Hello,

I am new to this forum. I discovered this watch and wanted to learn more about it. What is unique to me is the number of bars on the 12, 3, 6 and 9 position. I typically see 2 stripes, but this version has 4. It is also brown face which I rarely see. Can anyone help be date and value this watch and confirm if it is real?

Thank you,

Jason

 

The watch is genuine enough but the dial has been repainted. This is most obvious on the O and the left leg of the M in Automatic and the left of the upper arch in the S of Seamaster. They've tried to paint round the legend but slipped up here and there.

 

Wow good eyes. I can not see that. Are you saying they painted the brown or repainted the gold lettering? I think I see something on the gold "S" of seamster on the bottom of the "S." Not seeing anything else? Does this hurt the desirability of the watch? Also any thoughts on year, in spite of the inscription. It was possible this may not have been the year it was purchased or made.

Thank you for your amazing eyes.

 

I think they painted the dial brown around the lettering as best they could. If you click on your first photo it will open in a new window. Click on it again to magnify it and you'll be able to see what I mean.

I haven't seen a brown dial on a SM De Ville before and I doubt it started life that colour, but there were many variants so I can't be certain.

 

Really hard for me to tell from the pic, some of what I think we are seeing is the scratches on the crystal. The face looks luscious to me IRL and one of the things I liked about it. If it was repainted it is the best job I ever saw. I am going to look again at it when I get home. Maybe I can take a closer pic. I have actually seen chocolate faces when I searched for it, just none that had the matching number bars. They were mostly 2.

 

Dial looks original to me, charcoal sunburst finish with gilt printing.

 

Thank you! I actually was walking buy Omega in the city and walked in-upstairs they have a customer service dept and horologists. They confirmed the dial is original from a photo, showed it to me in the catalog that this was a style around then. They said I can bring the watch to them tomorrow and they will crack it open for me and tell me the info on the movement. I thought that was really cool of them. On top of that I called my mom who confirmed that this is the color she bought and it was never repainted.

Still this combination seems very unique and Omega wanted to look at it more. So I am bringing it to them tomorrow.

 

I think @Edward53 may have been misled by refraction caused by scratches in the crystal. While some of these have been polished/worn down, they still affect clarity. When seen from different angles the faults he saw don't appear to be as bad as first seen.

The best solution to settle it forever is to get a clear front on shot of the dial when the watch is uncased.

The dial is original IMO.

Ed: There have been a number of these on the forum in the past, some with white/light coloured dials and a few with grey textured or darker dials.

 

I'm not convinced, as although the dial pictures are different the S in Seamaster still looks glaringly off to me. As stated by @JimInOz, we need an uncased front on dial shot to be certain. Hope I'm wrong and OP has a good original watch.

 

So went to Omega store today in NYC and they were extremely kind. They opened the watch and brought it to me on a covered platter.Amazing. It is their opinion that this is the original face. They said it was in amazing condition on the face and in the movement, for its age. They said the color was probably something called Matte black oxidized. They did say there were a couple of small scratches on the face which we can all see, but the face color was not repainted. The slight imperfections on the writing are because the original inking was done by hand in the factory by Omega and under extreme magnification you can always see them. Tolerances were lower back in those days that this is what to expect from a hand crafted dial of the era. They are pulling an extraction of records for me, as well.

 

Great looking dial on that one - love that sunburst effect on the dark dial

 

Hi guys, new to the forum, really wanted a vintage Seamaster for ages and finally in position to buy, I’m about to win this on eBay.. any advice on whether it’s genuine or not? Much appreciated!

 

My advise if you want advise would be to start your own thread.

 

Bumping...

 

Very pleased that your watch turned out to have a nice original dial after all, congratulations

 

Very nice! The second set of pictures make it look like a totally different dial.
Are you getting the extract for free?

 

Thank you! Well, no, unfortunately, they are doing the search now no money upfront. If they find it there will be a fee. So I am waiting for the results which they say may take 4 weeks. Other than getting documentation to address the kinds of doubt I got on this forum, I am not sure it is worth it.

Spoke with both my dad and mom and the dial and watch are original confirmed by them as well. It was bought new.

I was really also looking for insight into how rare this watch with this dial and markers might be. Trying to see if this was a rare find or a common vintage model. While I do see this watch around I don't see this color really in the seamaster. So I thought it might be something special or desirable. Any comments on that, or is this a run of the mill Omega watch.

Thanks!

 

Trying to see if this was a rare find or a common vintage model. While I do see this watch around I don't see this color really in the seamaster. So I thought it might be something special or desirable. Any comments on that, or is this a run of the mill Omega watch.

 

Lovely dial, which is reasonably rare and desirable. Unfortunately the gold filled case is less desirable than if it were solid gold or stainless.

A lovely watch and a great heirloom.

 

Thank you! Did omega sell this watch as solid gold in this model and year?