Hi all, New here to the forum and am excited to research and learn from you all. A bit about my Omega Seamaster - it was given to me many years ago when I was a young lad by my father. My parents were then divorced and my mother gave it to him as an engagement present. I have worn it for a few special occasions but have not work watches much in the past decade or so. I am guessing this watch was bought sometime in the early to mid 60's. I have done an initial search on the Omega site (the lack of pictures gets frustrating), several hours of searching on the internet AND a bit more time on eBay. The thing is, I have not seen a band like this on any Omega watch picture I have looked at. It is an original band as it has the Omega symbol on it. I have looked at the back of the watch and I am not brave enough to even attempt opening it. It does run as I just gave it a wind and as you can see in the pictures, the sweep hand is moving. Any clues or help would be much appreciated especially pointing me in the direction of what model it is. My last resort will be to bring it to an Omega dealer but have to travel into the city to do that. And if the right answer or only way to really know is to open it then I will bring it into an Omega dealer. Thanks! TIA!
Hi and welcome! The small medallion on the caseback dates this from 1959 till the early 60's and the thin straight lugs has a 60's feel to me. 2 favors since this is a family keepsake: 1. Do not wind or run this watch until serviced!! Imagine running a 50 year old classic car without checking/changing the oil and going over it's condition. You can cause extensive damage by running this watch without a proper service. 2. While you are having it looked over by a qualified watchmaker for service, snap a good photo of the inside of the caseback, the movement and of the numbers engraved inside the clasp of that bracelet. That should tell us what we need to know. Your folks had good taste and with proper care, this will last your lifetime and will be treasured by your heirs! Please let us know where you plan on taking this for service, we may be of some help.
Well, the clasp is pretty integrated into the band itself, so I am guessing it might be part of the original watch or they did a hell of a job matching it up. No other markings tho.
We are generally more concerned with the watch head rather than bracelets or straps as these can be changed very easily and in most respects are not part of the watch, just a nice little added bonus. This bracelet is quite interesting though and I personally do not think it is original to the watch. There is a cut out at the end of the clasp which is not typical of bracelets from this era, and also the hook on the underside is not something I remember seeing on an Omega from the late 50s to early 60s. I second (and third) the advice of Unclebuck when he says get it serviced. But take it to a good, experienced independant watchmaker not Omega. The latter may well want to install many new parts so that they can gaurantee the repair but which will also make it far from original.
The bracelet is Omega, I have several of these myself. Bracelets and straps for that matter were typically installed to the buyers taste at the time of sale so any number of possible combinations could be considered "original".
Thanks all for the info. I really am more interested in the watch than the bracelet(although a pretty cool one at that thanks for the confirmation X350 XJR that it is indeed Omega). I think I found a good repair place near where I work (I am in a suburb of Phoenix, AZ) so I will see if they can open it while I am there so I can snap some pics.
Quick update - took it to a highly rated watch repair center near where I work. Got a voice mail yesterday that they opened it up and would like to do a full service which includes replacing the 2 gaskets, the crystal and taking it completely apart, cleaning, oiling and lubing it and then reassembly for around $300. No idea if that is in line or not as I have never serviced a watch like this before. I am still trying to determine what the value might be to weigh that in the equation. I have asked for pictures but have not received them yet. Any and all advice is welcome.
Make sure it's genuine Omega parts and the proper crystal. Having a factory Omega parts account is a great way to tell how serious the watchmaker is about servicing Omega's imho.
Thanks UncleBuck, he says he does have an account with them as he does a fair amount of servicing on these watches, so I think we got that covered.
Hrm. I think $300 a tad high as from my understanding, these Omegas are fairly easy to service and overhaul. Do some additional shopping around and if there are any OF members in the Phoenix, AZ areas with a competent watchmaker, please message him.
Adding the cost of gaskets and a new crystal this is probably fair. Even an easy overhaul can be time consuming and for $109 or something I'd be worried about the actual time spent cleaning and inspecting.
So I got my watch back from the "repair" shop and I say that because even though I asked and they said they would, they never took pictures. They let me take some with my cell phone but the movement was in an opaque case and the serial # was still covered up. The only thing I was able to glean was that it is a 14765 2 SC and 17 jewels. I am attaching the pictures here (bottom one is too blurry but the serial # is under where it says Omega watch Swiss. It was odd as this movement comes out of the top of the case which I have never seen before. I think I am going to take some people's advice here and try another repair shop.
I have a 24j 552 caliber 1961 14765 3 SC (my avatar watch) front-loader gold cap Seamaster with an 18M serial number. It's the vintage watch I wear most often. Unfortunately, the crown on mine is not original, and it appears to be a redial, which is odd since my father-in-law bought it new and had it serviced 6 times during his ownership, often in Switzerland. Someone must have pulled a fast one on him... (It would be nice someday to find the correct crown and an original dial that has not been "redone"). Good luck with your watch and keep us up to date with your repairs.