I'm only about a year into vintage watches and am still developing my franken-watch/redial radar, but I found an estate sale listing that caught my eye.

From what I can tell, the serial number (10534801) on the case back indicates it's from 1944.

There is no size listed, but based on comparable watches I'm guessing that it's 34 or 35mm. (If it ends up being 32-33mm I'll be pretty disappointed.)

Questions:
- Any obvious red flags that I'm missing?
- What does the serial number on the movement indicate? (9810863)

Thanks in advance for any guidance and for building such a great resource here!

 

It's solid gold...so that is good...but other than that...

How much is it and what is your budget?

Personally, you are better off spending more money buying a nice sorted piece from a member on here versus trying to do it on your own.

 

It is one of the earliest omega bumpers I've seen. It is powered by a bumper movement caliber 28.10 and cased in 14 k with a correct crown.
Diameter is about 33 mm.
The bad thing about it is the repainted dial that hurts the value a lot.
Serial #9.8 mil means it was manufactured around 1937/38.

 

Got it. Man the redial-detection skill is a tricky one to nail down.

Interesting bit of history implied in this watch though (and other 1944 omegas I suppose) that the movement was made before WWII and then the rest was made or possibly just stamped afterwards.

Anyway, thanks for the guidance here, the search continues... I've been sticking to WatchRecon mostly and my only real watch to date (a 1940's Breitling Up/Down Chronograph) was from a forum sale, but the allure of getting a great deal from some attic-find is strong.

 

Totally agree with you.
The excitement of collecting vintage watches is there when you have to learn, to decide and to make mistakes by yourself.
Hope you will find the one you like in the future .

Regards .

 

sounds like you are on the way to becoming a watch treasure hunter like us. my only comment on that watch (and potential deal) is judging by the pictures provided by the sellers and considering they went thru the trouble of opening the thing for movement shots they are looking to squeeze whatever they can outa the thing price-wise and there won't be any "attic-find" with it even if it turned out to be an original dial.

depending on your locale, I would focus my hunting efforts on boots-on-the-ground stuff like antique shops, second hand stores and pawn shops, along with any garage sales and flea markets nearby. word of mouth among family, friends and co-workers is also good. my method does take more effort than checking out advertised stuff online but the old saying is "the harder you work the luckier you get".

 

I see that did you notice the 7 is sitting back a bit as well. I would think these are hand applied, could it just have been a QC issue? You mentioned different length I don’t see that but could just be my eyes.

 

Manufacturing techniques weren't that much developed back then, dials weren't that crisp always. Or it could be an early redial, dial style looks more late 40s/early 50s than late 30s to me, but I don't know if redials were that good back then. This watch looks pretty real to me, and it's beautiful.