I came across this while surfing the web. The listing states it has a cal. 490 but the crown looks like the crowns on 501 movements. The case is a Janell FX 6282, which doesn't look like the cases in this piece written by Desmond, with contribution by gatorcpa: http://www.omega-fanatic.com/pages/omega-info/globemaster.php I'm wondering if this is a franken? The dial is supposed to be in original condition but some of the paint looks too good. Based on my research, some things look good and some don't.
Doesn't the article say Norman Morris made "frankens" originally? Crown may have been a service replacement ??? Let us know if you go for it "
I think it's a little high at $1200 euro. Being a Norman Morris, I don't think it's as desireable as the seller thinks. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
An Omega in the US was, at that time, anything that Norman Morris made and sold, might be a bastard, but still an Omega and technically not a franken The Globmasters above may not be as desirable as the "stared" Globmasters, but not because of being of the Norman Morris era. Remember, Norman Morris was Omega
Not only do I believe that watch is legit, it's one of the nicest examples you can find. Original black dials on these are rather rare. gatorcpa
The G in the Globemaster is crossing into the A in Automatic, isn;t it a bit to close compared to other examples? Also the center wheel is likely from a center seconds movement, look at the hole.
That thread, along with the Desmond piece, are why I was wondering. There are some very slight differences that I wasn't sure were just variations in manufacturing, from watch to watch, or something else.
Not sure about the center wheel but the dial does look correct to me. The script would be very hard to reproduce and they are also stamped close in that other thread.
That might actually be a reflection. I think the hole is pretty obvious in the frontal picture. I would ask for more pictures just to be sure.
I think the "hole" may represent the lack of a reflection. No light is hiting the metal so it is dark and looks like a hole
I think that there is an important lesson in this thread. It's something that's said a lot, but is rarely acknowledged. It is very difficult for anyone to tell whether vintage watches are all original or not from pictures on the internet. One really needs to see the piece in person. There are several experienced collectors here and we still can't come to a consensus regarding this watch. Even if we did, that doesn't make us right. gatorcpa
One point to cover here. In covering print on dials there is often discussion about non-matching print: size discrepancies, font differences, color, firmness of print etc. Many times these differences can point to refinished dials. BUT, many times they don't. Please realize the printing of dials is not always as simple as people think. Dials were often printed in stages. Some script was added in separate printing operations. Alignment could sometimes be off. Different fonts were added. Sometimes changes were made months or even years latter. Dials were not wasted if they could be applied to a new project. It can be very difficult at times to assess these dials for those reasons. As Gator indicated, legitimate changes and additions and be difficult to assess when the piece is not in your hand or in many case under a microscope. If you have not been fooled, you have not looked at enough watches.