Hi all. New to this site. I recently inherited this watch from my grandmother. Trying to identify exactly what I have along with the year and its current value. Not exactly sure what I want to do with this watch. I have a lot of items with sentimental value passed down. This is not one of them. The reason being is that I never saw her wear it. When I recieved it this was actually the first time I had ever seen the watch. All I know about the watch is what I can figure out from looking at it. OMEGA automatic Seamaster deville. Underneath the 6 I can read small letters, "T swiss made T". The watch seems to kind of work. The second hand runs very smooth but then randomly stops for about 15 seconds. It then starts again. At this point I am really not sure what to do with it. Not sure if I would like to put money in to the maintenance and new band. What I do know is it needs to not just sit in a drawer at my house. Any help on the value or even a broad estimate of what this would cost to fix would be very much appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

 

After searching more and more I realize I need to have a professional open this watch up to give you all more information. I believe that this watch is 100% authentic and wouldn't be surprised if it has never been serviced or opened. I say this obviously not out of expertise but more the fact that I never saw my grandparents where it. This leads me to believe they are original owners. The band broke and it got stored away never to be seen again until they passed away. I find myself more and more interested in this watch the more post I read and more information I find out. Please let me know any information you guys have. Planning on going to a local jeweler next week and having them take a look. Thanks again in advance.

 

Hi, I too have a Seamaster De Ville that my grandfather left me. It is 18ct gold, so I don't wear it much as I prefer S/Steel cases. I can't be sure if your example is S/S or gold, difficult to tell.

Your predicament is far from straight forward. If it were a vintage Speedy that had just been pulled from the back of the draw, and you weren't a vintage watch enthusiast who intended to keep/wear it, I'd suggest leaving it as found, not do anything, and just sell as a genuine un-messed with example. But these old Seamasters are far less valuable, and don't have the 'barn find' allure of an old Speedy, so really I guess it depends on what you intend to do with it? If you fancy wearing it, then it will need a service, but not from any old back street watch repairer - find someone with a background in vintage and/or Omega watches, get rec's etc, and enjoy it. But bear in mind that a service will likely cost around a third to half the value of the watch (ballpark, depending where you take it of course). But if you sell, then the condition/lack of service etc will knock the value proportionately more than the same scenario with a vintage Speedy.

 

Thank you for your reply. This watch really has no sentimental value to me. I have multiple items that are worth $20 from my grandparents that mean a lot more to me. I do want to sell it. I was just talking to my girlfriend about how intrigued I have become since I started researching this watch. What I would like is if someone could give me what it is worth or even less and give me an update. If the watch is worth $400 as it is. I would be happy to sell it for $300 if that person would send me an email full of pictures and the work they had done to it to have it restored. Is there anything else I can do to help know more about this watch. Your saying if I want to sell it then dont bring it to a jeweler to have them open it? Does anyone have an estimate of a current value? Sorry about the pictures. I can get some better ones possibly tomorrow night if that helps. Thank you.

 

The case material affects the value greatly, is it gold capped, stainless steel or solid gold? I suspect gold capped but it’s hard to tell!
If your planning to sell I wouldn’t bother going to the trouble of opening it up.

 

Ok I will not have it opened. I want someone to be happy to buy this watch. How can I find out what material the case is? I mean it is gold capped or solid gold. It is not SS. I will definitely try to take more pictures maybe outside on a sunny day? Might take a few days to take them though.

 

If the back is stainless and the front is gold it’s capped.
The out of focus writing between the lugs what does it say?

 

Wow! Cool I never even saw that writing. There was kind of some crap covering it. It says "14k gold filled". Thank you for pointing that out.

 

Ok so this means the watch is 14k gold capped/filled over stainless steel with a 14k solid gold bezel. As impressive as that sounds sadly for most collectors this is the least desirable option. That’s not to say it’s worthless just that most people prefer stainless steel or solid gold.
In its current state as an intermittent runner I would say your above assessment of value is pretty much spot on.

One more thing to check (state when selling) is the case diameter without crown. The full sized version for this reference should be around 34.5mm. If it’s smaller i.e. 32mm this would lower the value.

 

Please don’t take my comments out of context it’s a nice watch which you could easily sell. If you decide to keep and wear just be sure to have it serviced by a watchmaker familiar with vintage Omega.

 

Mate, a Seamaster DeVille is a very popular Omega model, it's just not particularly rare so not a lot of "collectors" go wild when they see it. No matter if it's gold filled, capped, all steel or solid gold there will always be people looking to buy a decent specimen

Yours have some issues with the gold layer being worn in places, but the dial looks good and a crystal polish would do wonders. I cannot help you deciding on what way to go with selling/restoring, but I am certain it will end up with someone appreciating it a lot.

 

Thanks all! I had a watch guy over here in hawaii offer $200 for it. I may sell because at least I know he will fix it up and it will be appreciated by someone. If I do sell I may see if he can open it up for me. I would live to see the inside of this old watch.

 

...If you take better photos of it, measure it properly and put up an auction on eBay, I guarantee you that it will fetch more. I realise that you would like to know that it is going to a good home, just thought I would offer up some advice

It is not certain that he can open it up (unless he's a watchmaker?) as it is a frontloading case, which is a bit more complex to fiddle with than regular cases.

 

Thanks for the advice! Does anyone know what year this is? I read an article that showed serial numbers matching years but I cant find the serial number. I'm guessing its inside even though the article said I would be able to find it between the lugs.

 

The serial number is engraved on the movement, and the only way to see it's opening the clock. Here are some examples.

 

The watch, opening the watch (sorry, orthographic corrector).

 

Without a serial i would guess between ‘63 (first year of the Deville) and 68

Oh- and as some explained but to make it a little clearer- a front loader means the case is entirely one piece and the dial/movement loads in through the front and the crystal, retaining ring and bezel hold them in place and make the waterproof seal. To open this requires special tools and not just a watch case knife or spanning wrench. Most qualified watchmakers won’t have an issue with this though

 

Thank you guys. Last question I think... after taking an interest in this watch my mom told me about a watch she had. She just called it a "railroad watch" that was from her grandfather's retirement. She doesn't know much about it. She is going to take a bunch of good pictures and send them to me. This would be my great grandfather. Guessing the watch is from the early 1900s. Question is can I make a new post on this website? Its named omega forums but I see Rolex and other watches on here. Is this website for all watches and just specializes in omega?

 

Sure.

Best spot would be here.

https://omegaforums.net/forums/open-discussion/