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Landed a (special) Vintage Seamaster Chronograph

  1. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    It’s been a while I didn’t land something really special :)

    A couple of months ago @The Master of Speed pointed me towards some photographs he found on the web, saying he never saw such a dial before. I had a look and realized this was something really new to my eyes as well.

    I managed to contact the owner who wasn’t willing to sell his watch but noted my interest for an eventual later conversation. A month later, while I was desperately browsing the web searching for another example of that watch, the owner got back to me saying if I was ready to pay his (super fair) asking the watch was mine. Bingo!

    Next challenge was to get it back to Switzerland from the other side of the world... Indonesia... @sliceoftime_ has been of a great help for my due dilligence and vouched for the seller who he happened to personally know. :thumbsup:

    Two weeks of travel, delay, unexpected FedEx statuses, customs scrutiny, conversations and (quite some) stress, the unicorn has finally arrived.

    4C4A41C0-C427-4CA6-A2DD-4A58D7E47834.jpeg

    Big eyes at 3 & 9, double scale, small counter at 6, tritium indexes, no T swiss made

    5575CB73-ECED-4025-A5AA-CB2E7842BD2A.jpeg CE162F52-4266-490C-B549-515B449C9E59.jpeg F2FCB640-05E2-4E9F-B3CA-E30F7E234FE3.jpeg

    Everything is so special and so different from the regular Seamaster Chronographs we already know.

    6CDAAB15-EF38-4BC3-9B4F-DA3E709F6FC4.jpeg AB3B9DF5-A881-47ED-9303-23B67FC11F56.jpeg A60E5E21-C836-4FE2-A76F-E74B4C4D6B47.jpeg

    The champagne radial Seamaster was listed for sale. Now it’s clear it will stay with me - too much joy in putting them aside and play the spot the differences game. :)

    With this incredible find I think my 2019 is done. Now time for family and year end celebrations with a really special Seamaster on my wrist :cool:

    P. S: Happy SpeedyTuesday :D

    P. S. 2: Will update the 145.006 / 145.016 Seamaster Chronograph Research Thread later, when I get more infos about it :)

    P. S. 3: Huge thanks to the fellow collectors and friends who have been very helpful in routing this watch to me. Great community :thumbsup:
     
    Edited Dec 17, 2019
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  2. inchpincher Has your missing inches Dec 17, 2019

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    Ooof what a belter, congratulations. What is the reference/movement?
     
  3. DirtyDozen12 Thanks, mystery donor! Dec 17, 2019

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    Almost looks as though the concentric circles in the sub-dials have been covered. Additionally, the outer track and tachymeter look quite crude, in my view. But I am not versed in Omega (Longines is my calling). Wear on the hands is also intriguing. As is the length of the minute hand, which extends past the outer track. A perennial skeptic, I find this dial suspicious. Hope for further analysis and discussion.
     
  4. trash_gordon Dec 17, 2019

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    very nice. Great catch :thumbsup:
     
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  5. kip595 Dec 17, 2019

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    I saw one similar at a convention/jewel show a few years ago. I’m fairly certain whatever you paid; you did well! :)
     
    igloe likes this.
  6. STANDY schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector Dec 17, 2019

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    The OM EGA would be nice to see without the chrono hand in the way. As there is a bigger gap between the M and E than normal.
     
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  7. CJpickup57 Dec 17, 2019

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    I’m curious as to the brush lines throughout the outer dial and the arrow design. I have never seen that arrow fletching before. Are you thinking this was a prototype or something that snuck out the back door Kov?
     
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  8. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    I would tend to classify this in preproduction samples that never made it into production and eventually snuck out the back door yes. The swiss made no T dial makes me think of it. Also there is no other big eyes cal 861 dial to my knowledge that could have been used to reprint and end up with this. Maybe somebody has another opinion on that. In regards to the hands, the functions-color code would expect the subcounter hand to be orange but I will leave it as is - symmetry looks good to my eye. In regards to the wear, it doesn’t disturb me : we have a non mass-production sample here that is about 50 years old and had a life. I am rather happy with its condition instead.
     
  9. gpssti4 Dec 17, 2019

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    Looks like a cheap nasty fake. Send it to me and I’ll dispose of it for you. I’m not jealous at all! Seriously though, it’s a stunner and why God gave us two wrists - I’m expecting a double wristy photo very soon.
     
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  10. BenBagbag Dec 17, 2019

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    Very interesting watch. I like it! What's the difference between what you wrote above that I quoted and a dastardly "prototype" which we get on people's cases for?
     
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  11. gatorcpa ΩF InvestiGator Staff Member Dec 17, 2019

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    Something about the Omega logo doesn’t look right to me. The gap between the “M” and “E” looks too big.

    I think this is a better quality redial.
    gatorcpa
     
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  12. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    Yep but a redial of what? Which 861 dial would have been used as a base? :)

    I try not to call watches prototypes. Prototype immediately equals debate. But at the end it’s same same.
     
  13. bubu16 Dec 17, 2019

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    "Open Discussion". You have to be ready for all eventualities when you post here. What is being disected is going to be disected--and disected and so oooooooon!!!!! Rude awakening at times.
     
    kov likes this.
  14. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    That’s what it’s here for :)
     
  15. gatorcpa ΩF InvestiGator Staff Member Dec 17, 2019

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    The registers are pretty standard among several brands (Omega, Tissot, Lemania, etc.). All would have used same Lemania base movement, so dials would be interchangeable. Could have originally been any of those.

    I've seen good redials like this from Asian countries like Vietnam or S. Korea.
    gatorcpa
     
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  16. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    Fully agree with you on that. As I said above, I haven’t seen any dial of that shape among « Cousins » yet so I would be happy if someone matches the shape with something similar that could have served as base for redial :thumbsup:
     
  17. bubu16 Dec 17, 2019

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    Yup! All positive from my end.Whatever this Unicorn is white or black or spotty, it looks great man!!! Don't the hr and minutehands look like a bit of the Speedy Mark II though?
     
  18. gatorcpa ΩF InvestiGator Staff Member Dec 17, 2019

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    Isn't the whole point of a redial to wipe the dial clean and start over?
    gatorcpa
     
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  19. kov Trüffelschwein. Dec 17, 2019

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    you wipe everything but you don’t change the size of the subdials, do you? I don’t know, I have never really investigated on different techniques. To me, they don’t reshape, but only change cosmetics.
     
  20. bubu16 Dec 17, 2019

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    You mean a new dial configuration than the original one?
     
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