Mom & Dad recently had to go into a senior's residence. Memory issues, the difficulties of keeping up a house with stairs between every second room, problems walking and finally a fall has made life on their own unrealistic. Okay, they can afford it, chin up, off we go... Dad, 93, is already in and likes it, Mom, 85, will follow as soon as the hospital lets her out (cracked pelvis). This has left me to close down and sell their house, dispose of a lot of "stuff" and basically help them through this.

Its a bit weird culling through the life of the family, small objects bring a flood of memories back every time I open box or a drawer and then this.... Mom bought Dad a nice watch soon after they were married, yes, as a locomotive engineer he had a 992B Hamilton, but she wanted him to have something nice to wear "off the engines". It was purchased about 2 years after they were married, once they'd established themselves in this world and had a little income to dispose of, it was her first really nice gift to him.





Now the fun part... I took it to my watch maker. Knowing nothing of what was inside except it being a manual wind of about 30mm I assumed a 260 or 280 series caliber (got that right) but was afraid it might be nothing but a wrecked ball of rust once opened. This is, after all, the watch Dad soldered a blob of metal onto the winding stem of after the crown broke off.... wore it like that for several years before it got a routine service and the crown replaced! I can't imagine soldering heat is good for any fine mechanism like this (800F!)

So we opened her up and... its lovely! AND... Then Ingo the watchmaker says, "it might actual run if this broken case screw weren't sitting in the works". As he lifted the screw out carefully the little bugger started right up...





So he's giving it the full spa treatment and its returning to service!

Its an Omega Century, 266 caliber, from 1954 or 55. It hasn't run in about a decade, which was the last time I saw it. This is the watch that I remember as a wee sprog sitting by my Dad and this watch is the reason I collect Omegas.

I can't wait to show it to Dad!

 

Fantastic! What a bittersweet story, thanks for sharing.
You’ve done something quite fantastic for your folks there, I’m sure it will conjure some really great memories of the early years of their marriage.

All the best

Nathan

 

What a treasure you got there. Thanks for the back story & sharing

 

Thanks for the story, love your watch. Mine's another version with a cal 283




My Mom's 91 and memory care facilities are very fast approaching, the last few months I've seen a steady decline.

Our running joke for just about any conversation now ends with "don't break a hip!"

 

My best to you and your parents, as @Nathan1967 says bittersweet, they are certainly a wonderful couple.

 

Been there, done all that. God bless your entire family.
Truer words were never spoken: "Don't break a hip"

 

This rings very true for how I got into watches as well.

All the best for you and your family.

And, I saw one of these in person today, it looked great!

 

Awesome story -- thanks for sharing!

 

That's fantastic, thanks for sharing. I plan on letting my son have my Rolex in a few years, perhaps when he graduates. Ultimately, memories are all we will hold dear and this is one way of doing that. Hope your dad is pleased.

 

A very nice story — and photos, indeed. Thanks for sharing this.

 

A beauty, I wish my Dad's DeVille was in as good condition. Still runs though.