I am planning to buy a vintage omega for my eldest brother as a gift and had my eyes set on one of his favourite models dating about 1961- 1963 as in attached image!
Obviously they will always need extra attention with service etc! But the hands lhave lost most of the lume from deterioration ! It looks black from image and there is no T near “Swiss Made” inscription, so my guess would be it could be radium?? To me it also look like paint, but as I know little about these, so anyone knowingly more about them please chime in, with thanks in advance

 

More photos would help any of the Caseback inside and out and movement.
1961-2 is the transition time from radium to tritium but I don’t see any evidence of lume on this photo, hands look painted and indices either painted or inserts.
UV light would help as well.

 

No lume. Unfortunately, there is some paint loss on the minute hand. Is this a 165.009?

 

It is a reference 14761 which to me looks also like a 165.009 ! I also thought it was a 165.009. I am not sure if what is inside the hand is paint or lume!? Not sure what the factory did at the time

 

Those hands appear to have a painted inlay, consistent with the no-lume applied markers on the dial. There were many variations from the factory. If you need further verification, request a UV shot, but I'm pretty sure.

 

Pledge for inserts! So : "lume-free". AFAICS a nice watch

 

I was unaware that the factory would have used the painted inlay in the hands ! I always thought that this cut/open section in the the hands was for application of lume such as radium or tritium ? My first impression was old lume like radium going darker or discolouration from the ageing process!

If I end up buying the watch, I will remove the hands to take better photos of both the front and back and post them here possibly under a new thread! This has been an interesting topic for me!

 

It is black paint that matches the black stripes on the markers , if the watch dont have lume spots on the dial then it is not supposed to have luminous hands .
it can easily be repainted from the back of the hands with scale model paint .

 

Thank you for sharing this as vintage Omegas still a very new world to me!!! You raise a very interesting point, as I have seen some other generic brands that have had luminous hands and no lume spots on dial,, unless the hands had been replaced at a later stage with luminous ones during service as they were all the watchmaker had/ or could get.

Interestingly, I have also seen lume in the centre of the dial battons which looks like the black onixy strips but is a lume of some kind. Old deteriorated radium turning dark almost black can be subtle from those painted with black paint from the same era,

As I said, if I end up scoring the watch, I will take more pictures of it and share them here for better viewing. I should have a similar model one somewhere amongst my other pieces which is most likely the same model as this one which I will post if I find it. I think mine is a 165.009 whereas this one is a 14761 which look exactly the same to my newbie eye as I cant tell them apart unless I look at the reference number.
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The black paint must have also been used by the factory during production ( something similar to model paint)

I have always had an interest in the era of when radium when it was transitioned to tritium and how to differentiate the two when the "T" near "Swiss Made" had worn off or not printed at all.

Thank you and all those who have responded as this education is gold for me!!!

 

Not true. Omega does allow luminous hands on a non-luminous dial, but not the other way around.

 

Do you have an exemple please ? I ve never seen one I dont highly suspect is not original.