Hi, Do you think it is real? 284 caliber. How much does it worth? Should I make it restored?

 

Looks like a junky money pit to me. You could make it look pretty, but it would lose the originality and would cost maybe £400-500 by the time you have paid for a service and redial. I would steer clear at any price personally.

 

The dial and movement is more or less worthless. Case could probably be sold for a smaller amount, but unless it has sentimental value for you, it is by no means a good idea to spend money on restoration and service.

But yes, it is definitely a genuine Omega from the 50´s.

 

I don't think it'd cost as much as @padders estimates ... but even at the rates I can get, you're probably at the £200 mark. Maybe £50 on top of that. That is a service and repair, replacement crown and crystal. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you like that dial? I've seen some damaged dials that look great ... I'm not at all convinced this one will turn out well. Factor in anything up to another £100 for a replacement dial (but you might get one at half that).

Edit: I should say that once you've spent that money, you're looking at a watch that's worth a few hundreds at best. The story is totally different if you say it was a relative's ... in that case, it could be priceless.

 

I was including a redial fee. D Bill or V Soni would likely be circa £125-150 for that at a guess. I wouldn't personally want to redial a watch but that one is pretty far gone! As you suggest though, perhaps a better condition replacement dial may be a cheaper option.

To be honest, I may have been exaggerating the cost to reinforce the suggestion that the watch was a money pit.

 

There are parts out there for these watches. It's not like it's a rare watch and I've seen similar for sale, serviced (but that's a whole new can of worms), for less than £600. Personally, I really don't get how people can do that ... but what do I know?

When it comes to a redial, I would usually draw the line at anything beyond reluming or treating and stopping any corrosion. Still, you have to take each project on its merits and, to the owner, this may be worth spending the money on.

 

Yes, I was ignoring the sentimental angle, if it were a family member's then financial considerations are less important.

 

Anyways, thank you

 

Yes it is a sentimantal thing.

 

If you're willing to post your approximate location, one or more of the members here may be able to put you in touch with a watchmaker close to you. Pretty much anything can be repaired, at a cost. It's up to you to decide if you want to spend the sort of money on it that has been mentioned.

As I've said, my own thought is that £250 will get you something ticking and keeping reliable time. How much more than that you want to spend is dependent on what you want the finished watch to look like.

 

It is true that the movement does not look nice, and that it will probably need some parts to be changed. But before taking it apart and inspecting the parts, there is not much that can be said for sure. We do not know if the balance is good, if the wheels are good, etc.

So I would not speculate on a precise cost for the service. What have been said can perfectly be true, but hard to know from here! I agree that a poor esthetic condition usually goes with technical issues, but it is not always the case.

Concerning the dial, I agree it looks pretty damaged. In a watch with sentimental value, I guess it is up to every one to keep it as is or have it redone.

 

There is a third option to leaving the dial as-is or having a full blown redial, you could try and get the dial cleaned and re-lacquered.

It doesn't always work and you may lose some of the print, but let's be honest, you're not starting from a high level here so I'd consider that as a reasonable balance between improving the aesthetic and cost:value

 

If the watch has a sentimental meaning for you, I suggest you leave it alone. It will never be fit to wear unless you have the dial repainted or replaced, and if you do that it will no longer be the same watch. If you really want to wear it in memory of your father / grandfather / whoever, you could look for a better example of the same model, wear that one and keep the original watch as it is.