Greetings Folks, My friend brought this recent find to my attention, and we are looking for insight on this curious case. Neither of us have seen one quite similar before. It is the Omega shown here, with a contemporary for size comparison. It is a two-piece case, with caseband and center. The center is a snug press-fit into the caseband from the backside. I believe dial has been reworked, and I suspect the crown is of another origin. Based on movement and case serials, I might guess year of origin in the 1939-1940 range. This is an R 17.8 Movement, with the OXG (USA) import code. It seems it might have had fixed bars at one point, which were cut out in the span, and re-drilled to hold springbars. Here you can see how the center fits into the caseband. I found a similar looking two-piece case on page 235 of AJTT, but case style and dial layout are where the similarities end. Has anyone something similar to share, or possible previous sightings? Thank you!
Hi Vince, an interesting case for sure. Hopefully, Yann @Tire-comedon, Tom @OMTOM or some of the vintage experts can help. It almost seems a conversion or custom case, but the Omega nomenclature is puzzling and might give us a clue. Good luck!
This is a fairly common type of case construction in vintage watches, but I've not run across it on an Omega to date. I think the last watch I serviced with this type of case was a vintage Gerard-Perregaux.
Hamilton came out with a hermetic more-or-less similar case in the late forties, called the CLD (think sealed) with two-piece stem. There was no separate back and middle case, so the the movement had to removed from the front. The stem was to in two interlocking pieces to able to install and remove the movement. The above Omega seems to have a similar design. @Tire-comedon can certainly offer information on the Omega.
This is quite different to the OP's watch though. Watches where the bezel and glass come away together are even more common (many rectangular watches of the era used that design), although not all were sealed like that Hamilton was. Here's a GP that is of the same design as the Omega shown...only the bezel/lugs come away in this design: Cheers, Al
Just FYI the split stems are used on quite a few different models - Dynamics, Cosmics, etc. so a lot of front loading designs use the split stem. Again this is different than the OP's - on yours the crystal comes with the bezel and lugs. Would be interested to see if anyone has another Omega where the crystal is securely on the case container like the OP's when the bezel is removed. That's the unusual parts with his. Cheers, Al
Thanks, Bubba! The extract is great. Is yours fixed lugs or drilled? Hey Vince, note the case # is only 5k off from yours. This is a cool variant that I hadn't seen!
Thank you, friends! There certainly have been many manners of case assembly explored by manufacturers over the years. It appears that your watch @bubba48 is maybe only slightly newer than the one in question, as noted, and a match in case design! Seems a natural progression from the sub-seconds to the center seconds version of the R 17.8 I consider that a success! Jim & Jim, I appreciate your efforts!
Couldn't find this ref in my catalogs or in my collection. Sorry, I can't give any info on this model. I had some two piece cases (with 26.5 for example) but not with a split stem and, if my memory is good, with the Crystal fitted on the bezel, not on the Inside part. Would need to dig it out to take some pictures to show the differences.
Most older Roamer watches are two piece , Split stem , crystal fitted on inside casing. Bulova also had the same set up such as the Bulova See Bee. The Roamer anfibio was issued to the South African and other armed forces and considered I read somewhere but unsubstantiated one of the first true waterproof watches.
OK, it's official, I'm getting old! Had completely forgotten about this one in my project box : Central second, no fixed lugs, OXG (US export caliber), Case number at 3200 units from OP's and 1500 from Buba48's one, and caliber at 11000 units from OP's and 19000 from Buba48's.
Fantastic. Sometimes combing through the project boxes is like finding them anew. Thank you for sharing, @Tire-comedon. I wonder if somewhere in the range between the case serial numbers shown, the SC movements became preferred or more readily available, or if there was overlap in installation.