Hi all,

Ever since seeing the articles on the watches of "Mad Men", I have been chasing the three men's watches mentioned in the article (namely the Omega Seamaster DeVille, the Tudor Oyster Prince with the Tuxedo dial, and the Hamilton "Sputnik"). If you're not sure what I am talking about, see here:

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/2012/5...s-of-mad-men-season-five-courtesy-of-the.html

Having sourced originals of the last two watches, I found it difficult to find an original of Don Draper's black dialled DeVille - most available black-dialled DeVilles in online auctions are re-dials, and they seem to go for around the $900+ mark, usually with some crazy bidding - I mean in some cases 50+ bids for a stated re-dial (maybe everyone else out there had the same desire as I did...). In my searching I have not yet seen an original black dial DeVille with a cross-hair dial - I assume they existed but I guess they are even rarer. Interestingly the watch used in the TV series was also a re-dial...

Anyways, I managed to pick this one up for considerably cheaper than the above numbers, which I think has an original black dial (and a similar configuration to the "Mad Men" watch, save the cross-hair dial).







Apologies for the poor photography...! The dial is in reasonably good condition, but there is some degradation of the finish around the centre of the dial and on the Tritium on the hands, and the odd area right near the edge of the dial where some of the finish is missing (though it isn't too noticeable). The writing is in silver (as opposed to the white used in many of the re-dials I see) and very nicely matches the hour markers. The movement is a cal 565 and the serial number dates it to around 1967 (pics of the movement are from the seller as I don't have the tools to open the case). I think the crown is original also. The glass is a bit scratched up - I am not sure if it is original (not sure if the original crystals came with the date window?) The watch works but needs a good service and a hand and date re-alignment, but it otherwise has kept good time.

Just thought I would share as I am happy to have the whole "set" now (though the other two are off getting serviced at the moment also...).

Cheers!

BC

 

Thanks guys - yep this one is stainless steel, no gold cap, so the silver writing is correct. On closer inspection I can see the Omega logo on the crystal.

Cheers,

BC