Hi all

I’ve been offered this lovely Omega Constellation 14382 from a fellow member here. (Actually I’ve been trying to convince him to sell it to me for about 6 months)

The example looks wonderful to me. The hands, crown and case seems to be in good condition. Only thing that I am unsure about is the text on the dial. The printing looks original but what puzzles me is the ‘officially certified’ text.

All examples except one I could find all only have ‘Automatic Chronometer’ on the dial. And also Desmond writes on his blog about the 14382:

“As with other earlier mid-500 series models, the upper case “officially Certified” script is not present, the reasons for this being lost in time.”

I know that there are very few ‘always’ and ‘never’ with Omega, but I would like to hear if anyone else have seen other examples of the 14382 with the ‘Officially certified’ text on the dial.

Here is a link to the other example I found:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-omega-constellation.65394/

Any thoughts, advice or theories would be much appreciated.

 

I'm not really familiar with this model but is it normal that the numerals are so far away from the pie pan edge (especially the hour numerals? It seems strange. The officially certified seems strange as well. But I'm sure more knowledgeable members will chime in.

 

Being the seller I'm courious too - to me it's ok, but I'm no expert, so calling @mondodec - @hoipolloi - @MSNWatch

 

Maybe this is an early model 14832 with a transitional dial carried over from the 2853? The 2853 has the ‘officially certified’ print and can share the same straight sided M in chronometer.

 

It could be. It seems like it might be one of the early 14382. @Pahawi can you share the serial, as it’s hard to see from the photo?
Is it 1700xxxx?

 

Styggpyggeno1 and Cristo71 had ones like that .

 

Serial 17001xxx, which makes it one of "The Second Milestone" watches:



From Desmonds great site: http://omega-constellation-collecto...06/as-ryan-rooney-noted-here-in-his-blog.html

 

Interesting. I guess that would make it a legitimate anomaly.

Thing is, I actually discussed it already with @cristos71 and he didn’t mention having owned one with ‘officially certified’. Did you forget about it Chris

@styggpyggeno1 if you have a similar 14382 with ‘Officially certified’ it would be very interesting to see the serial on that one. Maybe there are some transitional dials as @Noddyman suggests.

 

Fantastic watch, pristine dial and sharp case.

 

No I didn't forget about it, although I have had quite a few 14381's of one kind or the other I've never had a 14382 Deluxe.
I think maybe @hoipolloi is confused with the RG piepan 14381 I had?

 

Just found this ebay listing from 2019. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/OMEGA-CONST...NUINE-WATCH-DELUXE-DIAL-14381-2-/153370903427Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

Also a 14382 with 'officially certified' in the 1700xxxx range.

Guess the theory might stick about some early 14381/2s having the 'officially certified' on the dial.

 

Yes, that was the one I was talking about.

 

I shouldn't have sold that one

 

So as far as I can tell the 14381 came both with 'Officially certified' and without. As far as I can tell this isn't related to the serial. So wondering what the logic is for that

 

looks to me that so far we have only seen pie pan arrowhead dials with the full text.
So it simply could have been these were supplied to Omega by one manufacturer - hence the inconsistency with other 14381/14393 ‘missing text’ dials?
(Also reinforced by the ‘combination’ Ms - although IIRC these do also appear on missing text rail track dials for these references)

 

Or simply ordered at a different time with a different specification?

 

It seems like the pie pan arrowhead dials also came without 'Officially certified'. A couple have been sold here:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/1959-constellation-pie-pan-deluxe-18k-gold-lowered-price.45084/


https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-constellation-deluxe-rose-gold-14381-2-big-reduction.78543/

 

It could well be -but I'm not sure even Omega were that contrary
They must have had some kind of plan about using the missing text dials - but then again, no-one knows why they did that in the first place.....

Good call
(having the serial numbers for those examples might help with sequencing)

In which case I'm sticking with my (totally presumptive and non-evidence based) premise that it was simply a supplier thing.

If Omega had suppliers providing dials for 2852s at the time they may have asked them to provide dials for these 'later' references.
It would be interesting to know if there was any size difference in the dials (i.e. if they were easily interchangeable)

 

The serials are in the adds.

First one is 17014xxx and second one is 17961xxx. So both later than the 1700xxxx we've seen in the OP and the ebay example, with the 'Officially certified'

Yes. I don't know if the 2852 and 14831 have interchangable dials.

 

Well, the first one is contemporaneous with the OP watch, the others significantly later.
However, we know that movt serials numbers weren't always used sequentially or immediately - and the 'watch-age' can vary by many months or even years in some cases.
Which brings us back to @ConElPueblo 's point about the dials potentially being ordered at a different time (and to a different specification)

Just another one of those little quirks which makes collecting Constellations (and Omegas generally) all the more interesting.