will sort that out

Put it on a 1171 I have for now

Its running 6 seconds a minute fast so its off the be serviced on Tuesday

 

Enjoy and wear in good health. Looks like a nice example to my untrained eye. I am sure we will be seeing a lot of the OP on the forum moving forward....

 

Love to see a picture of that Corfam strap.

 

Great watch! Especially with the history to go along with it! Congrats!

 

You beat me too it. I'm just posting to say after a wirlwind turn of events the watch is no longer mine.
I now know what it was worth, or at least what someone was willing to pay.
I'm happy with the amount paid and I hope the buyer is just has happy with his purchase.
As mention above I almost lost it to the Indian Ocean, just a few threads more andit would have been gone.
Thanks for all your input folks

 

“My first post and I'm already testing the water for a sale!”

isn’t this typically frowned on in this forum?

I understand that nothing keeps two people from meeting and consummating a deal of their own but I seem to recall many people being told off for such posts in the past.

 

My intention was not to tout for a sale on this site.
As I said I was in the process of sending the watch to Omega for service.
After that I might well have kept the watch for a while.
Apart from Ebay I have already found a few places who offer to sell your watch for you or offer to buy.
All of them want to know how much you want for it. I had no idea, that's why I asked.
Anyway forums are for whatever use it's members and administrators see fit.
There's usually a "purest" or two willing to tell everyone that they are doing it all wrong.
What ever consenting adults get up to in the privacy of their PM is up to them ;-)