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  1. icspots Jan 1, 2014

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    Hello all,

    I recently inherited my father's constellation and I'm looking for a little bit of information on it. I've been lurking for the last couple of days and you all appear to have some fantastic knowledge of these watches, and I love looking at all the beautiful pieces you all have. I haven't had the chance to get it open or get it serviced yet but from what I've read on here I think I've identified it as a 1966 168.009 caliber 561. It appears to be gold capped (at least it has the steel back) and has the original omega brick bracelet. It has the non-knurled bezel, but there's only the faintest hint of the sun guillosh visible. Not sure if it was polished at some point or if it's just worn off. I do have the original black and silver box sans the mount for the watch and the omega logos. Also no paperwork on it.

    I'm not entirely sure but it may have actually been a wedding present from my mother in 1967. At the least he's wearing it in their wedding photos and couldn't have had it for more than a year or two at that point. This was his daily wear watch until sometime in the mid to late 90's when he mentioned some problem with the bracelet clasp and stopped wearing it. The sides of the catch which hook around the hinge were very slightly bent out and after a slight push with my fingers they appear to hold quite nicely. I think it likely he simply gained some weight and the extra wrist girth put too much pressure on the clasp causing it to pop open. Sadly he never went back to wearing it after he lost weight and it's been sitting for the better part of the last 15 years.

    As of now it appears to be in relatively good condition. There are some scratches on the crystal but no more than you'd expect from something used every day for 30+ years. It does run and seems to keep time, but I'm not planning on playing with it anymore until it can be serviced. I'm hoping to be able to just have it oiled and have one or two links taken off the bracelet and make this my daily-not-at-work-watch.

    I do have a few questions.

    I'm in Northern VA and would appreciate any recommendations for someone to service it. Anywhere in NOVA or the greater DC area would be fine. I've spoken to one jeweler around the corner from my work who quoted $400 for servicing it, and another $100 to replace the crystal if I want. I've seen comments on the forum of a couple hundred being a normal cost for servicing (subject to the needs of the watch of course), so is that a reasonable for a regular service assuming it doesn't actually need repairs?

    Next can the crystal on these be polished to mitigate scratches or would it need replacement?

    Lastly I haven't had a manual wind watch since I was a kid. For an intial wind what's a normal number of revolutions? I realize it will self wind once I'm wearing it, but I don't want to crank it too much.

    Looking forward to getting the watch back in working condition.

    Added pictures:

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  2. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Jan 1, 2014

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    You're right to leave it until it gets serviced, if you need it serviced I'd look at shipping it to Steve N2FHL in NJ, though he may have a lot of work on his hands, he's cheaper and better. The Calibre 561 movement is excellent, you couldn't ask for better in that time period. Bracelet availability is not bad, parts and whole bracelets for these can be found on eBay fairly easily.
     
  3. icspots Jan 1, 2014

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    So a little update. No knurled bezel. It appears there's a little bit of the sunburst design left on the bezel. Also this is marked with the "T" to either side of Swiss made, and in darkness has a small hint of glow. Does the "T" signify simple luminous paint or is it actual tritium lamps?

    the clasp says "gold plated L 20 microns" and has "518" on the bracelet ends by the lugs.

    The crown is plain (no logo) so did these models have plain crowns or does the watch have a replacement.

    It it appears to have the quick set date feature as it advances if I pull the crown in/out. No day display, only date.

    Still working on uploading pictures, though my avatar shows the watch.
     
  4. ulackfocus Jan 1, 2014

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    It's probably a 168.017 because the 168.009 was a solid 18ct gold version with a solid 18ct gold dial and a caliber 561 which did not have the push / pull date change mechanism.

    The T is for tritium, and it's the fill in the end of the hands and the dots that should be at the outside ends of the hour markers. The crown looks to be a replacement. If the date changes when you push / pull the crown it has a caliber 564.
     
  5. icspots Jan 1, 2014

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    Other than the quick change date are there any significant differences between the 564 and 561?

    Really i I just need to get the case opened and get the numbers off of it.
     
  6. ulackfocus Jan 1, 2014

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    Yes - a 1 and a 4 as the last digit. :p

    Oh, you said 'significant'. Make that a no.

    168.017 and a serial number in the 22 to 28 million range.
     
