Hello Forum!
Any help with authenticity and year made is greatly appreciated. Picked this up on ebay about 10 yrs ago don't remember the price, at least $500! Stop watch works very well. Keeps accurate time. Winds smooth. The crown seems questionable. Not sure how it could be so beat up. Help with identification. Thanks
View attachment 907107

 

The watch experts whose only activities on a Friday night are to give away free advice, appraisals, and authentications are experiencing greater than normal thread volume. Your questions are very important to us, please hold until they are no longer important to you.

 

Hold your horses! If you’ve owned the watch for 10 years without knowing anything about it - another hour or two won’t hurt you.

But enough razzing. Looks like a nice chronostop your model/case number will be located on the inside of steel caseback. (Guessing a 145.007) The serial number of the movement will help estimate its approximate age. (Guessing late 60s early 70s).

Nice looking watch - need a clearer photo of the crown to say if that’s incorrect. But my eyes tell me everything looks proper

 

thanks a lot for the replies. the crown logo is simply missing, as if it was hit really hard and the logo vanished, or was buffed off. i wonder what could have damaged the logo, or is it simply age and the chrome wore off somehow? do you think it could be a chinese replica? lol....they look so similar on the replica website it made me worry, also all the thread info about the logo inside the crystal that could be chinese made....but it looks original to me, little do I know...

 

A good honest tool watch that one. Bit beaten up on the case for sure, but everything still appears to be there and in decent condition under the crystal... I'd go with 1969-72 or so. Seamaster Chronostops are perhaps the most sought after of this series. Why I don't know, maybe it's the tachy scale, but they regularly sell for about 50% more than Chronostop Geneves or De Villes. If it's been a daily wearer these past 10 years I'd probably take it in for a service....

 

I would say size is the reason they fetch more, that and the added complexity of the tachy scale. I had both, the 34mm got very little wrist time, the 40mm rather more. They were launched a little earlier than that, around 1967 I believe, both mine had 25m serials.

 

I find that crowns tend to receive a bit more of their fair share of damage due to jutting outside the case. Between rough shirts, regular wear, and potential/likely polishing your crown is just worn down. I don’t think your crown or watch looks like a replica.

 

Thats great to know. Thank you. Would you advise opening the case to see the movement? Going to stop by Omega Boutique and take a photo today.
Edit: Omega boutique doesnt have technicians lol. My local watch guy doesnt have the tool. How do i open it?
Edit: I think the case may have been polished many times, hence the completely rubbed off logo on the crown.

 

It hasn't been worn in 10 years. I bought it and put it away, and recently remembered about it. It keeps nearly perfect time so I'm going to skip on the service and just wear it daily for now.
Edit: just noticed that the metal ring around the dial is uneven, hard to see in the above pictures. Darn my ocd. Does the metal ring around the dial look right? The movement moves with the crown a few mm when the crown is pulled out. Makes me wonder is this a Franken watch? Thanks
Edit: would you keep the second hand ticking all the time or just use it as a stopwatch when necessary? I guess the movement sits uneven and has some play in it because of the broken metal ring around the dial.

 

A day with no answers.....what do I do?

 

Relax. What answers do you need that you haven't already gotten? If your watch guy doesn't have such a basic tool, you need a new watch guy.

 

Your pictures aren't particularly clear so, it's not easy to see some of the issues that you see.

The movement and dial should not move when you work the crown. The "broken" metal ring you're thinking is an issue is probably the crystal tension ring - they are not a continuous ring so, you'd expect to see the two ends as a line. As it has no service history, give the watch to a watchmaker who work on vintage watches and these aspects will be addressed and you can have it serviced so it doesn't wear out. They will be able to open it (not sure who you took it to but, definitely not a watchmaker) and give you the movement information and tell you about any other issues.

Search on here for a watchmaker in your area and if you can't find anyone, ask here and someone should be able to help.

I have one of these and they are good watches.

Good luck, Chris

 

thanks for the reply. going to look for a local watchmaker. yes, i see what you mean with two ends to the ring outside the dial. i see it. every answer makes me appreciate the watch more. will try to take better pictures as well.

 

Just an update, had the watch opened: looks good to me but still wanted to run it by the forum....

 

The Chronostop is a nice one among all Omega chronographs from that era. Produced in 1967/1968 to commemorate the Mexcian Olympic games in '68.
Mvmt is ref 865, a lean version of the 861 and handed out the official timekeeper for the 100m sprints for not beeing able to measure time over 60 seconds (including flyback function)

All looks legit to me so greetings from mine and enjoy it!!




Cheers,
Winny

 

Interestingly, the 865 predates the use of the related 861 in the Speedmaster by nearly 2 years. It could in fact be said that the 861 uses design cues from the 865 but I think in fact Lemania already had a cam switched full chrono in production before either were used by Omega.

 

edit: i need a new button pusher for my chronostop. its corroded and sticks quite often. i cant afford the service that swatch group offers. Can someone point me toward a new button pusher for my chronostop? Is the part 086ST0015? does anyone here have the original part with a washer? would you go with an aftermarket part if thats all you could afford?
Thank you
edit: started a new thread with the above question...