As some of you may know, I have been trying to find a nice Centenary 2500 for several months now. With little success, I may add, every time I locate a decent example it just seems to slip through my fingers . . . I'm sure you know the feeling I'm still hoping to find my personal grail, but I must admit my patience is wearing thin.

It's not helped by there being only 4,000 pieces in the original 2500 production run, so these are perhaps not rare, but certainly scarce. Anyhow, to help me determine the authenticity of a particular example I have passed the time by constructing a little table of Centenary 2500 serial numbers. I don't know, somebody may already have done this to greater effect than me, if so please tell me (and even better give me a link to it). I was helped in this endeavour by the fact that Omega were still using case serial numbers in 1948, so each watch has a case number and a movement number. My sample is very small, just 17 (out of 4,000!) but I got these quite quickly by searching just this forum and past eBay listings. Several of you will find your own Centenary here, but I have not identified names for obvious reasons, just the last known country of origin (well, I did identify the King of Denmark, but I don't suppose he will mind as he is dead).

What I found quite quickly is that there was no batch of case numbers allocated specifically to the 2500, although all the cases I have seen so far were made by the same maker (key symbol with the number 4 in it). Equally, there was no specific batch of movement numbers assigned to the 30.10 JUB, they are spread over a much wider range than 4,000. This surprised me slightly, as for example Zeiss allocated specific number blocks to batches of lenses which were all the same (another interest of mine). However, I found that if I sorted my table on the first column, Case Number, I did get what seems to be a chronological sequence in time. The very early movement numbers, 10,6xx,xxx, do group together with the 10,724,xxx case numbers. And the later case numbers in the 10,78x,xxx series (with one exception) are the ones which have the "2500" case reference engraved inside the back.

Now I know that all this is rather nerdy stuff and of very limited interest, but it can help to check if a 2500 listed for sale has numbers in the correct range - so a 106 movement should not be in a 1078 case, for example. What would be nice is to add other examples to my table - only JUB at this stage, not cal 333 - so if you have one in your collection which is not yet included I invite you to post the numbers here. Your ID will not be revealed in the table, but country of origin would be useful. This is just a work in progress, but it could turn out to be quite interesting . . . all comments welcomed!

 

Love it! Nice work.

 

Rose Gold case, with Yellow Gold dial, Rose Gold Markers.
Bought from Uruguay.
Case 10806968
Movement 10829252

 

Nice work you're doing there. You'll find yours. Finally got mine after 2 years search but it's still with the postal service. And it's interesting it's one of the 17 you have as it was from a fellow collector.

 

Both of mine - current and previous - were 10,7xx,xxx serial numbers on the case. Only one was marked 2500 inside the case.

I'll PM you the current specimen's numbers. You have my old one listed as "USA" but it's currently in Australia.

 

As this is on my Bucket/Grail list, good job!
With 4000 specimens, I would think we could all get a nice one.

 

Thanks for your interest and comments. Pitpro's example is superb, and also the latest in the JUB sequence so far. When I have enough additional numbers to make it worth while, I will re-post the updated table.

 

Tell you what I really need now, are some serial numbers for examples which have the "Centenary" engraving on the back.

 

Thank you, Evan. We are now up to 21 JUBs. I shall PM a couple of members who I know are sitting on these and demand their serial numbers

 

Here's one in Portugal that may be in it's original configuration.
Unfortunately, only one number its listed. Maybe contact the seller and ask
for the numbers though. Sweet!
http://www.chrono24.com/en/omega/centenary--id2404273.htm?id=2404273&picnum=0&tab=pics


and another here:
http://www.chrono24.com/en/omega/vi...a--id2767955.htm?id=2767955&picnum=0&tab=pics

 

It even shows a certificate which is probably the sequential number of the watch in the limited
edition series! No. 1569
It also has some extra stamps or hallmarks on the caseback. Isn't Portugal the country that required
the "hole" to be put on the lug also? I think it was @achim who told us about this? Maybe
that has something to do with the extra stamps?
http://www.chrono24.com/en/omega/centenary--id2404273.htm?id=2404273&picnum=0&tab=pics

 

Thanks for your detective work, Pitpro. The extra stamps are hallmarks, because in Portugal each separate piece of the case had to be hallmarked on the outside, I believe. The four-figure number on the rating certificate is indeed the sequential number of the limited edition. Very few Centenary watches still have this paperwork, sadly.

 

Ha, my X-ray vision was able to see through the parcel on its way to you in the Far East, Gavin. We expect an update from you, soon

 

If you want to expand this to cal 333, mine is 12159540, case 11016150, marked 2500.

 

Well, I may indeed have to expand my study to the second series 2500 with the cal 333 (with the mythical RG regulator). So far there are only two examples, though, so we'd have to improve on that

Just to keep you going, here is the updated table for the 2500 JUB -


You can see that the new entries are still fitting nicely into what must surely be a chronological sequence, with the "2500" case engravings all stacking up at the end. And Pitpro's example at the very end starts a new sequence of 10,8xx,xxx numbers, which I had not anticipated. What it seems to imply is that the movements are also chronological, but only as batches - so the 10,6xx batch are fitted altogether (but not in numerical order) then the 10,7xx batch (again, not in numerical order) and then presumably a 10,8xx batch. But we don't find 6s, 7s, or 8s mixed up together.

It would be nice to find earlier or later examples, just to confirm things.

 

Nice reference for Centenary ........... disimpan

 

John
Here is something you may want to add to your study.
You may not get many entries for it though.
Here is a watch I had on my hard drive.
These Chronometere Certificates were only
used for the Centenary( They say Centenary right on the Cert.)
So there is a No. xxxx on them which doesn't correspond with
the case number or movement serial. Can we assume that it's
the Limited Edition number sequence of the 4000?
Movement number 10759774
Chronometer Paper No. 2034

 

Here is the one I referenced earlier in the thread.
Unfortunately, we only know the movement number.
Maybe you could email the seller and ask for the case number
if you mentioned it was for your study and offer to email him the
result.
Movement number 10759949
Chronometer Paper No.1569

 

Also the Canadian watch case number ends in 65 not 66.
Take a look at it once more. A small thing but.....
it's for posterity.