So this is how it starts. Somewhere in Bienne, a little rectangular watch with a T17 movement is made and shipped out to Belgium on 10 May 1934.

Over the next 7 decades, it's somewhere someplace, till it ends up in the hands of a vintage watch dealer in the UK in 2012. It catches the eye of a Singapore guy who is attracted by the rectangular profile, and who buys it as his first vintage watch.

When it arrives, it's smaller than he expected, but nonetheless he is captivated by it. This sparks off an interest in vintage watches, he finds a community of like-minded enthusiasts, and 2 years later (how time flies!) it's time to celebrate the 80th birthday of the watch that started it all.



Happy 80th Birthday, old friend!

 

The watch that started it all for you!

 

Happy secondish birthday too!

 

Very nice watch. Would have caught the idea of this Singaporean guy too.

 

Nice watch and story.

 

Nice story and watch, enjoyed both. Thank you for sharing.

 

awful addiction but wonderful watch

 

Happy birthday ...........sure another reason to give yourself a nice vintage watch present.

 

Definitely a cool T17. It must be one of the first produced, cal T17 was created in 1934.
Here is the CK921 in a1935 brochure :


Here in a 1935 catalog :


Here in a 1938 catalog


A detail of a 1939 catalog :

and finally in the 1940 catalog :


Finaly, mine says hello :

 

That OJ974 and OT974 look swish. does anybody have one to share with the class?

 

Thank you! Those old catalogs are amazing, wow, how did you find them?

Now that I have other models to refer against, it looks like the hands of mine are wrong, but then again, I'm not sure how consistent Omega was then. The crown is definitely a replacement, which I was aware of when I purchased mine.

The catalogs are so evocative of that era. The T17s are like a time capsule from the elegant, stylish past!

 

I wouldn't worry about the hands, Omega production was quite hectic in the 30's, so don't expect that all watches produced during one year had the same dial+hands combination as n the catalogs. I have another CK921 as project and found it with the same hands as yours. You can see them on the CK 929 on the 1935 catalog so it's possible that they are original. Omega did not keep records of the dials and hands put on their watches so there is no chance to know today what they looked like when the watch left the factory.

Talking about the catalogs, I've gathered them during many years of collecting. For me it's te best way to identify references and production years.

 

This is 2014 for Chris'sakes and Yann happens to have the 1935 catalogue.
What an asset this Gentleman is.

 

Hi thanks for your appreciation of the images I post.
By the way, all catalog images I post come from orifinal catalogs I own. Only one exception : the 1940 GF550 general catalog. Someone bought it just before me, but the seller was kind enough to send me a photocopy. Still looking for it many years after........

I hope someone will post images of early Omegas (before 1930) so I can post pictures from those catalogs. Just the front pages of some as a teaser :

Canadian catalog, date unknown, around 1910 :


The Richepin respectively 1913 and 1914 :




One of my favorites, wartime :


Finally, I can't resist to post all pages of this beauty from around 1928 :














Not really very informative on models, but I love the style.