Jabotinsky
·Fellow enthusiasts,
I write to you all after coming across a family heirloom that no one in my family thought to give a second look. For my most recent birthday, my father passed down to me his uncle's Longines Automatic Olympian. It's a beautiful and unique piece. After discussing other family heirlooms and trinkets, he sent me a picture of his father's (my grandfather and my namesake) Omega Seamaster De Ville, laying at the bottom of a drawer with a dusty box. My father thought it was comparable to something like a Timex. To be clear, neither of us were very familiar with the world of fine mechanical watchmaking prior to finding these pieces. In the last year, I have taken an intense interest to automatic watches and specifically in maintaining these two vintage watches to the best of my ability. When I heard that he had a Seamaster laying around in a drawer, I knew it was something special.
I took this Seamaster De Ville to an Omega boutique that is local to me this past weekend and I was told by the friendly staff that the watch would require a round trip to Switzerland for approximately 6 months in order to undergo a full restoration. The gentleman I spoke with informed me that the crown is not an original crown, and I could not find an original Omega strap to present with the watch either. It appears that my grandfather wore this watch with a Bulova expansion band (included in pictures).
It might be worth while to add a few crucial details here before I eventually get to my question, namely, that this watch also appears to be engraved on the back of the case. Something that my grandmother likely had written as a note to my grandfather when she gifted this watch to him. I think I would want to preserve that as much as possible. I also want to preserve as many of the original Omega components as possible, something that the gentleman at Omega informed be would be difficult, due to apparent water damage on the face/back of the face/in the movement.
The Omega salesman informed me that the cost of a full restoration would be approximately $2500, clearly more than the current value of the watch. I have no intention of selling it, but I am still in my 20's and not necessarily in the position to spend $2500 for a restoration. My question is: would I be better off taking it to an authorized Omega watch repair center? Would I still receive any papers or authentication that the watch was rehabilitated by Omega?
Thank you all for reading. I very much appreciate any and all guidance.
![DSC_0112.jpg DSC_0112.jpg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176898-1c8effb8d21127e880f0f234d859d0d3.jpg?hash=HI7_uNIRJ-)
I write to you all after coming across a family heirloom that no one in my family thought to give a second look. For my most recent birthday, my father passed down to me his uncle's Longines Automatic Olympian. It's a beautiful and unique piece. After discussing other family heirlooms and trinkets, he sent me a picture of his father's (my grandfather and my namesake) Omega Seamaster De Ville, laying at the bottom of a drawer with a dusty box. My father thought it was comparable to something like a Timex. To be clear, neither of us were very familiar with the world of fine mechanical watchmaking prior to finding these pieces. In the last year, I have taken an intense interest to automatic watches and specifically in maintaining these two vintage watches to the best of my ability. When I heard that he had a Seamaster laying around in a drawer, I knew it was something special.
I took this Seamaster De Ville to an Omega boutique that is local to me this past weekend and I was told by the friendly staff that the watch would require a round trip to Switzerland for approximately 6 months in order to undergo a full restoration. The gentleman I spoke with informed me that the crown is not an original crown, and I could not find an original Omega strap to present with the watch either. It appears that my grandfather wore this watch with a Bulova expansion band (included in pictures).
It might be worth while to add a few crucial details here before I eventually get to my question, namely, that this watch also appears to be engraved on the back of the case. Something that my grandmother likely had written as a note to my grandfather when she gifted this watch to him. I think I would want to preserve that as much as possible. I also want to preserve as many of the original Omega components as possible, something that the gentleman at Omega informed be would be difficult, due to apparent water damage on the face/back of the face/in the movement.
The Omega salesman informed me that the cost of a full restoration would be approximately $2500, clearly more than the current value of the watch. I have no intention of selling it, but I am still in my 20's and not necessarily in the position to spend $2500 for a restoration. My question is: would I be better off taking it to an authorized Omega watch repair center? Would I still receive any papers or authentication that the watch was rehabilitated by Omega?
Thank you all for reading. I very much appreciate any and all guidance.
![image4.jpeg image4.jpeg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176894-839843de1d82f9889d1bb1f36f13fa08.jpg?hash=g5hD3h2C-Y)
![image3 (1).jpeg image3 (1).jpeg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176895-59f00823580497a1d077898cb6a157bb.jpg?hash=WfAII1gEl6)
![image2 (1).jpeg image2 (1).jpeg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176896-7ce781f6b88b5be4123ae878b452a429.jpg?hash=fOeB9riLW-)
![image0 (1).jpeg image0 (1).jpeg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176897-0f765de99137f845683d85888b424980.jpg?hash=D3Zd6ZE3-E)
![DSC_0112.jpg DSC_0112.jpg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1176/1176898-1c8effb8d21127e880f0f234d859d0d3.jpg?hash=HI7_uNIRJ-)