I have watched an ebay auction for an Omega Tourbillon dial which sold for US$ 656 recently...



Besides of having several scratches it is marked: " T swiss T " indicating the use of tritium and there is absolutely no sign of any lume on the whole dial.
There is a notch at 12 which might be an indication for a re-dial but I have also seen plenty of correct unrestored dials with this notch...

The back looks suspicious too as if the indices had been moved and re-attached (and secured with lacquer or similar)



How big is the chance to ever find an Omega Tourbillon in someone´s life which needs replacement through a suspicious and damaged dial?

Suspect bidding patterns "on top of the cake"...

 

Ummm, not a very good chance. Vintage Omega Tourbillons are EXTREMELY rare. So be glad that you did not buy that dial.

 

Tony, what makes you suspect the use of lacquer on the dial back? The grind marks are a little deeper than normal as if the marker feet were ground down to facilitate removal.

 

I mean the bright areas around the markers´ feet, different color, often this is a sign where some clear shellac or other lacquer is applied to secure the feet after re-applying them... I have marked with read arrows.



btw, I am not Tony, just Erich

 

Besides (and I am no expert by any means), what are the chances that this dial was really for a tourbillon? Every photo I've ever seen of a tourbillon watch (or an actual one in a shop window case) shows the tourbillon mechanism - but there's no room on this dial.

The logo and words "Omega Tourbillon" also look photoshopped into the picture ... Just my opinion.

 

Quite a few others on the net also have the similar T but no lume dial. Here's one belonging to Jack Khorsandi:

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/vintage-omega-watches-los-angeles-jackmond/2/


One of the Museum's also appears to have the same T but no lume:

http://hoodinkee-beta.squarespace.c...rlds-first-tourbillon-wristwatch-caliber.html

 

This is not for a recent production Tourbillon (which is a visible center tourbillon) - it should be for one of the 12 (if I remember correctly) tourbillons with cal. 30 I (i) ever produced - 2 of them were sold in the Omegamania auction... dial would be correct but the mentioned issues let me think it is a re-dial (was stated as 100% original by the well known seller though - which I hardly believe...)

 

It also has a painted Omega logo, while the ones in the pictures from TNT have applied logos.

 

The steel watch from the Museum also has a painted logo, though with a different dial design. For just a dozen copies of the watch in total, they already have 2 different dials still in their hands. A third one is not really that strange.