Are these really genuine NOS Omega cases?

I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and so resisting posting his ID. He has very polished and legitimate looking ads and website, and is very open about his history, who he is, and what he does. He sells many items that he claims are NOS that you don't see for sale elsewhere (not very often at least), but he sells LOTS of other parts as well that I don't doubt are legit.

Thanks for the PM @Lancaster.

Definitely some weirdness going on there - a mix of used parts, sealed new parts, open "nos" parts, and what to my eye are very clearly fake Omega and Rolex buckles and clasps.

I have a suspicion, from looking at some of the other "NOS" cases he has for sale, that they are not new at all, but refinished - funny angles, bevels not quite right, pushers out further than where they should be (from metal removed?).

My gut feel would be to make a hard pass on anything that the guy has for sale.

I think you've got a Schmitz case there. Here's a photo of my case:

I spotted this example sold having an HF case. Looks well worn so probably not a replacement case, and appears to have unpolished case bevels. Clicking on a photo allows you to scroll through 11 higher res photos. It lends credence to the case in question's possibility of validity.
https://watches83.com/en/vintage-om...-watch-ref-1760014-cal-1045-spectacular-.html

I understand the reasoning that this is an unlikely case to fake - I get it and agree. This was one of the points I actually argued in another discussion about a unique Bulova Marine Star chrono that was questioned in another thread, with one prolific poster yelling and deriding me claiming it was fake. Here's the thread if you care to read: https://omegaforums.net/threads/thoughts-on-bulova-one-star-marinestar-val-7740.88217/

In spite of the details of this HF case and what my watch makers opinion is (which I highly respect) I remain ambivalent about whether these are fake. If someone were to come forward and relate that they had their watch serviced by Omega and it came back with this case, or the seller, on his deathbed, admits "yeah, those were fakes I was selling. Sorry.", or someone is the original owner or has confirmed provenance of a watch with this case and it's still in unmolested condition we'll probably never know for sure. My photos may just show the difference in details and quality between 2 different cases Omega used for the 176.0014. At least a good reference.

I totally agree.

Oops, sorry. I'd agree but that was a typo. I meant unconclusively. Just changed the wording. He's pretty easy to find though. Search for the case on eBay and he's always there.

I guess since I'm not saying it's fake then it's no harm. Here's an interesting story about him from a gun site. Turns out he's a real gunslinger. It seems to be corroborated that his shop has been robbed several times. Apparently he doesn't like to carry a weapon on his person but instead has guns strategically placed around his shop. He's killed many potential robbers, with up to 3 or more attempting to rob him at one time. He's always survived though he's been shot many times, and killed several in defense. If you read further down in the comments there's one fellow who said the man is a close family friend, particularly of his uncle. Says his uncle had terminal dementia and asked for help liquidating his Rolex collection and was taken advantage of by this guy, giving him a tiny fraction of what they were worth. He does have good things to say about him as well. Said he was one of the most interesting men he's ever met. One experience he remembered of him was, and I quote: "End of the day ..he is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met and known.The circle of people he knew was vast that had their watches and stuff serviced by him. My favorite incident was he went ballistic on some reseller who supposively had some Rolex, Omega and other parts.Tu rns out the parts were fake possibly Chinese...Ahhh man he went ballistic on the guy delaying several customers having their Rolex repaired..". Here's the site: https://www.m4carbine.net/archive/index.php/t-212652.html

Read the posts by prdubi.

TV news segment about him and his encounters with thieves:

Your extract may say that, but you'd be hard pressed to find one stamped as 176.014. I've never seen a photo of one. Even those listed for sale or elsewhere as a 176.014 that have a photo of the inside of the case back will actually show 176.0014. If you look through Chuck Maddox's articles you'll find that he refers to it as a 176.0014, as well. But I agree that this case isn't a production of that time period.

Very interesting thread, thanks. I’m about to pull the trigger on a 176.0015 case, a Flightmaster bezel and a 176.012 bezel/ tachymetre from the same origin. I’ve previously bought 1162/172 bracelets from the same source and am convinced that these are legitimate. Not sure now what to do about the case as I don’t want an inferior case even if it’s legitimate.

After much research I believe they're legitimate. You can always have the beveled edges polished to look like an SF case (which I don't believe are available anymore even from Omega). I think some have had that done when having theirs refurbished. I actually prefer the large crown of these cases. If you're going to keep and wear it I think you'd be happy, and you're unlikely to find a better deal on a case. He also takes offers. One issue you may run into, though, with these cases is dried out gaskets, particularly any tiny pusher and crown seals. He told me they were made for Omega in 2003 and that there are some small faults when compared to the original cases, and that none of his were sealed in air tight packaging like cases straight from Omega. So the seals may have degraded some - something to consider when buying any old case.

The plan would be to use the case to rehouse the 1045 movement from my 176.012 and to use my existing crown and pushers (as opposed to the pushers that come with this case), dial, etc. Thanks for the heads up on the seals. The case I’m buying is circa €300 incl postage.

Omega, on certain historical models, if running out of stock, asks the suppliers to make a batch of service cases. Since the case blueprints are not describing every aspect of the case, there are some differences, when compared to genuine vintage cases.
I`m pretty sure, that both of the cases shown in first post are genuine Omega. And I agree, that from aspect of quality on the modern reproductions, there are some doubts...the machining in many examples is not as precise as on vintage cases.

Really fascinating thread! I'm keeping an eye on a few 176.0014 on offer in various places and this has really helped make me understand what else to look out for. Great stuff, thanks for this info.

Can i ask your advice you seem to know ur stuff. Any idea abf this strap if its orig