Hi all, Now for something a bit unusual...I bumped into that odd looking Omega pocket watch the other day and have been trying to ID it ever since! I came close with that ad from 1963 in "Travel Through Time"/''Voyage a Travers le Temps" but unfortunately it' printed too small. Omega Saga doesn't have anything on it... Anyway here goes :
Seems more of a pendant watch . I tried putting page 724 under a microscope, the smaller text is still unreadable .
Thanks for trying, yes that text is unreadable, it's too bad they didn't put a larger version and/or put any comment next to the pictures, something they generally do. I think it might be a bit large to be a pendant watch? The person who showed it to me seems to think it was a man's watch, which seemed odd given all the diamonds. She also thought it was from the 30s, which made sense given the faceted glass, but that ad sets that question to bed at least.
Well, Omega is picturing it among pages of many women's watches. I very much doubt it is meant as a man's watch. As to the person showing the watch, was she offering it for sale? If so, you're a man?, she's selling a watch? Say no more?
By looking at the Omega logo on this dial, I believe it was made much later than 1963 (and maybe powered by a Chinese movement?)
I did a small amount of investiGator work and came up with something that might (or might not) be the watch from the Omega Vintage Database: Swiss Collection Jewelry Reference BC 811.5322 International collection 1964 Movement Type: Manual winding (mechanical) Caliber number: 700 Superflat Created in 1963 17 jewels With solid gold balance Produced in a total quantity of 12'500 pieces only. Case 18K solid white gold Case back Press-in Dial With "index" hour markers and "stick" hands. Diamonds: On bezel Crystal Scratch-resistant sapphire Bracelet 18K solid white gold (soldered) Water resistance No The Omega Vintage Database doesn't show a picture of this watch, but there are a number of clues that I see here: 1. The late Chuck Maddox's site doesn't show what a 1st digit code of "8" represents, but a ladies pendant watch doesn't match codes for 1 through 6, so it could be that. 2. BC = Code for 18K white gold. 3. Date of 1964 is very close to the AJTT ad. 4. Movement is cal 700 "Superflat". There would be very few Omega movements that could fit in this thin of a case. This would be one of them, perhaps the only one. 5. Dial has index markers and stick hands as indicated above. 6. Diamonds on the bezel. 7. Doesn't make sense that a bracelet would be "soldered" to lugs, as the 20mm diameter cal 700 movement would be too large for a ladies watch of that era. Could that mean that the individual links of the chain were soldered together? 8. OVD description of this watch in the Omega "Jewelry" line matches AJTT and the ad. I'll call this a WAG, but it could be the one, gatorcpa
Sorry, had missed this. Well that is some impressive detective work, thanks, and I must concur. It's too bad they didn't bother putting a picture in the OVD, that they removed access to the great "more product information" in the OVD (only way to get it now is to find a previous copy/paste in a forum) and that AJTT had zero text, that the ad is tiny, that Omega Saga doesn't mention it...a lot of "bad luck" conditions ;-) As a side note I asked Omega about it via their online form and they too the great trouble of sending me a canned answer telling me to order a certificate from the archives once I'd obtained the serial number. Since I was doing this out of curiosity that's probably fine...but imagine an owner of a rare Omega piece trying to get info on a watch he/she's inherited... As for the above comments...declaring the watch a fake based on the dial, well...look at the other dials from that period on page 724 first, and no I wasn't offered that watch for purchase. I'll possibly be able to see it again in the coming weeks so I'll try to take a picture of the chain that was original apparently and that could well have welded links.
The watch, if real, is rare and valuable enough that you should encourage the owner to take to a watchmaker and have it opened up. Then take some pictures! At that point, we should be able to confirm or deny my belief that it is legit. Then the pictures can go to Omega for further verification. Until then, we can only guess and that's not good enough. gatorcpa PS - I don't own AJTT at present, so asking me to look at the pictures there isn't going to help.