This is a reluctant sale. The one-in-one-out rule becomes harder to follow. This watch has given me great pleasure... Up for grabs my dark chocolate slightly wabi-sabi 145.022-69 with DON bezel, bracelet, papers, 1501 Omega box and extract of the archives. I bought this from the family of the deceased first owner, in the country of delivery. The SN is 29119XXX which falls in the observed range for chocolate 69's. It was produced on 16 April 1970 (recently celebrated its 49th birthday). The chameleon brown dial with cappuccino lume is not flawless : there is a small mark in the running seconds register (more on that further down). The bezel I would rate 4/5 even with the one or two tiny chips, and would happily keep it and put on a slightly ‘ghost’ one in similar condition to bring down the price. But the bezel is original to the watch, and it’s condition matches the case, which is unpolished with all factory finishes present, very sharp edges, and in my opinion in excellent vintage condition. The deep black bezel makes the brown pop in all light conditions. This watch has seen use in its life. But it is far from retirement. Time and chronograph functionality works smoothly...it was fully serviced last year. Lets walk through the warts-n-all pictures (as usual, clicking images links to super high resolution versions), starting with the case. The case. The case is in superb original condition. Crown and pushers original and correct. All factory finishes clearly visible, and all facets and edges are super sharp. Minimal scratches all round. Noticing the crystal from these angles, its clear to see it could use another polish, but it does not bother me. The caseback is unpolished, but has some scratches commensurate with age and use. The hippocampus is clearly defined and fully present.. I will leave the caseback sticker on (that I installed) ... it did have the magic red stripe, but that wore off (this one received considerable wrist time). Please excuse the lint and fingerprints. The Dial (and bezel). The bezel is in good condition, and a deep black. It has zero scratches, and would be excellent if it were not for a few chips (at 500, being the biggest, and a tiny one between 70 and 65, as well as between 80 and 85. These do no catch my eye on the wrist, and as mentioned, I would be willing to negotiate a slight price reduction with a different bezel should that be desired. The dial has an even chocolate brown, that changes with the light. I took these pictures with the sun at its zenith, so whitest light possible. Naturally the warmer the light, the more beautiful the effect...its a chameleon dial, as it’s constantly changing ... a really neat effect. These pics are about as dark as the chocolate appears. It has some lightening along the step. Lume appears original, as is the crystal, which has the MWO 'A2' short feet symbol in the center, correct for this period. This is the only flaw that I can find on the dial (if we exclude 'tropicalization' as being a flaw), and even then, only through a loupe. It is not noticeable on the wrist. The bracelet. The bracelet (marked 2/70) is in fair condition (and I have worse). I believe this watch was worn its entire life with the bracelet : when I received it, it still had the original single-lever spring-bars (that, once rotated inside the end-link, make it impossible to get to the lever!), and one of them was fused to the lug-holes (the one inside of the wrist - hence all attempts to rotate it were in vain), thus I could not remove it. My watchmaker cut it (the spring-bar) at service, and then sent the watch as is to a jeweler to very carefully remove the fused halves from the case, without damaging it. She did a fine job, as there is no trace of her work. At some point (prior to my custodianship) the watch went for a service, and as a result of this fused spring-bar (combined with a bad choice of watchmaker to save a few coins), the watchmaker could not remove the bracelet ... there is evidence of him prying open the last center-link (wrist side, so 'left in the 2 picture's below). Bracelet at full length is a good 15.5cm long...great for all wrist sizes. The papers. Least significant digits of SN have been removed from all photos. According to what I was told, the original owner bought it for himself shortly before selling up and moving to the US ... a nice Christmas gift to himself it seems. He did return to his native country upon retirement. If you look on Google Earth at the address, there is a still a 'Ernst Jeweler' that sells watches in that street, but at number 49. This booklet was printed in June 1970 ... ...and the watch was produced in April 1970, and delivered to Vienna, Austria, which is where I picked it up. This all fits in very well from the discussion that I had with the family. Would happily share what I know to any interested parties via PM. The movement (cal.861). Freshly serviced by a top watchmaker (within the last year) and in great condition. It has a 1 year guarantee (from the time of service, I think, need to double-check with my Swiss watchmaker). What have I done (full disclosure). As mentioned previously, 1) Movement service and 2) Surgical-like removal of a fused vintage spring-bar The original chronograph hand (and I am going to speculatively blame the same bad watchmaker here) had lost lume, and some paint on the tip and near the stem...after a while it just really bothered me aesthetically. I thus ... 3) Sourced and installed a matching vintage tritium hand... ...which can be seen in all of the above pictures. All other hands are original. Here is the original chronograph hand, which is included in the sale. And here is the full set. And some excess pics... I am a private collector and not a dealer. This watch comes from my humble collection, which like most of you, is a result of a hobby that takes up far more time (and hard earned money!) than I would like to admit. I am selling to refocus. Terms and conditions. 11000 CHF | 11000 USD | 9650 EURO | 8350 GBP wired directly to my Transferwise account for the full set. More currencies are available upon request. The watch and I are in Switzerland, and so F2F could happen here. I could arrange to meet at a border location (e.g. Germany...to be discussed). I will accept a wire directly to my Swiss bank account too, however that will be in CHF, and will thus cost you conversion and transfer fees. Paypal F&F will be accepted, in CHF as specified. I use Transferwise as it saves you on these fees, and is a local transaction for us both. Returns are accepted only if grossly misrepresented. You will get what you see in these pictures which are of a decent quality and high resolution, so I don't believe there is any chance of misrepresentation. I will include shipping (plus insurance) to wherever you are in the world. EU postage can be arranged. References. https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-excellent-seller.93305/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-brilliant-seller.92969/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-highly-recommended.91873/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-is-a-great-seller.90265/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-is-a-great-seller.89938/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-is-an-amazing-seller.89436/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-perfect-seller.78224/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-is-a-great-seller.77308/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/eugeneandresson-great-seller.74266/ I have 100% positive reviews (upon request) on other platforms too. All criticisms about the watch are welcome. Thanks ΩF for this space --------------------------------------------------------------- PS: some wrist shots with the original chrono hand ...
Considering the sub-forum this is in, I am not sure whether to take that as a compliment, or an insult ... but today I feel relativistic, so and Got a few solid offers (and some lowballers ) ... but...but...BUMP.
Thanks, and fully agree Larry...a great piece at a very fair price. And to quote the first line of the message from the top-notch collector who becomes the next custodian : "Cant believe no-one has bought it already". To all the fellow members whose posts I pushed down due to this 'bump' ... apologies! However, even though I would prefer not to bump a no-longer-FS-listing the discussion continued, and rules are rules and I have not broken them
