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  1. Rallycat Oct 26, 2019

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    Thought I’d start off posting this Seamaster my wife found for me. She knows I’m something of a watch nerd/junkie and wanted me to add another one to my collection that had some sentimental value (I have my great grandfather’s 1906 Waltham pocket watch he got after graduating medical school and ‘69 Mido my dad wore when I was born).

    From what I can see she did okay for her first vintage buy with no real knowledge except knowing I prefer the styles of the 50s through the 70s and I that I don’t personally want to wear anything over 40mm wide with rare exceptions.

    There is an odd dent on the side of the dial at 9 o’clock. Most everything seems in order but I could be wrong. If there are issues please educate me. Honestly my head sometimes swims with all the different models and variations Omega has produced.

    I believe the movement is a caliber 501. Said to have been cleaned and serviced by the dealer who sold it to her. It does keep accurate time. I don’t make it a habit of checking how many seconds it adds or loses but I check it periodically against cell phone time and it’s keeping pace with the minutes.

    The strap is one I ordered through a local dealer - same one I bought the modern Omega buckle from. I wanted a period buckle but didn’t want to find out later I bought a fake. I’ve since found a guy in El Paso who makes custom straps to your exact specs both for lug width and lengths. He’ll show you all the available hides and for $60 plus a week or so of waiting you get a true original around your wrist.

    I learn something from most every thread I read through and hope to do so here too. Thanks for reading.
     
    C00F2E57-78C8-45BC-9C20-92019613B9AD.jpeg 79EEEEDD-8ECD-4C31-B0F0-0C3D099D51A0.jpeg E47C44D3-38FF-48BF-BEB4-7599E1D81DD9.jpeg F63C7628-C3A8-4214-94C2-7FB614956F7B.jpeg 2FF383EC-1B3F-4DA1-8759-479F03E1853B.jpeg 8D799559-FB12-4604-A3DB-8C75764B5A4B.jpeg E6AC4A4A-036B-4FB7-9F89-7058EBD16EFE.jpeg
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  2. krogerfoot Oct 26, 2019

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    Why not take a photo that shows the dial in clear focus? If the crystal is screwing up your phone camera's autofocus, it sometimes helps to take a few shots in rapid succession while moving the camera/phone slightly away from the watch.
     
  3. Henneth Oct 27, 2019

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    Based on the rather bad pictures:
    - dial most likely refinished
    -wrong replacement crown
    an in focus picture of the dial would definitely help
     
  4. Spruce Sunburst dial fan Oct 27, 2019

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    I think your wife did better than okay. She found a nice looking, good running, classic 1958 Seamaster with a nice movement which you’ll enjoy wearing and, unless you bump into a serious collector or (which you won’t, given it’s a present from Mrs Rallycat) offer the watch for sale, no one will be concerned about the finer points of originality.

    If the dial is re-finished, and it may or may not be, it’s been done very professionally and, as we’ve read in other threads, this was not infrequently done in pre-collecting times by watch owners who wanted to keep their daily wearer serviced and crisp looking.

    If you find the correct crown you can have it switched at some stage in the future (probably without mentioning it to Mrs R).

    Here’s my 1954 bumper with the correct crown and a similar style dial.


    9382613B-9E82-4766-8417-D9019AC18054.jpeg
     
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  5. Rallycat Oct 27, 2019

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    Thanks for the input. I missed the crown. After the bill for restoring my old Mido I’ve developed a real fear of visiting my usual watchmaker, which I’ll need to do to replace the crown with a correct one.

    I don’t want to sound like a dunce (though given enough time I will) but I have to ask. Do I need to watch out for fake crowns? I wouldn’t think that would be a profitable scam. I could be lazy about it and just hand it to the watchmaker and let him find it.

    This dial pic is better. I’ve waffled on whether it’s a redial or not. I know what she paid and it’s not enough to have “the talk” with her. I’ll never sell it anyway - it’s from Mrs. Rallycat. Still, if it is a redial then what is the giveaway? 92AB769A-E6D2-4BC6-9F69-BA133C86BFB6.jpeg
     
  6. JimInOz Melbourne Australia Oct 27, 2019

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    It's a re-dial because the ink marks shouldn't be on the major index markers (for starters).

    Rather irrelevant though as; it was a gift from somebody special; it would fool 99% of the population; it's still a reasonable vintage Omega.
     
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  7. STANDY schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector Oct 27, 2019

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    Nice gift, yep redial. Look at enough and you will understand. Never mention it to Mrs Rallycat.

    Still a nice watch you will get plenty of enjoyment out of.
     
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  8. krogerfoot Oct 27, 2019

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    I wouldn't sweat the redial. Your wife has good taste and found you a nice watch that you'll be happy to wear. It looks pretty good.

    The tactful approach might be to take the watch in for necessary maintenance after a decent interval and let your watchmaker point out the redial and crown to you. I kind of doubt a non-watch geek would particularly care if you replaced those with the correct items, though I have no idea how difficult or expensive this would be. I suspect she'll still feel like it's the watch she picked out for you, and she'd be right.
     
  9. Rallycat Oct 27, 2019

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    Ah yeah, I see the marks at the indices. Fortunately they don’t stand out unless you’ve got it super close or look at a zoomed pic. I’ve seen worse. Not sure I’ll do anything about that. Might keep an eye out for a dial and correct crown. The way I see it is if it’s a redial then putting in another one shouldn’t be too much more of a sin.

    Thanks to y’all for the extra eyes and advice. Did get some more knowledge in the bargain.
     
  10. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Oct 28, 2019

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    A lovely gift. Enjoy it! A crown replacement at next service would be on my list, and maybe the watchmaker can clean the ink off of the indices. A handmade strap is special, very cool.
     
  11. JwRosenthal Oct 28, 2019

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    Crown replacement is common at service as the gasket is captured and can’t be replaced. Most likely the watchmaker that did the last service didn’t have access to an omega parts account and just replaced it with whatever they could get- I never let that bother me as it shows at least it has been serviced, and a proper crown can be sourced for little money.
    As for the dial, the tell-tale to me as I have learned from being a member here is all in the fonts-
    Yours

    D0C0D681-9295-4EEB-8469-9F42255B047C.jpeg

    An original
    DC4BF7FA-A3EA-4151-9532-5875949B060E.jpeg
     
  12. Claven2 Oct 28, 2019

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    As radials go, that one isn't too bad.

    If it's a forever keeper, you could send it to bienne for a restoration and it would come back with a papered official dial refinish that might be a bit better. Won't please a collector, but the watch would look new when returned.