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  1. pmontoyap Jul 18, 2012

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    Hello. I'd been away for the last couple of weeks, know back home and back with the watches ::jumpy:: I found this Omega while surfing in the web, I would like to know your thoughts on originality and rarity. I really like the stepped dial in very nice condition and 18k pink gold case and markers. The seller is asking $3000 usd but I suppose I could negotiate it down.

    Cheers!

    Constellation 18k RG SP.jpg

    Constellation 18k RG SP back.jpg
     
  2. ulackfocus Jul 18, 2012

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  3. mondodec Editor Constellation Collectors Blog Jul 18, 2012

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    Dial looks original (although I would like to see a closeup just to be sure of the upper case lettering) and case looks quite sharp. The chamfer on the bezel looks really clean and the lugs are not too rounded either. Needs a new case gasket and the rotor is gouged, possibly indicating replacement. Crown is incorrect as the 'standard' was a 2mm pipe size decagonal crown. Mike's question about the outer caseback is a good one - you need to inspect to ascertain the level of wear to the medallion.

    Trenched minute index dials are not as common as domed or pie pan dials and only appeared on the 14381 and 14393. There are plenty of them about and so one couldn't say they were rare, rather a less common and really attractive alternative to the mainstream offerings. Pink gold, of course, is less common than yellow gold, and so the watch is narrowing in numbers.

    Dealer catalogues of the time featured these dials, along with black dials, from which retailers made their stock choices. Both were perhaps a little edgier than the popular pie pan and more conservative domed dials and were stocked in far fewer numbers, thus production runs mirrored demand. I've read in a number of forums the observation that these types of dials were special order, and I guess in the very broadest of senses they were. But, they were catalogue dials and were ordered, just like pie pans and domed dials were ordered, on the basis of what respective watch retailers knew or predicted would sell.

    Inventory control was the preserve of national distributors, as in Norman Morris for the US or H H Halls in Australia, or Omega UK, etc., and decisions on stock numbers were made at that level and then conveyed in the form of orders to Omega. In the strictest sense, few special orders, beyond that of corporate (often manufactured in-country) or commemorative dials and of course the cloisonne dials that could be made up with family coats of arms or designs, together with some platinum and diamond dialled models, ever reached the factory. A good example of the system in the 60's is the 168.023 that we all know and love. In my research on this limited edition model, Omega announced to its network that a quantity of not more than a 1000 would be available on the basis of allocations per country. National distributors and in-country Omega agencies put the word out to their dealer networks and took orders. This pretty well happens the same way today.

    In respect to price, yes I think you could well push it downward.

    Regards

    Desmond
     
    GregH likes this.
  4. pmontoyap Jul 18, 2012

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    Thanks for the link, nice thread. Its good to know these had limited production or even custom ordered, the one on the ebay auction there seems to have gone for a very nice price, for being a gold top an with such a nice dial.

    Here are the rest of the pics available.

    back connie 18k.jpg connie 4.jpg connie side.jpg connie big.jpg

    Thanks for your reply Mondodec, I've attached a pic if the case back as well as a closer look of the dial. The case back seems to have a grained finish inside the medallion, I would think that's the original factory finish? Everything looks pretty good to my untrained eye. I will offer $2200 and see what happens, he has been offering it for a couple of weeks already with no apparent interest from anyone.
     
  5. mondodec Editor Constellation Collectors Blog Jul 19, 2012

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    Yep, the dial looks original to me.

    Good luck in your haggling.

    Cheers
    D
     
  6. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Jul 19, 2012

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    What's the accepted correct term for these dials again?
     
  7. mondodec Editor Constellation Collectors Blog Jul 19, 2012

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    Anyone's guess really. For at least a decade and a half I've heard them described as trenched minute index dials, referring to the recess in which the chapter ring is placed. But, I note recently the nomenclature of railway dials has been used. Although, railway dials were, again more than a decade ago, almost exclusively used to refer to the twin track dials in Omega Centenary and other models which sported the 'railway track' index.

    I know in one of his publications, Saga, Marco Richon described these type of dials as " fosse a l'index" which, according to my increasingly corroded understanding of French translates roughly as a pit with indices, hence trench I suppose.

    Cheers

    Desmond


     
  8. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Jul 19, 2012

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    We can do better than that I think, trench is a horridly unsexy name for a dial design that looks that nice. How about since its like a trench that encircles the center of the dial...

    Why don't we call it a "Moat dial"

    As in the minute track appears like a moat that encircles the center of the dial (like a moat encircling a castle).

    Caerlaverock_Castle_from_the_air.jpg
     
  9. mondodec Editor Constellation Collectors Blog Jul 19, 2012

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    LOL!

    Well, we could call it a moat dial when some gormless neophyte goes swimming with it!

    Perhaps a moat with 60 locks? :)

    Chiz

    Desmond
     
  10. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Jul 19, 2012

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    Yea that works for me, I've been hanging out for the opportunity to name a dial for a while now, so I'm just going to see if it sticks :p

    Steve P managed to turn the vaguely "cigarette" dial into the "Wide-Boy" dial with VRF, I'm going to see if I can get away with this one

    http://omegaforums.net/posts/10977/
     
  11. pmontoyap Aug 22, 2012

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    I think this was a very nice moat dial example for the price, especially in that rare black color...you now when you watch a listing only to see it again after it ended and say to yourself "where was I that day, why didn´t I bid", well that just happened.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&orig_cvip=true&rt=ncPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
     
  12. MSNWatch Vintage Omega Aficionado Staff Member Aug 22, 2012

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    Many, many more of these "regrets" to come. That black dial watch was cheap but while rare, condition was below average so no problem for me to pass on it.
     
  13. ulackfocus Aug 22, 2012

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    Since it's recessed and railway, how about calling it a subway dial?
     
  14. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Aug 22, 2012

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    Because a subway dial is what you do when you're hungry and too lazy to pick up your sandwich in person
     
  15. ulackfocus Aug 22, 2012

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    How did I know somebody would make a sandwich joke? :rolleyes: Thanks Jared!
     
  16. cicindela Steve @ ΩF Staff Member Aug 22, 2012

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    Are you suggesting that Ash is starting to look a little porky ? :eek: