Can anyone identify this watch?

Hello all,

I inherited this watch from my father, and I'd be interested to find information about it. My father wore it in the 70s and 80s before he bought himself a gold Omega (much to my mother's horror - it was the only thing he ever bought for himself that I can remember).

I've tried looking online and the only watches that look similar are WW2 military ones but the hands are different? Its possible its from the military as my grandfather was in the RAF during the war and he did have a "Tuna Can" Longines watch that someone gave him. A valuable but incredibly ugly watch!

I'm not worried what era its from, or how much its worth. It works perfectly and I wear it all the time.

Many thanks in advance.

David

Many thanks for the reply and the link. It looks like one of the watches from just after the war? Were they made in the 'style' of the military watches? When it says 30T2 ref 2391 or similar can you explain what that means?

Apologies for asking so many questions, if its from the 40s it was probably my grandfather's before it belonged to my father, which makes it more special to me.

Pictures of back and sides below.

Thank you for that explanation. Did the same model have different movements?

The picture it looks most like is from a watch dated 1948. I presume I would have to get a jeweller to open it and get the serial number to find out more?

Looks like one of the immediate post-war Omegas, roughly late 1940s (give or take a few years). Omega used a very similar aesthetic to their wartime pieces: simple Arabic numerals, clear minute track, no frills. That “military style” was popular, so they carried it over into civilian watches as well. So it looks like the WW2 Omegas, but it’s a civilian watch, not an issued military one.

30T2 - this is the movement calibre: the “engine” inside the watch. Omega had a famous 30 mm hand-wound movement family; 30T2 is one of the main versions. Because yours has a central seconds hand, the exact calibre is likely a 30T2 SC (“seconde centrale”) or one of its later renumbered equivalents, but people usually just say “30T2”.

Ref. 2391 - this is the case (model) reference. It’s the number Omega used for this particular case shape and size that they put the 30T2 movement into. Different references can share the same movement but have different cases/dials.

Yes - Omega often kept the same case reference but used slightly different movements over the years, usually from the same 30 mm family. So a ref. 2391 might be found with a 30T2, 30T2 SC or one of the later renumbered versions (28x, 26x, etc.). They’re all closely related, just small evolutions or centre-seconds variants

Yep exactly. The only way to date it properly is to open the case and find out the movement calibre and serial number on the movement, and the case reference stamped inside the case back.

You can then look the serial up in Omega serial-number tables, which will give you a production year (usually accurate to within a year or so). PS: I’d have a watchmaker open it rather than a generic jeweller, just to avoid scratching the case or damaging the gasket + while it’s open you can ask them to take a quick photo of the movement and inside of the case back for your records.

Many thanks for that. Its brilliant to be able to find things like this. I will let my sisters know as they are both interested. I know of one watchmaker in Brisbane, so I'll find out about having a look inside.

Your watch also shows a striking resemblance to the Ref 2324 watch in this thread: