Hey there, new member here. I recently purchased my first Omega (and my first vintage watch in general) a few months ago off eBay. It has been recently serviced, runs well, and keeps good time. Based on research I did from the serial number off of the movement, it's a Cal. 266 from ~1952-1956, hand winding mechanical movement. I couldn't find any other Omegas of this caliber with a similar watch face so I don't really know how much it's worth. I paid about 400 USD for it. I don't know too much about what would tell me if it's 100% authentic or not, besides the small amount of research I've done on these forums and other places online. I know the crown isn't original, which kinda sucks. Basically what brings me here is I'm wanting to know people's opinions on if it's a fake, and a ballpark estimate on how much it's worth. I have absolutely no intention of ever selling this watch as I love it and wear it all the time, but if I were to get it insured for example I think I might need to know how much it's worth. Also, when I wind it, I can usually get up to ~15 "winds" before I start to feel resistance. Is there any risk of damaging the movement if I over-wind it? Anyways, thanks for your time reading this, if people require other photos I'll do what I can.
Can you or someone else elaborate on what features distinguish it as a redial? Also, is a redial just when they re-paint the dial part?
Generally, yes. Since relatively few dials will survive 60+ years without some sort of refreshment and that Omega used natural lacquers that deteriorated. Finding a vintage Omega with its original dial will bring more money when sold. gatorcpa
Hello and welcome, it's sadly a redial, you can see it best on the subsecond. Compare the one in the picture with yours that has no circles. And there are other details that are off. And yes, you can overwind a mechanical watch.
First off any black dialed Omega should be viewed with a very high level of skepticism as to it's originality, Omega made relatively few to begin with and even fewer remain today, particularly in good condition. This particular one has two glaring issues: one would expect gold printing, not white to go with the gold figures and there should be luminous fill in the notches of the dagger figures. Aside from that the print and finish quality are both rather poor as well.
The easiest tell IMO is the black paint climbing up the hour markers. The good news for you is that no one except watch nuts will ever know the dial finish isn't original. You can see it in one of two ways - distinctly expensive for a vintage Omega, or distinctly cheap as learning experiences go.
If you got it cheaply and just wanted to get a fun watch to wear, then this is great. If it was sold to your as a collector piece at a premium, being original, I would start the return process
oh, and to answer the OP's original questions: Yes you can over wind it, resistance is fine but you will feel the spring come to an almost hard stop- yeah, stop. Do it gently and slowly until you get the feel for it, it's like the clutch in any car- you get the feel for it. Value: it's priceless is you love it- seriously, it's yours now so enjoy the crap out of it. If you're to sell it disclosing the redial, you could probably get a couple hundred for it- it's not "worthless", just not valuable to collectors. I have a 1958 Seamaster that's a redial, it was done beautifully but is not original. I got it for about half what an original one would go for and I love the thing.
Even disclosing the redial someone will probably pay over 300€ for it on ebay, most people don't give a damn if it looks "pretty" and shiny.