I'm interested in buying a vintage Omega with a linen dial. I'm having a hard time when looking at photos online. Heck, depending on the light and angle of the photograph, oftentimes silver dials look white to me online. I have two questions.

1) What approx color are linen dials?
2) Any tips or tricks to tell if it's linen or not. Sellers often seem to not know when asked.

 

In my experience, linen dials are usually white/off-white or silvery. I've heard conflicting information about whether the slight variation in color is due to aging, patina, or variation around dial manufacturers.

If you're dealing with established watch dealers, they should be very upfront about it. Usually, linen dials carry a premium when compared to a normal dial. That being said, I have bought a few from random sellers and resellers that didn't know the difference. In those cases, I just looked closely for dial texture (look for the crosshatching). Sometimes I've taken gambles on watches with cloudy/scratched up crystals after forming a hunch that they might be underpriced linen dials or sparkle dials. I've gotten lucky, but If you're not in a gambling mood I would honestly try to stick with what might be more obviously advertised as a linen or textured dial that is accompanied by nice/clear photos. Sometimes worn/damaged crystals obscure aging lacquer that makes the linen dials look much less nice.

Compare these two:


The one on the left was a little bit more silvery.



It is hard to accurately compare due to varying amounts of light in each photo, but the one on the right is more "white" and vibrant (in my opinion more desirable):



Hope this helps.

 

That was all super helpful! Thank You very much for the detail and the photos!

Can the linen dials be gently cleaned?

 

No problem! As with any other dial, probably not. Attempts to clean usually result in destroying the dial and/or totally erasing whatever is printed on the dial. Obviously there are always exceptions, but I wouldn't buy anything assuming you can clean it.

 

I think linen dials are generally silvery, but will look more grey or white depending on the lighting you see them in:



These are obviously all taken of the same watch.

 

Cold machine wash
Mild detergent
Do not bleach
Do not tumble dry
Warm iron only
Do not dry clean

 

There are also gold ones and I believe white ones, too. Maybe @kaplan can enlighten us with a couple of pictures.

 

Yes there are gold linen dials. I have one.

 

I'm pretty new to the hobby and the terminology. Would mine in the photos below be considered a linen dial?

If you look closely around the indices on the right side of the dial, you might see a little light outline of the indices where I cleared away a little gunk very carefully with a Bergeon cleaning swab. The dial is dirty, but if I try to clean it any more, there's a risk of messing up the paint and/or cleaning it unevenly and having a blotchy dial.

In other threads, I've seen members refer to dials like those of the constellations above as "Florentine", but when I repeated that in another thread, I was gently corrected by Desmond that Omega called it "Silky Guilloche."

 

To tell if a watch posted for sale has a linen dial, you might ask the seller if the dial has any kind of texture or pattern. Or just ask politely for clear up close photos in good light.

 

Love linen dial

 

Grey linen

 

Looks blue from where I am sitting

 

It should be apparent in the photos.

 

Then it must be some kind of prototype. DM for price

 

Thanks. My best linen dial for @Dan S

 

And a lovely dial it is.

 

This looks like someone custom refinished the dial. Is that correct? Is it yours?

 

Okay, another question I'm almost embarrassed to ask...Are they really made out of linen or...?

Also, is this a linen dial?

 

No. Yes.