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Help needed Not so Silver Lining

BlueBoy
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My dear Father passed away on Saturday, after an amazing 94 years, he was a kinder transport orphan from Vienna, and one of the only possessions that he managed to keep from the clutches of the murdering Nazi's was his Omega watch...

I won't go into the full details right now, but Dad wore his watch daily until probably the early 90's, when it stopped working. Unbeknown to me, my dear Sister, assisted my Dad in getting his watch repaired, I only discovered this last night when I opened the case....

I would be hugely grateful in any advice and assistance you could offer in my quest to find a suitable expert/watchmaker to return my most treasured Omega to its original spec.

My go to watchmaker is of course Simon Freese here in the UK
Dad Om.jpg Dad Om 2.jpg Dad Om 4.png Dad Om 3.png


Thanks Rob
 
Buck2466
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Sorry to hear about your father passing. Well, whoever the watchmaker was that serviced it, replaced the original movement with a quartz movement. Either the movement was completely shot, or the watchmaker was lazy and took the easy way out and stuck a quartz movement in it. It may take some time to find a donor movement from the correct period.
 
M'Bob
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Agree with Buck. Take the time to find a donor movement. It would honor your father.
 
Archer
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This sort of conversion was a common thing - often an option given to customers who didn't want to spend the money to properly repair the original movement.

You will have to determine what the original movement was, find one, then get it running properly. But before you do that make sure that the watchmaker who did the conversion didn't glue the dial to the quartz movement. If they did it will be a challenge to get the quartz movement removed without damaging the dial - on the good side of things it appears that it might be an enamel dial, and they can take more in the way of solvents (to help release the glue) than a painted dial would.

Good luck!

Cheers, Al
 
michael22
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Looks like a silver case. Don't polish it, the tarnish won't damage it.
If you decide to wear it regularly, some of the tarnish will wear off & the whole watch will look amazing. I like the way silver tarnishes & then wears off naturally.

Reading the title again, I can see you knew that. Good luck.
 
tyrantlizardrex
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So sorry to hear about your dad Rob. I know it’s not sudden, or unexpected, but still rubbish.

On to the watch... I’m guessing something like this should be inside:

0F9A2F63-4AA1-4214-A311-4DE514AF56FF.jpeg 5839B974-E27A-407F-B0AE-E55591343BC1.jpeg
 
BlueBoy
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Buck2466 Buck2466
Sorry to hear about your father passing. Well, whoever the watchmaker was that serviced it, replaced the original movement with a quartz movement. Either the movement was completely shot, or the watchmaker was lazy and took the easy way out and stuck a quartz movement in it. It may take some time to find a donor movement from the correct period.

Thank you, for some reason my pics seem to split my text up, so you probably didn't see that I know Simon Freese well, and send all of my 60's and 70's Omega's to him.. My question was who is the expert/go to Guy for 1920/30's
 
BlueBoy
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M'Bob M'Bob
Agree with Buck. Take the time to find a donor movement. It would honor your father.

Thank you, yes originality is what I want with all of my Omega's, none more so than my Dads
 
BlueBoy
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Archer Archer
This sort of conversion was a common thing - often an option given to customers who didn't want to spend the money to properly repair the original movement.

You will have to determine what the original movement was, find one, then get it running properly. But before you do that make sure that the watchmaker who did the conversion didn't glue the dial to the quartz movement. If they did it will be a challenge to get the quartz movement removed without damaging the dial - on the good side of things it appears that it might be an enamel dial, and they can take more in the way of solvents (to help release the glue) than a painted dial would.

Good luck!

Cheers, Al

Thanks Al, yes it is an enamel dial. As mentioned in my replies above (maybe I didn't articulate my needs very well this am) I am not new to Omega's and have several Ed Whites and various others etc... What I have zero knowledge of, is 1920/30's pieces, and who the right person to speak to would be. Simon Freese or STS normally service my Omega's, maybe I should have just given them a call straight away.
 
BlueBoy
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tyrantlizardrex tyrantlizardrex
So sorry to hear about your dad Rob. I know it’s not sudden, or unexpected, but still rubbish.

On to the watch... I’m guessing something like this should be inside:

0F9A2F63-4AA1-4214-A311-4DE514AF56FF.jpeg 5839B974-E27A-407F-B0AE-E55591343BC1.jpeg

Thanks Chris, your thoughts are greatly appreciated in such a sad time, and you are right we have known this was slowly coming for a while now.. and 94 is a fantastic innings !

Yes thats is exactly the type of movement I am probably looking for, but am hoping that someone will tell me, that the only person to speak to about this era of Omega's is.....
 
tyrantlizardrex
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I don't know that there's a set person who's best at these in the World, but I'd suggest having a chat with James Harris at Harris Horology.

He trained at Birmingham, worked for Omega and is now working for himself out of the clockworks.

I know him through the AHS, and he's rather keen on getting old things working as they should.

He's also a bloody nice bloke, and enjoys a pint or 7. 😁

https://harrishorology.com/
 
ac106
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Hi

This is really terrible. Sorry about that.

Stan at www.lrfantiquewatches.com is a trench watch expert and has written 2 books on the subject. However he focuses on American watches exclusively. I am sure he knows an Omega specialists and could probably point you in the right direction.
 
Dan S
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Sorry, I don't have anything substantive to offer, but my condolences on the loss of your father. Restoring this watch will be a significant project, but very satisfying, and a great way to honor him.
 
BlueBoy
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Dan S Dan S
Sorry, I don't have anything substantive to offer, but my condolences on the loss of your father. Restoring this watch will be a significant project, but very satisfying, and a great way to honor him.

Thank you Dan, the project will be a pleasure from start to finish
 
smitty190373
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Hey Rob, sorry to hear your sad news, and good luck in getting that beauty up and running again.

All the best mate, hopefully catch up soon.
 
BlueBoy
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smitty190373 smitty190373
Hey Rob, sorry to hear your sad news, and good luck in getting that beauty up and running again.

All the best mate, hopefully catch up soon.

Thanks smitty, the news is very sad, but I was blessed with a loving, kind, intelligent Father, who had a remarkable journey.

If there is any regret, its that Dad never got to come to the new Spurs stadium this season... But after going for more than 70 years, with Dads last game being the final NLD at the Lane... I can't complain ::psy::
 
smitty190373
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BlueBoy BlueBoy
Thanks smitty, the news is very sad, but I was blessed with a loving, kind, intelligent Father, who had a remarkable journey.

If there is any regret, its that Dad never got to come to the new Spurs stadium this season... But after going for more than 70 years, with Dads last game being the final NLD at the Lane... I can't complain ::psy::

Well you can't ask for much more than that....
 
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