I was gonna post this in the Vintage Constellations Show and Tell thread but after doing more research on it I think it may deserve its own thread... I'd like to share my latest addition with the community, a Constellation 2887-2 with a caliber 505 movement dating to around 1958. The word people seem to ascribe to this reference is "uncommon." Very few of these seem to have surfaced on the Forum. From what I gather, what makes them unique is that there just are not too many of these out there but that they also seem to be a crossover between the 50's styles with the crosshair, CHRONOMETRE spelling, and overall similarity to the 2852 case styling. Some of them even spell out CHRONOMETER and look similar to classic flat dialed 60's stainless steel models. Oh yeah, and their most salient characteristic - the screw on caseback. This is what I've gathered over the past few days of combing through past threads, I could be wrong and missing a bunch of things too. Desmond @mondodec wrote an article on the 2887 series here: (http://omega-constellation-collecto.../omega-constellation-black-sheep-returns.html) Well my watch came from a nice gentleman who had inherited the watch from - wait for it - his uncle. He tells me it was just too dressy for both him and his uncle for most occasions and it lived most of its live in - wait for it - a drawer. So the story is that it has lived an easy life and I think it shows. As with many 50's Constellations, patina is often inevitable. It seems that nearly 60 years in a drawer has exposed it to some humidity. I assume that it wasn't in a particularly humid environment as this one seems to have done better than most, but I guess these cases just aren't air-tight (that's my guess to account for the patina). Now for the watch (the whole watch is pretty dang reflective so bear with me): Now for some macro shots: Finally, a proper wristshot: And finally, finally, a group shot with my 2852 textured dial Constellation: So yeah, I'm pretty happy about this one too. I'm gonna wear this one for a while but I'm honestly not too sure I'm gonna keep this one. I'm stacked with dress watches (good problem to have, right?) and my wife is not as enamored by this one as she is by the 2852. Nevertheless I'm gonna hold on to this one a while before making any rash decisions. Though I'm sure they'll see this thread at some point, I'll tag some present/past owners of these guys... @MSNWatch (who has the exact same style but his is from a time-machine. ) @kyle L @hoipolloi @dougiedude @Tom Dick Thanks for reading! Ben
A cool piece! I have not seen one come up in a while. Congrats! I'm not sure I would call that one a more traditional one...they seem to be more uncommon in steel.
Each one is uncommon, so more/less uncommon just means we have seen one or two more of the reference. I'd love to see a 2887 roll call (in fact, I'll edit the thread title...). I think the traditional part, if I can read @MSNWatch's mind, is the flat/domed dial with the chronometER spelling vs. piepan dial "RE" spelling. One more thing: For all the complaining about the decagonal crowns on 50's Constellations, they finally seem to have fixed it on the 2887 (was it the last of the decagonals?). If you can see, the center protrudes a little bit and is actually really easy to wind.
I recently acquired one of these. 2887-1 SC on the back of the case with a 505 movement. I forgot to grab a picture when I was having it serviced. The serial number dates it to 1956.
What a beauty and a very interesting ref. I’ll post a picture of one that’s, unfortunately, not mine even though it should’ve been. Won the auction for it on eBay where the ref was falsely advertised (IIRC as a 167.005) for a very, very fair amount. The seller then mentioned he couldn’t seem to find it anymore and it must’ve been stolen… Wear yours in good health Ben.