Thinking of buying a Seamaster De Ville and I've got a few pics. Seller is a antique dealer that found this watch in Southern California "years ago" at an estate sale. It seems 100% authentic after doing hours of research, with a consistent amount of aging, a correct vintage bracelet and other details. Only thing that has me thrown off is the "T SWISS T" at the bottom of the dial. They are asking $350 - definitely stainless steel case and bracelet.

A watch like this is on my short list to purchase but I'm willing to pass and wait for the right time. It's the only watch the seller has out and none of the rest of their product matches this type of merchandise. Something about the seller 'rings true' that he's selling a personal watch and he's not a collector- just someone who got a deal years ago and he's passing it along after he moved up. His wife is wearing a tiny but fantastic vintage Omega also.

 

It looks as if there are lume dots next to the hour markers, which would make the T SWISS T correct. The bracelet is probably around $100-150 in value alone, so not a bad deal at all

 

Thanks for the late night reply. I've done about 4 hours of research tonight and there's too much "right" with the details I can see. I'll grab this tomorrow. I'm heading to a city with an Omega boutique next week, so I'll have them do a "once over" and see how bad off it is. It was running fine while I was with it yesterday.

The dial patina is a little old for my tastes, but as a first Omega watch it seems like a winner. Also, it fit perfectly when I put it on. Hard to resist. It joins a group of other vintage watches, including my grandfaters Bulova Accutran Spaceview that I had restored a few years back...

Thanks again...

Steve

 

Early morning here in Denmark

If I were you - and I'm guessing that the rest of the collective here would agree with me - you're better off at finding an good, independent watchmaker for this.

The dial looks nearly perfect to me - a new crystal will do wonders for it. It's a front loading case which is known to normally be pretty well guarded against moisture ingress, so I'd be surprised if the movement wasn't in good condition, too

 

I would 100% agree. The crystal could be polished as well, as far as I can see from the pictures, you don't have any major scratches on it.


Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

Please - DON'T use "that" dreadful word on this forum!!!

You could always replace the crown as it appears to be later than the watch, or you could just leave it. Otherwise all it wants doing is servicing by a watchmaker competent with vintage pieces and the scratches on the crystal polished out. FFS don't send it to Omega as they will destroy its nice original look and make you pay heavily for the privilege.

 

@Edward53 - Never again shall that word be typed by me... Serviced would have been more accurate. I regret the error; blame it on a late night.

Thanks so much to all that have replied to a new user with a new account. I'm heading out to purchase this now, and finally have an Omega.

 

Update:

Watch is home with me, on my wrist and keeping fantastic time. In the better lighting I have here at home the dial looks to be in much better shape than the early photos show. I'm going to take a clean, dry new toothbrush and see how much of the dirt I can remove safely. I'll ask the watchmaker to snap some pics when the open it to inspect it.

Thanks again everyone...

 

Nice work Steve, it really is a bargain at that price. It's always a great feeling to wear new watches immediately they arrive, but it's best not to do that for long as you don't know what dried-up oil might be inside, with the potential to damage the movement. A day or two probably won't hurt it too much but after that it's best to get it serviced asap. Edited to add: You are evidently a man of means cleaning the outside with a new toothbrush! It'd be an old one for me...

 

Looks like it is powered by a small movement which is not as good as a 552.

 

I can't see any evidence of that unless a photo has disappeared, or do you mean because of the smaller circle in the caseback? That's just a design feature of the monocoque case and IMO there's every reason to expect the movement is a 552 or 550.

 

This is a small watch 31.5mm ref. 165.004 with cal. 671.

 

What am I not seeing? To me it looks identical to one of my 34 mm Seamasters in terms of scale against the owner's hand and the BOR bracelet. Obviously I don't know how big the owner's hand is but mine are not small so unless it's truly massive it shouldn't be that far out.

I know there are plenty of people here who know a lot more than I do and I can cope with being overruled, I just wish I could see where I'm getting it wrong.

 

The short second and minute hands in the front, and the shape of the back, are what you're not seeing. 1 or 2 mm in diameter can make a big difference in appearance, but as long as the owner likes it, it's not a problem.

 

You told them everything

 

I'm trying to boot prices for this mostly obscured watch...

 

Stopped at the Omega boutique in St. Louis today. It's a 522 from 1963 using a book called 'Journey of Time' (?). No watchmaker on duty and was only going to have them open it to get reference numbers. Wasn't impressed with their knowledge as they seemed geared to the 'bro' crowd not the collector or watch geeks like me. There's a meeting/event Wednesday night where they will be showing off some new watches, so I'm hoping to find some like-minded people and make some watch friends.

 

You can have hundreds of virtual watch friends here. Sure, we're a little gruff sometimes and we thread drift like we're off our Adderall, but this is mostly a bunch of nice OCD whack-os.

 

I don't suppose there is much money for the Boutique staff in vintage watches. When you say it's a 522, is that a typo for 552? If it is a 552 it should be 34 mm across excluding the crown.

 

Typo - 552 for sure. Didn't make it to the Omega boutique meetup. Travel plans changed.