Few questions regarding Vintage Seamaster

[Linas]

I recently got vintage automatic Seamaster. Not exactly sure about model, something similar to ~165 0003, 165 0005 or 166 0003, but it is cal. 552. Seem to have been polished and restored dial, new hands, which is fine by me - I consider movement to be the key even if case/dial is not exactly pure. I needed specifically 20 000 000 - 20 999 999 serial number for a year circa 1963. As you can guess for anniversary.

The price does not matter, may have overpaid but I had to get it in time and from specific year and this seemed to fit the bill - good condition, automatic, like black dial etc.

First question - does it need service? It supposedly has been fully serviced, but I have just tracked the time for a week and it seems to average -8s a day. Although I may not be entirely fair by leaving it on watch winder (perhaps not enough movement to fully wind vintage watch)? I was kind of expecting for it to run little bit fast? This isn't really a big deal, I just want to know if I need to take it to service or not.

Second question is probably dumb one, but this is first vintage Omega for me and I just wanted to make sure I understand it correctly. So it seems crown only turns clockwise and watch can only be adjusted backwards. Is that right or am I missing something? I know that it is correct to wind it clockwise, but I was expecting to be able to adjust the time normally. If I turn the crown CCW, then it just unscrews. Is that normal?

Few pictures for the end (again I believe this is replacement dial, with dauphine hands which I am not sure is correct for the model):

 

[Dan S]

The timekeeping is reasonable for a vintage watch, which does not tell me whether or not it needs a service. Many watches keep reasonable time even when the lubricants are dried up. The crown should not unscrew.

 

[Caliber561]

Sounds like the watchmaker working on the watch forgot to use threadlocker on the crown/stem assembly. You should be able to set the time both ways, as @Dan S stated.

 

[Davidt]

1. Time keeping is not an indicator of whether a watch needs a service. Ask the seller if it was serviced prior to sale and whether they have proof. If not, or they can’t say when it was serviced, assume it needs one.

2. crown should absolutely not unscrew and time should be able to be set clockwise.

 

[Linas]

Thanks for confirming.

Seller claims to be watchmaker himself and said he serviced the watch before selling. So I doubt I could get any more information there. I assume it needs to be serviced then.

Yes the crown surprised me, I thought drop of treadlocker would fix it as well, but didn't want to make assumptions and damage something.