just picked up a beautiful omega 300 no date from 1964, but the lugs are only 19.80 so my 1171/633 have to be wedged in, has anyone else ever heard of this? I have owned about 6 of these and this one is legit and for case back to bezel to dial and case that is not a remake or watchco omega part. Any help would be great thanks

 

Hello Randy - that's pretty close to 20 mm, and with old manufacturing tolerances wouldn't surprise me if that passed QA with no squawks.

I'm sure you're aware that in 1964, the original bracelet that would have shipped with this would have been the 1506/16. The 16 endlinks are, in theory, 20mm, but many of the old end links rattle a bit and offer some side to side play in Speedmasters (which also have 20mm lug widths). A couple of my 516 end links are a bit tighter, but, a couple are also ever so slightly loose.

As for solutions, my suggestion would be to leave the lugs as-is, because obviously the case is a lot more fundamentally constituent to the watch than an end link is; I'd look for either an original 1506 with 16 endlinks, or a 1039 with 516 endlinks. If necessary, you can machine down a quarter mm on the endlinks to get the right fit for yourself, or, you can also buy yourself a set of #6 (or comparable) endlinks, which are 19mm.

Bottom line - you haven't picked up a dud or lemon. If anything, you've got a nice, fat, original case. It just needs the right bracelet for it!

Good luck!

 

Must see photos

 

Yup, it's common for the 633's not to fit 60's Speedies and SM300's. easiest fix is to file the 633's down a fraction.

 

Just file down the end pieces a tiny bit.