Over Chrsitmas I was home with my parents and they handed me this watch, asking me if I wanted it or if they should get rid of it. This nearly landed in the trash! The back has an engraving with my great-grandad’s name - It's a very uncommon name, so not sharing a picture of the back. He worked for Arbed (main steel manufacturer in Luxembourg). The engraving essentially says "ARBED - thank you for your service", his name and 1920 - 1940. So I assume this was given to him at some stage after 1940 - keeping in mind that Luxembourg was in the middle of WW2 at the time, I'm thinking it was possibly a good bit later that he received it. I was hoping to get a little help identifying some of the details. Is it possible to identify the movement form the pictures? I didn't see a movement marking. Why is the movement so orange / pink? On the inside of the case back, I am trying to make sense of a few elements. Any idea what the "6" at the top stands for? 2402-1 I assume is the model number. Does the "-1" mean anything specific? What does the "H" mean? I also see 7 lines of numbers scratched into the case back on the right of the Omega stamp. I assume those are the invoice numbers (or another system) used by the watchmaker that serviced the watch. When I am back home, I'll try and dig into where he may have gotten the watch serviced, but I doubt I'll find any info there. And then the big question - how am I going to get this thing serviced, while at the same time keeping all of the original pieces in there? Am I crazy to think I could get this serviced, but on a new strap and wear it a few times a year for special occasions? Or should this just be kept somewhere safe? I assume there is 0 water resistance? Sorry about the pictures. Some were taken with an iPhone through a loupe. Any information would be very welcome. Thank you!
That's a nice heirloom, quite an early bumper automatic from 1945/46. I see no problem having it serviced and wearing it.
Nice save! I think you might find caliber 30.10 RA at this spot (I think I can make out an upside-down 10 RA):
Thank you. That was very helpful and pointed me to where to find the calibre details. 28.10 RA is what I was able to make out (barely). Thanks again!
Lovely numerals on the dial You are correct water resistance with be zero even after service, so you will have to be careful not to splash it when you wash your hands as the crown will be a potential place for water and humidity ingress — and also you should avoid wearing it in rainy weather. That still leaves a lot of opportunities. The color of the movement is a standard Omega color for that era, not sure whether it’s a rose gold finish or a copper finish but others will know better.
If you let us know where you are, someone may be able to recommend a good local watchmaker. No reason not to get it serviced and wear it.
Can't help with a watchmaker recommendation, but whoever gets to service the movement should be instructed to leave the watch in its current state as closely as possible. That means no case polishing, hand or crown replacement, and especially no dial refinishing. It's a time capsule in its current condition. Art
+1 and in short, nothing at all should be touched on the outside to make it look more new. They should only service the movement inside.
I am unfortunately unable to help as I left the Fair city in 1996 and never returned. I hope the statute of limitations has passed by now
Ken in Dawson Jewellers, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 is extremely reputable and they service all top end watches to my knowledge. As an alternative I’d suggest you could contact John Donohoe in Kilkenny - see link below. 24 month warranty provided. Best of luck with it - fantastic to have such a family heirloom. https://thevintagewatch.net/
Thank you. I used Dawson Jewellers before for a ETA 2824, but I didn't know he was able to do older movements too. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thank you again.
Nice watch very similar to my 1944 bumper I love wearing mine there's a recent snap of mine except mines gold cased