Early 30s Omega Rectangular, cal. 19.4T1- Some Questions

Hello everyone,
Today today im looking for some info on this watch I received last weekend. There are some features of it that are a little odd, and I haven't been able to find much info by myself.

The first unique feature apparent from the outside is that it is signed "IMPORTE DE SUISSE" at 6:00. My understanding is that this means it is a French export model. Is that right? Also, I have seen some advertisements from the late 20s/early 30s with this dial font, but not the same layout, or the same layout but a different font. Does anyone know of an original catalogue or advertisement showing this dial? In particular, the curly tailed 7 and long droopy serifs on the 1s.



It looks to be a silver dial and has some kind of maker's mark on the back, but I can't make heads or tails of the mark. I have provided photos from several angles because I can't tell the top from bottom, or sides for that matter.



It also has heat blued hour/minute hands, but a purple seconds hand. A little odd, but they're in perfect condition so I assume they are original.

The case seems to be locally sourced, as it has no Omega markings on it. It has a bottom hinge, and is steeply curved with a decoration 'engraved' motif stamped on the case sides. It is very light, and appears to be a chrome-heavy stainless alloy. There are no marks on the inside, and the outside back is stamped "STEEL BRIGHT" with a serial code 435386. I am assuming it is also French made. If so, would this watch be able to be ID'd to a specific reference? Also, someone has replaced the crown with a modern one- the original should be a wide, flat crown with no Omega logo, right?



The movement is a 19.4T1, serial number 7976288 which (I believe) dates it to 1934/35. It seems like the T1S are a bit rarer than the T2s, is that right? Also, what is different between them? This movement needs a new center wheel and barrel arbor which I was luckily able to find NOS, but I noticed that the barrel has a slot on the top that apparently means it’s for the 19.4T2- at least, the seller for the NOS parts has an identical barrel advertised for the 19.4T2, and their barrel for the 19.4T1 looks exactly the same minus the slot. Both have an inner groove to grab a conventional mainspring, so it’s not for a T-hook.. there doesn’t seem to be any problem with the barrel, so it should be fine to reuse the one it came with, right?



That’s about the extent of my questions for now. If you have any info about any of these please let me know. Thanks in advance!

I fully agree, the case isn’t Omega, the rest is good to my eyes.

Thanks for the replies so far. To be clear, I never thought it was a case made by Omega. Rather, I am thinking that the movement was delivered to France uncased, and the case was then supplied from an independent manufacturer for the movement/dial before sale. This kind of thing is pretty common in that era with other brands i'm familiar with, and the case appears to be period correct and is clearly made to accept this movement- or at least an 8 3/4 lignes with this exact dial size. What I'm really wondering is whether or not the independent case maker can be easily identified by the serial/case style, or if the case still correlates with a known reference. (Both are probably unlikely, but I figured it's worth a shot.)

I'd also love more info about the movement- particular about the barrel, especially since I already ordered a NOS 19.4T1 arbor and it would be a real shame if it doesn't fit the barrel that's in the watch already 😬

Thanks again, the input all helps. As I mentioned in the post, I already know the crown is not correct, but I’m not sure what the crown is supposed to look like. If someone has any photo examples (or better yet, catalogues/ad photos) of rectangular cased 19.4T1s with original crowns, I’d love to see them.

The odd thing is, though, that I’m having a really hard time finding many examples of the 19.4T1 fitted to rectangular cases- in fact, I could only find one besides some Marines, which was an 18k example on Chrono24. However, the seller doesn’t show photos under the balance so it’s hard to say for sure whether it is a 19.4, T1, or T2. They also copy pasted the description for an Omega Marine (which it is not) so they may be completely wrong. Maybe they’re common and there happens to be none for sale right now, or recently enough to show up in sold searches, but I’m not seeing much info at all.

@Manlodan
Nice, clear macro photos!