So I recently won this after discovering it last minute before the auction ended, which I probably should have known better given I was the only bidder on what I thought was pretty reasonable for anything with a 352 RG and original dial:





Of course being an idiot I started researching what I had won after I had already paid for it, and I’m noticing that I’m not finding any examples out in the world of a ref 2637 that had a 352 instead of a 351. I had assumed that like some of the Seamasters of the period, the same reference might carry anything from a 351, 352, 354 (both chronometer and non chronometer rated) and that this was simply the same scenario. But I’ve yet to find another example...

The only thing I can think of would be that this was out of one of the solid gold 352 models, which the case was taken for gold scrap and the movement fitted into something that was ehhhh close enough. However, this means it’s either one of the models with a cartouche/ plank dial, which this is clearly not, or one of the Globemaster models, however this dial has no evidence of ever having the applied star above the 6.




So it does make me question, are there 2637 models out there with 352s, but if not what is this from?

 

2516 or 2517 are what I suspected, what I wasn’t sure about was that the ones without a plank dial seem to all just have printed Omega lettering instead of applied like this. That said, this one has the odd chronometer lettering font (I have a 354 chronometer Seamaster with the same style) so I suppose it could all just be within normal variation for that time.

That said finding an 2516 or 2517 case to put it back into would be next to impossible anyway... all the same it could’ve ended up in something much worse than a 2637 case and it’s attractive enough to me as it is for now. I’ll have to see if it being a Frankenwatch irks me when I wear it to decide if I want to hold on to it or not

 

Dibs.