Hello All,


Newbie pulling his hair out trying to find an affordable 2nd hand/vintage (quartz) watch on eBay, just to dip my toe in the big boy arena.

After looking at quite a few watches online, I've started to notice quite a few ETA signs on the quartz movements, and my questions is, is this normal or is it a good "fake"/standard ETA movement with Omega printed on it...? I understand Omega uses "own branded" ETA movements, but wasn't sure if they ever kept their branding on it.

Specifically, I looked at the watch below which I reckon is a decent replica, but wanted to see if I was right or not. I

I think it's a replica because
1) the inside of the case back has printed writing and not engraved
2) the bottom left of the movement has a big ol' ETA stamp on it (although at least it's a proper ETA movement from the schematics I've had a look at)

Hoping that I've actually learnt something and can spot an original against a semi-good replica, but open to learning.

(vintage omega link for reference https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-omega-de-ville-classic-7420 )

Thanks!


Justin

 

it's genuine.

 

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I mean you're way more experienced than me, but what makes you say that?

 

Since Omega became part of the Swatch group, Omega quartz movements have the Eta calibre stamped onto the pillar plate, and the Omega calibre printed on the circuit board. Earlier Omega quartz movements were Omega calibers without the Eta stamp. Earlier Omega tuning fork (F300) movements had the ESA calibre stamped on them.

 

Oh fair enough, learnt something new today then

What about the printed inside of the case back? Surely that's a bit strange?

Also, where do you learn this stuff??

 

This was true for a while, but no longer...


The equivalent ETA caliber number is not stamped on the most recent movements anywhere. The Omega symbol and caliber number are on the main plate, and the cover over the coil area as seen above, not on the circuit.

Cheers, Al

 

No, the markings on the inside of the case are completely normal. They are laser engraved, not printed.

You learn this stuff from years of experience and being exposed to the wide variety of things that Omega has done over the decades.

Cheers, Al

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your thoughts - in that case I'm pretty darn tempted. I saw a similar picture of the movement you posted which made me suspicious at first, but appears the watch/movement I'm interested in is what it is I suppose.

I'll have a think and decide sometime soon. It's been pretty fun trawling through and learning about watches in general.

Maybe a watch dealer will let me open up all their watches for an afternoon to learn...I'm sure that'll go down like a treat.

Thanks,


Justin

 

Since you mention recent 1538 movements, are these replacement movements or do they still produce Cal.1538 watches ? That's one cool movement, especially when it's been souped up with a Longines circuit to make it HAQ accurate ;-)

I remember that they had dumbed down the beautiful Aqua Terra for the V2 Quartz version in 2013 with a non hour hacking movement (and painted indices instead of applied). Not to mention the disappearance of the Double Eagle HAQ Quartz version...

 

Not sure if Omega is still producing quartz...you would have to check the Omega web site for that.

 

So what you showed was a replacement movement, what watch was it for ?

 

Not sure where you get that idea. The movement was, as far as I know the original in the watch...25418000...

 

Probably because you wrote "most recent". Caliber 1538 has been around for 25 years so there's really nothing recent about it in itself and there have been many quartz movements since.

 

Still not sure how you got that it was a replacement movement from that...

But anyway, yes the 1538 has been around for a while, but just like mechanical movements, quartz movements are updated as time goes by. The last version of the 1538 is the 4th iteration...Version D. The last updates to this caliber were in 2008.