Hi everyone, first post on these forums. I picked this watch up in Hong Kong while I was living in the antiques district at an established Horology shop that sells lots of old 1960s and 1970s omegas. I don't know the first thing about watches, but a friend who claims to know a bit said the price was good (~$400 USD) for a watch in such good condition.

A few quick questions:
1) Is he right? what would fair price have been? (not that it matters now... I'm in love with the thing now anyway)
2) Have I got the model and year right? Anything I need to know about it?
3) What do I need to know about vintage Omegas as an owner? The watch was taken apart and calibrated/tinkered with (forgive my ignorance!) in front of me before they gave it to me.
4) Any red flags indicating it's a fraud? The horologist is well established so I assessed the risk of this to be quite low. nevertheless the face looks to be strangely clean.

Thanks for your help!

 

Hi
You have already answered your first question you love the watch..
As regards the price you paid $400 it seems very fair for a Seamaster 30.
It may have had its face refurbished, it is hard to tell from the photograph
you have furnished.

enjoy it

Cheers

Brian

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but:

The dial on your watch has been refinished, greatly diminishing its value and more importantly there should be a second hand on the the watch. Its difficult to tell from your photo, but the seconds post appears to be missing, which means there are broken and or missing parts in the movement. The caliber 286 movement typically fitted to these is a center seconds movement.

These were introduced in about 1961, so the date of 1963 seems correct.

In its present condition its unfortunately only worth about $150.

If there is any possibility of returning the watch you should do so.

 

Ditto on all points.

I'd add that the font for the 30 is too heavy and I would have expected Seamaster to have the coathanger 'S'.

For your future forays into buying vintage watches, a hint.

Any time the "was taken apart and calibrated/tinkered with" scenario arises beware of trickery. It's usually another ploy to convince you that the person doing the tinkering is an old school watchmaker doing you a favour. Bet he wore a loupe didn't he (it adds to the performance).

Don't get downhearted, it's still a nice looker and the 286 is a great movement and it's possible it can be repaired and the correct second wheel and hand fitted. If you want to spend the money I'd take it to a reliable watchmaker for an estimate.

Oh, and you're not the first one to be in this situation ;-)

 

out of interst, which shop in hk did you buy it from?
if you are interested in getting it restored / serviced drop me a line and I will give you the details of good watchmakers here

 

Thanks for the replies.

What a disappointment! I had my suspicions but figured an established horology shop (Berne Horology in Sheung Wan; there's also one in TST) wouldn't be trying to rip people off.

I'm back in Toronto now, so it doesn't look like I'll have much recourse. I went into it knowing that, however.