Im told his was my great grandfathers watch. He died in 1976 and he was a home builder in Northern California. He and his his company built homes and businesses all over the Northern California coast back in the 30s-50s and I’m told he was a very wealthy and fancy kind of guy. He bought a new Cadillac every year and refused to own a truck. He hauled lumber in his Cadillac . I did a bit of searching on google but I can’t find any pictures of a de ville with the diamonds on the face and no date dial. Was this original or did he have it customized? as you can see it’s in pretty rough shape. I’d love to wear it sometimes but it needs to be cleaned up. The glass is really scratched up and the band looks like crap. It still works though which is impressive. Is this something that would be safe to get refurbished or would that be a bad idea? I have absolutely zero intention to ever sell it but I’d hate to clean it up and find out that it was a bad idea. Are there even people out there that could/would replace the glass and “refurbish” it? If so could someone please point me in a direction. Also I see that the de Ville line was started in 1960 so either he bought this in retirement or it may have been my grandfathers……but all my older family members insist it was great grandpas.
The watch is from the 60's, so thats about the only time he could have bought it if bought new Probably customized with the diamond indexes Looks like either gold filled bezel and lugs with s/s main case or 14kt gold bezel and lugs Not a problem getting it clean. New crystal and leather strap. Best to post your location and maybe someone could recommend a watchmaker near you DON
O yeah I forgot to put my location. I’m in north idaho so I assume I’ll be shipping it to someone…..this is definitely not “nice watch” territory up here. Hahaha!
With that ‘S’ in Seamaster it’s from around ‘63 onwards. Those diamond markers were available from the factory I believe as there are multiple examples if you search Google.