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cristos71
·So I bought this very nice ref 2279 chronograph back in I think 2014. Cracking looking watch with a very interesting multi-coloured Fab. Suisse dial and powered by the 27 CHRO C12, the forerunner of the 321.
It's had an irregular spot in my rotation and other than that was pulled out once in a while for some general fawning and fondling as we collectors do. I love it of course due to its looks and condition but also as that coming from 1943 and being a French market piece it has witnessed an extraordinary period of Europe's history and I always wonder who originally bought back in '43 and what was going on around them when they were wearing it those first times...
Anyway in Jan 2019 it felt like it was time for a service and new winding spring so it went off to my long serving watchmaker together with another 8 or 9 patients in need of various other large and small treatments. My watchmaker has been fixing and restoring for me for a decade or so and has probably worked on 70 or 80 watches in one way or another over those years so we have a good relationship and understanding. He has a varied skill set and generally delivers very good work both on the simple and complicated jobs.
He's very busy with quite a long wait so after 8 or 9 weeks I got the call for the pick up and drove over there. The watches were laid out in a row and as usual we went through them one by one discussing what had been done. The first 7 everything was fine and then we reached the 2279.....
Now I'll let the pictures do the talking here but as can be seen the dial has somehow during repairs received some catastrophic damage....
Before
After
Now I was shocked of course, the dial is toast, and after talking about it with my WM for quite a while it remained unclear exactly what had happened and I left....
I was of course not very happy to say the least and decided to push for a claim on his insurance. Accidents can happen in any environment, that I accept, as long as they can in one way or another be put right. I wasn't at all sentimental about this watch but the value had been decimated and more importantly to me the wearability was now zero. The question of 'how' it happened is of course a very big question, but for this forum post neither important nor under discussion.
What followed next was a year's struggle towards resolution via the insurance company of my watchmaker and then another year to bring the watch back to an acceptable level of wearability.
To start with the insurance company had me compile a document for them to evidence the market value of exactly the same reference watch/dial combination. Not easy to find and even harder to find documentable evidence as the few examples to be found were either 5 year old POA's or listed as 'Sold'. After a number of explanatory emails to various international dealers I was very pleasantly surprised that the community was willing to help me out with some very useful hard data. Much appreciated!
As well as this a purchase receipt from when I bought it in 2014 was also required. In this hobby that's sometimes easier said than done but I was fortunate in that I'm still in contact with the seller so he was able to provide me with a copy.
This was still not enough though for the insurance company and after some months of them having the documents and me hearing nothing I then had to sit with their watch and jewelry specialist. I invited him to one of my restaurants and over coffee gave him a small presentation and display of various other 1940's and 1950's watches from my collection, together with the 2279, emphasizing the condition I collect and highlighting the now sorry state of the 2279.
This was a good meeting and a week or two later the assessor called me with a fair offer which I accepted. A good result...now what to do?
Well my first feeling was to sell the watch as is. I had something of a bitter taste in my mouth after the whole experience and for sure I'd never wear the watch again in the condition it was now in, that much was certain. Hmm...
However I did have a pair of 27CHRO C12 dials sitting in the parts bin for years gathering dust so thought I'd see if one of these would possibly fit. As with most things Omega things are never that simple and as there are a few different dial sizes for these old chrono's I wasn't directly sure if one of them would fit so off they went back to my WM, who TBH didn't look too pleased to see the 2279 again....
A month or two pass and I get the call, it's bad news, both the dials were slightly too small....OK, frustrating and so sometime in early 2020 a search began for a correct replacement dial.
This is no easy task and I was expecting it to actually be unsuccessful, when low and behold in Dec 2020 this one popped up on Ebay in Spain with an eye watering price of €1500! Here the seller's pictures:
Not perfect, but I had to have it. if I didn't land this one then I don't know what, it could be years before another one shows up. Well after some long discussions and negotiations with a very nice collector Hector we managed to reach an acceptable price and the dial made it's way to me. Exciting!
Again off we go back to my WM in January with this and a few more jobs and finally a couple of weeks ago I picked them all up and after two long years could finally strap the 2279 back onto my wrist!
