Hi All,

I wanted to say hello and to say what a great resource this site is! I’ve been collecting vintage watches since late 80s with a particular love for Omega watches. In my case collecting usually means buying one and selling another to fund the purchase;-).

Thanks to some info learned here about chronometres, I recently acquired this one produced for the French market.



I’m unsure about specific reference so if anybody knows that would be great. The case is different from ref 2367, beefier lugs and the diameter is 35mm, not 35.5. Thanks for your help.

Michael

 

paging @mac_omega !

 

Looks great from the pic you provided!

As it is a French cased Omega, there is likely only a maker logo, an Omega logo and a serial number on the case back, but no reference number. It could be close to a Swiss made model, but not necessarily.

 

@mac_omega or @Tire-comedon would be the best source for this reference.

The vintage salmon dials are coming out this year it seems with 2 in the last few days

 

Thanks Francois, good info. Here are some other pics from the person that sold the watch to me:

 

I do not see any maker's logo - it would be in a little lozenger - but it was not mandatory. You have the serial number and the eagle's head. So looks good!

The movement seems to be in good cosmetic condition. It has the normal "importé de Suisse", which matches the "Fab. suisse" of the dial.

Nice catch!

As said above, Mac-Omega and Tire-Commedon may have more info.

 

I am a bit late to the party... but I can confirm the following:

This is an all original chronometre for the French market.

There is no reference number for this model.

The movements have been delivered to France without cases due to heavy custom duties on solid gold items at that time.

The cases have been produced in France and the watches were completed this way.

I do not know for sure about the dials but I assume they were made in Switzerland as most of the dial contractors were located there.

 

Thank you!

 

Hi Michael,

I had a second look on your chronometre photo and I am sorry to say I must revoke my first assessment about the originality of your watch.

The hour and minute hand seem to have been painted black - at their base you can see that they are rose gold

which should look a bit more original...

Obviously somebody has painted them to enhance the contrast and to make the watch more readable.

It will be easy to bring them back to original with some appropriate solvent - try acetone...

 

Once you said it, it is obvious!

I agree the hands are very likely original, but they should be in gold colour, and probably in gold. If not, as Gatorcpa said, there is a risk that you end with dammaged hands. And replating hands is not easy for an amateur - I have tried without much success!

 

Hot damn, that's a great looking watch!

 

Lovely watch! Do you know who manufactured the strap? I want to find one with similar texture.

 

The hands were a topic of discussion between the seller and me. I fully agree that they were likely painted to be more readable at some point. I’m going to get it serviced in the next few months and will consider having the paint stripped from the hands at that point. Still deciding whether to get it serviced locally in San Francisco or sending it to Nesbit’s in Seattle.

 

I bought the strap from HODINKEE, pricey but the quality is great, buttery soft.

 

Slightly OT but this case raised my curiosity.

What are the markings on the case and caseback edges? I've seen them on numerous snap back cases but have no idea what their purpose is.

@mac_omega, @Tire-comedon, any others know the reason they are there?

 

that`s how watchmakers improve the "snap on" function of the caseback........and position the best place to fit the back onto the case..... kind regards,. achim

 

I don´t think that watchmakers do this...
IMO this derives from the case manufacturer in order to find the back which goes with the main body more easilly.
I have found these "lines" even on NOS watches which were not touched by any watchmaker before.

These markings are also found on the bezel.
These lines are Roman numbers and "encrypt" the last 3 digits of the case number (at least with gold watches).

As most of the "younger" SS cases do not have any serial numbers but only ref.## there is a 3 digit number embossed into the upper/inner rim of the main body and the Roman number on the bezel matches this number on the main body.

Here is a photo to illustrate this as it tells more than my clumsy description



These photos were taken of a SS 30 mm chronometre ( CK 2366 if I recall correctly)

 

You see that regularly with Dennison Gold cases, the last 3 digits of the case serial number (not the movement number) are stamped on the case and caseback, in normal Arabic numbers rather than Roman numerals. I haven’t noticed this on Omega made cases though.

 

But the numbers on the Dennison cases are plain Arabic numbers and not encrypted Roman numbers done by these lines, right?