  7. ulackfocus Jan 1, 2014

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    Forgot to answer a couple of your original questions. Yes, the crystal can be polished and it's actually a self winding automatic, not a manual wind so once it's serviced 10 or 15 twists of the crown is sufficient to get it started and then the winding rotor will do the rest as you wear it, provided you aren't completely sedentary.
     
  8. icspots Jan 2, 2014

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    While I have my moments I'm not quite that sedentary. If it does end up a daily watch then it will be sitting for at least 24 hours twice a week as that's when I'm working. That will be a chore for my junky timex. So fully wound these have about what, 30-40 hours? The 10-15 number is what I was looking for. I just didn't want to overdo it while jump starting it.

    Good to know. The guy who quoted $400 said he thought it couldn't be polished and would likely need replacement. While there are clearly several scuffs/scratches on it I was able to swab it with cotton/alcohol and clear off what clearly weren't scratches even though they looked like it.
     
  9. ulackfocus Jan 2, 2014

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    One other question: do uc an optometrist about that spotty vision? :p
     
  10. icspots Jan 2, 2014

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    When you lack focus one often sees spots.
     
    CanberraOmega likes this.
  11. CanberraOmega Rabbitohs and Whisky Supporter Jan 2, 2014

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    Well played!
     
  12. ulackfocus Jan 2, 2014

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    ::rimshot::
     
  13. icspots Jan 2, 2014

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    Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile......... or perhaps more apt would be even a broken clock is right twice a day. :unsure:
     
  14. ulackfocus Jan 2, 2014

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    You can stick with the squirrel quote. We like squirrels here - sort of our forum mascots. For example, there's the Dancing Incoming Squirrel, the Golden Squirrel of Distraction, and the Squirrel of Extreme Happiness (for arrivals that were risky but turned out fine).
     
  15. icspots Jan 2, 2014

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    Given it's age and how dim it was in complete dark I'm assuming the tritium is basically dead at this point. Was the tritium in these watches just a paint on application or were they miniature lamps as seen in some more modern watches? Or is this more like the more commonly found luminous paint which must be "charged" in light?

    The funny thing about the date set was when I initially picked it up I tried everything to get the date to set and could only get it to operate by advancing the hands through the day. Then I accidentally did the push/pull later and it worked.

    Side note, it does have the omega logo on the crystal. It's justified to the 7 o'clock position.
     
  16. ulackfocus Jan 2, 2014

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    It was just globs of tritium mix, not the tubes.

    ps - if you search "squirrel" you'll see there are a lot more rodent mascots and at least 2 more squirrels with titles.
     
  17. icspots Jun 1, 2014

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    So I've managed to do almost nothing with my c-case connie, but really plan on getting to it. I have one new question I'm hoping you can help me out with. Clearly by my pictures above the crown isn't original. I'd been thinking of having it replaced whenever I got around to servicing it. I'm definitely doing that now, because the existing one fell off yesterday.

    So the question I pose. Can someone link me to a replacement crown (preferably original, not NOS) appropriate to this vintage constellation? There are enough different crowns around that I'd prefer to find someone who knows better than me before buying one. :)
     
  18. gatorcpa ΩF InvestiGator Staff Member Jun 1, 2014

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    Your request is virtually impossible to fufill. Omega produced literally hundreds of different crowns in all different sizes. A NOS crown may be ordered by the case reference number and should be virtually the same as the original for this particular reference.

    Trying to match a crown pictured on the internet to your watch is doomed to be an excercise in futility. You can purchase the crown, only to find that it is similar to the correct one, but just doesn't fit, at least without a change in the stem and several other parts.

    If you are going to get your watch serviced, a watchmaker with an Omega parts account should be able to get a new replacement crown. If you get real lucky, they might have a stash of old ones salvaged from other watches, but I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

    Hope this helps,
    gatorcpa
     
  19. icspots Jun 1, 2014

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    Gotcha. Are there crown styles which absolutely don't go with this era constellation? Looking around I mostly see pictures where the crown has the knurled sides vs. for instance the 10-sided style on older constellations. Really I'm just looking for a ballpark to be close to correct. I don't plan on selling the watch (I'd rather hand it down to my son later) I wouldn't want the first comment from any potential future collector to be, "Well why the hell did they put that on it!?".
     
  20. ulackfocus Jun 1, 2014

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    C-cases had quite a few different style crowns. While collectors certainly prefer original, a correct replacement part (even if not identical in shape) will suffice.