I'm really happy with the result, it was quite a long and frustrating journey but with eventually a good ending for me. The old dial will of course be remaining with the watch in the future.
It's had an irregular spot in my rotation and other than that was pulled out once in a while for some general fawning and fondling as we collectors do. I love it of course due to its looks and condition but also as that coming from 1943 and being a French market piece it has witnessed an extraordinary period of Europe's history and I always wonder who originally bought back in '43 and what was going on around them when they were wearing it those first times...
Anyway in Jan 2019 it felt like it was time for a service and new winding spring so it went off to my long serving watchmaker together with another 8 or 9 patients in need of various other large and small treatments. My watchmaker has been fixing and restoring for me for a decade or so and has probably worked on 70 or 80 watches in one way or another over those years so we have a good relationship and understanding. He has a varied skill set and generally delivers very good work both on the simple and complicated jobs.
He's very busy with quite a long wait so after 8 or 9 weeks I got the call for the pick up and drove over there. The watches were laid out in a row and as usual we went through them one by one discussing what had been done. The first 7 everything was fine and then we reached the 2279.....
Now I'll let the pictures do the talking here but as can be seen the dial has somehow during repairs received some catastrophic damage....
Before
After
Now I was shocked of course, the dial is toast, and after talking about it with my WM for quite a while it remained unclear exactly what had happened and I left....
I was of course not very happy to say the least and decided to push for a claim on his insurance. Accidents can happen in any environment, that I accept, as long as they can in one way or another be put right. I wasn't at all sentimental about this watch but the value had been decimated and more importantly to me the wearability was now zero. The question of 'how' it happened is of course a very big question, but for this forum post neither important nor under discussion.
What followed next was a year's struggle towards resolution via the insurance company of my watchmaker and then another year to bring the watch back to an acceptable level of wearability.
To start with the insurance company had me compile a document for them to evidence the market value of exactly the same reference watch/dial combination. Not easy to find and even harder to find documentable evidence as the few examples to be found were either 5 year old POA's or listed as 'Sold'. After a number of explanatory emails to various international dealers I was very pleasantly surprised that the community was willing to help me out with some very useful hard data. Much appreciated!
As well as this a purchase receipt from when I bought it in 2014 was also required. In this hobby that's sometimes easier said than done but I was fortunate in that I'm still in contact with the seller so he was able to provide me with a copy.
This was still not enough though for the insurance company and after some months of them having the documents and me hearing nothing I then had to sit with their watch and jewelry specialist. I invited him to one of my restaurants and over coffee gave him a small presentation and display of various other 1940's and 1950's watches from my collection, together with the 2279, emphasizing the condition I collect and highlighting the now sorry state of the 2279.
This was a good meeting and a week or two later the assessor called me with a fair offer which I accepted. A good result...now what to do?
Well my first feeling was to sell the watch as is. I had something of a bitter taste in my mouth after the whole experience and for sure I'd never wear the watch again in the condition it was now in, that much was certain. Hmm...
However I did have a pair of 27CHRO C12 dials sitting in the parts bin for years gathering dust so thought I'd see if one of these would possibly fit. As with most things Omega things are never that simple and as there are a few different dial sizes for these old chrono's I wasn't directly sure if one of them would fit so off they went back to my WM, who TBH didn't look too pleased to see the 2279 again....
A month or two pass and I get the call, it's bad news, both the dials were slightly too small....OK, frustrating and so sometime in early 2020 a search began for a correct replacement dial.
This is no easy task and I was expecting it to actually be unsuccessful, when low and behold in Dec 2020 this one popped up on Ebay in Spain with an eye watering price of €1500! Here the seller's pictures:
Not perfect, but I had to have it. if I didn't land this one then I don't know what, it could be years before another one shows up. Well after some long discussions and negotiations with a very nice collector Hector we managed to reach an acceptable price and the dial made it's way to me. Exciting!
Again off we go back to my WM in January with this and a few more jobs and finally a couple of weeks ago I picked them all up and after two long years could finally strap the 2279 back onto my wrist!
I'm really happy with the result, it was quite a long and frustrating journey but with eventually a good ending for me. The old dial will of course be remaining with the watch in the future.
Edited:
