9ct English cased Omega

[Mattyd199]

Evening,

Haven’t posted for a little while but I’ve picked up two more Omegas to add to my collection, both in real nice condition!

One of them is a made in England 9ct gold case with a ref of 1215400 (261979) stamped in the back which comes up on a quick google search however from a search though some previous threads it suggests that English cased watches are not actually Omega cases, is this the case? The watch looks to be pretty original inc crown and crystal but then doesn’t appear to have an Omega stamp on it?

Am I correct to assume that watches cased in England won’t have an Omega stamped crystal?

Any help greatly appreciated as I would like to source and replace the crystal with the correct Omega part,

I’ve got a couple of photos but will upload some more in the morning,

Thanks
Matty

Edited: Apr 4, 2024

 

[Dan S]

This watch was cased in England by the Dennison company, under contract to Omega. Let's see the whole watch please.

 

[gatorcpa]

Cases were made outside Switzerland to local specifications to avoid customs duties. I’m not sure if the crystals on the UK made cases were signed or not.

It may be that you will need to go generic on this. Only a qualified watchmaker with an Omega parts account can plug in the UK only case reference and see if there is a new part that will fit.

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa

 

[speedb]

IMHO not much of a point looking for an original Omega crystal (if there is even one that will fit), a lot of the originality appeal is lost by it not having a Swiss case.

 

[gatorcpa]

speedb

IMHO not much of a point looking for an original Omega crystal (if there is even one that will fit), a lot of the originality appeal is lost by it not having a Swiss case.

Totally disagree. This is exactly how watches were made in the post-WWII era. Many countries enacted high taxes on imported luxury items, like solid gold watch cases. These included the USA, UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Australia and Italy.

Omega was not the only brand to import just movements to these countries. Rolex, LeCoultre, Longines, Universal Geneve and many, many others sold “national production” watches between 1946 and 1980.

There is nothing “unoriginal” about a watch being in a case in which it was sold when new. You can make an argument about collectibility though. Many collectors will put a premium on a Swiss gold case over a national production gold case all other things being equal. But both watches should be considered original.
gatorcpa

 

[Mattyd199]

gatorcpa

Totally disagree. This is exactly how watches were made in the post-WWII era. Many countries enacted high taxes on imported luxury items, like solid gold watch cases. These included the USA, UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Australia and Italy.

Omega was not the only brand to import just movements to these countries. Rolex, LeCoultre, Longines, Universal Geneve and many, many others sold “national production” watches between 1946 and 1980.

There is nothing “unoriginal” about a watch being in a case in which it was sold when new. You can make an argument about collectibility though. Many collectors will put a premium on a Swiss gold case over a national production gold case all other things being equal. But both watches should be considered original.
gatorcpa

Thank you for your reply and clarity on this and that was pretty much my thought/ interpretation based on what I had seen from a search online etc

Dan S

This watch was cased in England by the Dennison company, under contract to Omega. Let's see the whole watch please.

sure, additional photos added to the main post

 

[Mattyd199]

gatorcpa

Totally disagree. This is exactly how watches were made in the post-WWII era. Many countries enacted high taxes on imported luxury items, like solid gold watch cases. These included the USA, UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Australia and Italy.

Omega was not the only brand to import just movements to these countries. Rolex, LeCoultre, Longines, Universal Geneve and many, many others sold “national production” watches between 1946 and 1980.

There is nothing “unoriginal” about a watch being in a case in which it was sold when new. You can make an argument about collectibility though. Many collectors will put a premium on a Swiss gold case over a national production gold case all other things being equal. But both watches should be considered original.
gatorcpa

Thank you for your input and this was my interpretation having done a little research, i assume though that this would have never had an Omega crystal given that its not an actual Omega case?

Im guessing Dennison (as suggested by Dan S above) would produced the case under licence made to Omega specifications?

Mattyd199

 

[Dan S]

Nationally cased watches are totally legit, IMO. They are sometimes a bit less desirable to collectors. But not a big difference.

 

[mac_omega]

Dan S

Nationally cased watches are totally legit, IMO. They are sometimes a bit less desirable to collectors. But not a big difference.

I want to add: English and French gold cases should not be frowned upon because they are often heavier and more sturdy compared to swiss produced ones and they often have solid gold crowns - at least I have encountered solid gold crowns on the French 30 T2 SC Rg chronometres...

 

[Mattyd199]

mac_omega

I want to add: English and French gold cases should not be frowned upon because they are often heavier and more sturdy compared to swiss produced ones and they often have solid gold crowns - at least I have encountered solid gold crowns on the French 30 T2 SC Rg chronometres...

It’s hard to be certain but on first glance I would say the crown appears to be solid gold too as I can’t see any silvery colour coming through like you do with gold plated ones when they start to wear.

 

[X350 XJR]

speedb

IMHO not much of a point looking for an original Omega crystal (if there is even one that will fit), a lot of the originality appeal is lost by it not having a Swiss case.

Well I for one love the uniqueness for these nationally cased watches, since many are somewhat peculiar to their countries of origin without Swiss analogues.

 

[Valle de Joux]

You have a very nice example of a Dennison cased Omega.

 

[Sherbie]

Many of us have Dennison cased Omega (and other brand) watches

And i agree - they often made much thicker / heavier case backs cf Omega swiss made references

Also there are many dedicated Dennison threads on this forum - here is one example

https://omegaforums.net/threads/the-dennison-cased-omega-thread.113311/

There was another excellent reference that was collating the dennison reference numbers employed - i cant find that currently

here is an essay by Desmond on Omega Constellations
https://download1078.mediafire.com/...sm0adrdqjswgdp1/Dennison+Essay+March+2015.pdf

 

[Mattyd199]

Sherbie

Many of us have Dennison cased Omega (and other brand) watches

And i agree - they often made much thicker / heavier case backs cf Omega swiss made references

Also there are many dedicated Dennison threads on this forum - here is one example

https://omegaforums.net/threads/the-dennison-cased-omega-thread.113311/

There was another excellent reference that was collating the dennison reference numbers employed - i cant find that currently

here is an essay by Desmond on Omega Constellations
https://download1078.mediafire.com/...sm0adrdqjswgdp1/Dennison+Essay+March+2015.pdf

Thank you for providing this info, I’ll take a look though and have a good search.

yeah it’s a real nice piece in my opinion and pleased to add it to my collection,