About Omega buckles

chronos

Hey Omegastar,
Thank you very much for the great work!! 😀
I just added a very rare buckle:
I got this one as a present from a friend of mine who was the CEO of Omega for a couple of years. He said that in those times, it was absolutely ok to just take a bunch of any prototype parts home if they wanted to - Omega didn't care at all....
In fact the leftovers of limited editions & prototypes were eventually donated to flea markets in order to get rid of them - unbelieveable if you think of what is happening today...

Concerning my buckle:
I am more than 100% sure it is original but as it has no stamps/ hallmarks at all, it will be looked at / vetted as a fake by most of the people. As I (due to emotional value) won't sell it as long as I live, I don't mint. But on the other hand it is hard to have such a nice buckle while everybody else thinks it was a cheap fake...
If you need need better pictures or cleaner parts, then just let me know.
Best, Stephan

Anyway, there we go!

omegastar

About Omega buckles,

Having collected many Omega buckles over the years, I wanted to make a thread called “Let’s make the Ultimate Omega buckle thread”. I felt there was a lack of info on the subject and many fakes on the market, which led people to ask the same questions over and over. So, I started by looking at all the buckles I had and realised that it was not as simple as I thought. They looked the same, but in fact were all different in some way. There are different manufacturers and these manufacturers have not always used the same signature or markings. Worse, you can find the same buckle with or without the manufacturer’s signature. One can be very quickly overwhelmed by the Ikea syndrome, feeling disoriented and not knowing why you were there in the first place.

Over time, I noticed some recurrent elements and that you could absolutely not rely on the shape of the Omega symbol to identify the buckles.

In my investigation, I came to the conclusion that there are two ways to identify a buckle:

1. The markings.
2. The profile.

Using these two elements together, I believe one can achieve a logical classification and a way to indentify a buckle.

I don’t know the name of the manufacturers and I couldn’t find any relevant information about them. I have identified 4 manufacturers for which I will give a name to make things clear.

I don’t know the name of the manufacturers and I couldn’t find any relevant information about them. I have identified 4 manufacturers for which I will give a name to make things clear.



1. MG.

2. AW.

1. B.
   

4. EK.

I will only consider here Swiss made buckles and not those made for other markets like U-K and USA, since I have no knowledge about them.

Of course this is only my personal theory and observations, it still has to stand the test and be criticized. Feel free to ad your personal input, to increase our knowledge about Omega buckles, especially the American and British versions.
Since the launch of the Omega Centenary in 1948, Omega has proved to be very modern in branding and conscious of its importance. Buckles are part of that history.

GM. And AW. are the most prolific manufacturers.

In old style buckles, there are two different profiles, oblong or straight.

Oblong profile buckles were made by GW.

Straight profile buckles were made by AW.

(There is an oblong buckle made by EK. but it is bigger.)

The markings or signature are written in the same direction as the Omega symbol for GW. and opposite direction for AW.

So AW. Buckles are easy to identify because the markings are always the other way around and AW. is the only one doing it.

Markings of GW. in the same direction as the Omega symbol.

Markings of AW. in opposite direction of the Omega symbol.

Markings of EK. in the same direction as the Omega symbol.

Markings of B. in the same direction as the Omega symbol.

UncleBuck

I don't think they are really getting them from "Uncles", Jim, I think they may be speaking untruthfully!
We are innocent, decent and honorable fellas getting a bad rap ever since Uncle Ernie "fiddled about".

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