2913 Incoming - Grail Attained!

Holy super grail.
Congratz !! looks great

Funny, mine was produced on April 20th... sisters ?

This was my solution to the 2913 bezel concern 😀

Congrats! 😁

First off, congrats to Mike on finding this nice example. We already have had a dialogue about it a few weeks ago. And I still think it's a-ok and original in every part. But to recap a few essentials:

The 2913-3 is the transitional of the 2913's. It was produced from about second quarter 1958 to very late 1959 (besides a few US mavericks in 1960). It's is the most common 2913 subreference with the longest production time. During this time Omega changed the design of the caseback, hands and bezel (i.e. as stated in the below snip from a old catalogue).
Exactly when is hard to tell precisely, but IMO the most correct complete early configuration is that of the BA hour hand, countdown bezel and caseback with "waterproof" below the hippo. And yes, the late complete configuration is of course then BA minute hand, countforward bezel and caseback with "waterproof" above to the right of the hippo.

As in any transitional periode some old parts slipped through to the new configuation in the early phases. The question here is then when did the transitional phase start/stop? IMO from late 58/early 59. But old parts can be seen throughout 1959. Mike's is produced in april 1959, so close enough IMO, especially considering the matching condition of the parts.

And my unconfirmed theory on the assembly of parts is that full cases with bezels were one batch, movements another and finally dial and hands. Mikes has a serial range that I haven't seen before. Earlier than the common serial 163x/164x's. I know that these were not all produced/assembled in chronological ranges, but in specific batches where some movements were stocked for/awaited some markets and assembled later. So I think the earlier full case incl. bezel and earlier movement where assembled a bit late when the BA hands simply where out of stock and the BA minute handset were fully phased in and used ... and since dial+hands properly were the last to be assembled, well, there you have it.

BTW: yes, the CD bezel is very rare, since they were only produced for about a year. The CF bezels were produced for about 8 years!!! last 165.014 was produced early 1967. And we know how hard it is just to find an original CF one.
My observations on the CD's are for instance that the quality isn't very consistent. The font is either placed on the inside or outside edge of the inlay. Rarely in the middle like the CF. Mikes is on the inside, mine below has font placed close to the outside.

Geek time over for now.. enjoy!

This is priceless info @kox
Thanks for sharing.

Big thanks to @kox for all his help on this process and especially that detailed write up above - so hard to find that type of information!

Congratulations on acquiring a great watch
I'm in the same boat that you were in - still looking for something correct.
Hopefully it will crop up in the not too distant future.

Congrats man :O

The engraving on the outside edge without the hippo stopped with the subreference -1. On the 2913-2 it had the engraving like the C2. It's not like the 2915-1 and 2914-1 where you can find different engravings on the -1's.
The transistion towards the -2 and -3 (almost at the same time) was around march/april 1958.
And yes, the 2913-2's are very very rare. Also more rare than the -1. Have only seen two or three in the last 15 years or so. The reason for the quick shift from the -2 to -3 is still unclear to me 📖

Congratulations! Wonderful watch!

Grail indeed congrats!