I was going to make an offer on this Seamaster Deville, but I read "ask before you buy" on here...

... and thought why not? I had a simple Rotary that was stolen from the Gym last week, which led me to cast my net wider in looking for something to replace it. The Seamaster DeVille and 60's Geneve were the two that stood out as an elegant everyday watch. This one is very close to what I'm looking for -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231007568...l?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=231007568288&_rdc=1

I have done as much research as possible so I'm reasonably confident this is a good example, might be a retouched dial but I'm not sure and here to defer to your greater depth of knowledge anyway! I did ask for a picture of the inside back lid, (as I have been checking serial numbers on the Omega website) but this garnered the response "Unfortunately I`m not able to provide such picture. This watch is opened by front and I don`t want to risk to destroy it by doing it myself. Regards!"
Any advice/ guidance regarding this watch or my search for a quality timepiece in general would be warmly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

It looks good to me. 👍 That's a replacement crown but no big deal to find the correct one. Not a terrible asking price either.

Hi, the dial and hands look original to me. It is a little strange that he didn't take a pic of the inside of the case or provide the case ref number. The movement looks good. The crown is a different color from the case but should be easy to correct. I am wondering if the case might be pink gold? It is hard to tell from his light box pics.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm aware that the numbers I'm talking are at the extreme low end of the Omega spectrum however I'm very wary of being sold a £100 piece for £300 in the same way would be with £10/£30 or £1k/£3k! I'm curious about the gold too, it looks different from other 14k plate I've seen. I think the crown might be rose gold- top here is a 90's Seamaster with a rose gold case for colour comparison:

Out of interest, is procuring a new crown as simple as ordering an official Omega crystal for a vintage watch?
Also a completely unrelated question - are Omega serviced vintage watches guaranteed waterproof? I have spoken with different private professionals and a willingness to guarantee waterproof 60's watches is variable to say the least!

Looking through so many watches and trying to research properly has leant me sympathy with the collector's mindset - I set out looking for a straight replacement for day to day wear and there are so many examples of the same watch that have something to recommend them it's hard to stick to wanting just one!

I'm no watch pro....but if I owned a 60's time piece...I wouldn't be swimming with it...so waterproof wouldn't mean much to me. Just like you always assume a gun is loaded, I would assume it's not waterproof and treat accordling. As for comparing the two pictures....unless they are in the same photograph, lighting etc can vary greatly...so you can't compare those two to figure out what color the gold is. As stated, the replacement of the crown is fairly easy so not likely much of an issue. Very handsome watch. Very classy in it's simple elegance IMHO.

The crown is available but you need the case number to order the correct one, 166.020 should be right. I wonder how waterproof they were to begin with although I have seen an Omega advert that states they are ok 200ft below the sea 😁



AL @ Archer wrote a good piece on water resistance and vintage watches on this site somewhere.

Not necessarily. There were a dozen or more reference numbers for these. 166.020 is one of the Swiss cases, but there were quite a few US made cases. Whether or not the crown is interchangeable is another story.

The ref I used is from the '63 UK catalog but you are right, there were dozens. I'd ask the seller if he or his watchmaker has the case number to save having to open it all up again.