Hi Have recently bought a pie pan constellation on ebay. The watch case seems to be French so is not on the Omega list. Is this watch genuine? Here are the photos. I can see the 18k eagle's head on the case and on one of the lugs Thanks for any help http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages...ts=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0&format=0
The dial has been poorly refinished and the case has been heavily overpolished. The fonts on the dial are not correct. The dial looks to be solid gold as is proper for this model. The movement looks to be genuine and correct. I'm not familiar with the correct markings on the French national production for Constellations. If the case tests out as 18K gold, it's probably good as the "168" prefix on the case reference number engraved on the inside of the case corresponds to the Swiss number used for similar Constellations (168.006). There was a nice original example of this model for sale on this site several months ago. You can see pictures here: http://omegaforums.net/threads/selling-omega-constellation-561-de-luxe.3693/ Hope this helps, gatorcpa
Thanks for this gatorcpa. Does this mean I've made a mistake? I'm 99% certain the case is 18k gold as I can see the eagle head marks on both one of the lugs and on the back of the case.
It's not a good example for the reasons gator pointed out - refinished dial plus overpolished case would make me pass on it regardless of whether it was a genuine 18k gold omega or not. I would try to return it if that is still an option.
You could do much better with help from us. For just a few hundred more, you could get a very nice original example of that watch.
I can confirm that the case is French and 18 K. In France they used to import Omegas in gold plated cases and then re-case them in local 18 k gold cases to avoid enormous taxes. Unfortunately, those watches don't have the same value as those with a Swiss case, not even in France.