Hey everyone

I'm venturing into watch collecting, and recently made my first vintage watch purchase on ebay. After losing out on a few Seamasters, I fell for an Omega Constellation cal. 561 ref. 168.004 which I received about a week ago.

Now, I'm a complete noob, but have tried to do my research as best I can. As far as I can tell, everything checks out, but I would appreciate it if someone with more experience would offer their opinion on my purchase.

I haven't opened it up yet, but everything else looks like it should. The case, and especially the lugs seem to have had some polishing done, but not overly so, except the top right lug which is slightly thinner than left one (although not as much as the 3rd photo makes it look like).
The dial looks untouched, with some patina which becomes very visible under magnification. The hands also show their age with some wear/patina

I haven't made any real accuracy tests, but it seems to run very accurately. I have just downloaded Toolwatch on my phone, so in 12 hours I will know more.

Here are the photos from the listing:



Also, as a side note I found this interesting blog post regarding 100.000 cal. 561's going through chronometer testing with very good results, and the serial numbers seem to indicate that my watch is part of those tested watches, which is very cool, if true.
http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/2009/01/the-famous-100000-consecutive-omega-561-chronometers/

Can anyone tell me more about this watch?

Thanks in advance!

- peture

 

Your assessment seems pretty accurate to me. Nice dial! The strap looks uncomfortably wide for the watch.

 

Thanks Edward
I'm not crazy about the strap, and now you mention it, it does look like too tight a fit. I have already ordered a new one though..

 

congratulations on your Connie
yes the case is a little polished but its still a nice watch
is it the photos or are the hands pink and the indices yellow gold?
one thing for sure - check to see if it has a seal in the case back as it's missing in the photos you've posted

 

Thanks.
To my naked eye there's not much difference in the color of the hands and the indices, certainly not as much as in the photos... I'll try to take some better photos as soon as I get the chance.

The listing stated that it had been serviced and the gaskets replaced. I'm going to try and see it I can get my local AD to open it up for me to verify, as I don't dare open it myself...

 

Hey, a newbie who does his homework AND gets a nice connie!. Congrats and welcome!!.

 

Thank you very much

 

As fjf says, a bit of effort on researching your quarry results in a great outcome. Lovely watch which will serve you well down the years. Congrats.

 

Funnily enough I have encountered this before - two times before on Constellations have I seen pink-ish hands where you'd expect yellow gold ones. Both are immaculate watches. My guess is that it is due to a different supplier than the dial producer using a slightly different mix of metals resulting in a different tone or a deliberate design choice. Seeing watches with yellow and pink gold hands together, the pink ones are easier to read and, well, just looks better