Foolishly i put them in the bin already or i would have done this - DOH!!!
That site is great, it mentions the hand dimensions as 1.50 x 0.80 x 0.18mm - Excuse my stupidity what measurements exactly are these?
They are 100s of millimeters or fractions there of. Often written without the zero like 150 080 018. The sizes can also be + or - the last digit which I think is hundredths of a mm. The largest is the hour hand, the smallest the seconds hand. I have the numbers 141 065 017 written on the paper beside me. I think this is what I am using for the 351 hands I need.
Ranfft is the go to place.
There is a Bergeon tool which can grade hands. This will often be shown in the listing for the high end hands. One can also make this tool themself using steady pins or broaches. The hand is slid on the pin. If a sharpie is use to mark the pin then a scratch can be made. All the hand of the same grade will align with the scratch. One can also read this with a micrometer. The better the quality of the watch the closer it will be in tolerance to the published number.
Several months back I bought the last Omega branded 671/681 oFrie had in the length I needed. It was like 40 bucks. There are a few others that are other lengths. There are also about 20 pages of hands on their site. I have been spending hours looking for things that are close for the 344 and the 351.
I also have 100s of hands. Which I have been sorting (while not posting here.) Debating If I want to take the time to grade them. Sometime in the last 18 or more years I must have spilled a container on the floor as even sweeping electronics parts, I would occasionally find a hand. I think I found where the container fell under my main work desk. The floor is tile grouted. The hands have fallen into the space between the grout and the tile. Brooms and vacuums seem to spread this around. One has to use a brush.
Binning hands should never be an option. One never knows what it goes to. Or even where it goes. I am missing some A11 hands. Which should be easy to identify. I still have the sweep. So I probably did bin them. Or put them in a small plastic bags as gifts to my friends as steampunk crack. Does make me wonder what I did give away? Never anything large.
I did find online some close leaf 8/0 hands which I can paint white. But will never be the same. I think I paid with all the meh eBay fees around 40 for the card of hands which works out to 10 bucks a pair. So If I did bin them, That was an expensive mistake. I am known to run vacuum dust through a filter to make sure nothing has been lost. Even when I have been lukewarm to my watches I check before binning things. Electronic parts can be just as small. The connectors often are plated with a few atoms of gold. Good thing I do not put much value of on gold, I have actually intentionally but atoms of it into the trash. Recyclables love that stuff. But it takes tons of rubbish to get a pinhead of gold and 10 times the cost in wasted chemicals.
Currently someone has a lot of Omega hands on the bay for the 330 base stuff. I should probably hold my nose and get the sweep hand if it is still there. They want 160 a pair! (although I have received BIN offers.) Such are probably the wrong length. A lot of the stuff on the bay is questionable. Caveat Emptor. I may re list some of the extra stuff I got myself. I bought one assortment which came with half a canon pinion and a used Planet ocean strap stripped of all hardware. It did however have a useful bezel and some incabloc springs. The 351 plate I got the balance from is worn out. I have no use for it. The rest of that watch is still listed on the bay. I suspect it is just as worn out. Still someone might need a balance bridge. Or what ever else I include with it as a boxed assortment. Probably why it took nearly 6 months for the box of Bulova material to sell.
I'd like to see some other close Serial number omega pair hand and dial shots. I am thinking that the dials are almost unique. How many collectors here have Identical watches with identical dials. (Speedys excepted) I am talking dress and fashion watches. What I call the bread and butter watches.
