Do I need a new crown?

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone could help me figure out whether my crown is salvageable. It is a vintage gold omega from my grandma, can’t tell the number and I’m afraid of opening it up. One day the crown came off, I believe probably charging it. I tried assembling back when it first broke but I didn’t know where to put the parts. Eventually the ring flew off while I was trying to assemble it once more and is now forever gone.
What was the ring and was it part of the crown together with the spring (meaning the crown just divided in three?) Or was the ring perhaps attached to the watch part? Did the crown snap from the stem? I can screw it in without the spring and rotate it to charge it but it will easily unscrew eventually, it is not secured. I also don’t hear any ticking even if it’s “charged”.

Hmm not necessarily depends on if the crown or stem has thread damage and have been pulled off or the old thread lock glue had gone brittle over the years and it's just unwound it's self. If that's just the case you can get this repaired very easily by getting some glue and winding it back on tight

Thank you for your input. I do hope it’s an easy fix.
I wonder if it has a deeper movement issue. I can pull the crown out to set the time, however, after winding it, there’s no ticking and the hands therefore don’t move.

That DEFINITELY sounds like it is in need of a service. That can be so many things (not ticking AT ALL usually means one of the two springs is no longer working), all of which require professional attention.

I tried winding it again, and now the watch seems to be ticking. However, the crown never reaches a hard stop when winding. I can only set the time by turning the crown clockwise, which moves the hands counterclockwise. If I turn the crown counterclockwise—whether it's pushed in or pulled out—it eventually unscrews.

It sounds at least like the threads of the crown aren't damaged! So that is good news. The 'not hitting a hard stop' wouldn't be a problem if that is an automatic, though I don't believe something like that WOULD be an automatic. So that probably means 'broken mainspring', but at least 'far enough' from the center that you can get SOME wind into it, and enough friction that it holds some wind.

Based on appearance, it goes 'silver ring', 'spring', then crown. My intuition is that the 'cup' side goes towards the watch, with the intent that it has a gasket inside of it to seal against the case, then the crown seal goes against the outside of that (and the wear pattern looks like that to me).

Definitely sounds like it NEEDS a service. Whether it is worth it to you is obviously up to you, probably looking at ~$600 minimum to do so, for a watch that is likely worth its 'melt' value + a little you might get for the movement-as-spare-parts.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all of your comments. I am certainly going to take it to a watchmaker, but it won't be until this summer so I thought I would at least try and get an idea of the issues. I'm not sure if it ever had a second hand to be honest. The watch worked just fine for months wearing it, until the crown came apart. When charging it, I was always able to wind it all the way to a stop. The crown doesn't have an Omega logo, my grandma probably had it replaced before.
I also don't think I can feel the counterweight bouncing back and forth. The watch looks very similar to this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3936211082...FWQ6PX&hash=item5ba5a5761c:g:Cd8AAOSwJadhYg2x

I'm actually not so sure... check out the cal 244 he linked, it has the same center-pinion looking thing, but no seconds hand is supposed to be installed on a 244. It looks to me that the movement just has an open-top canonpinion for some reason, despite having no second hand.