My serviced Omega

[SuperToaster76]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to make this post to share my quick experience with an Omega piece I had serviced through them. The watch was purchased from South America and as you can see from the original photo the watch was in pretty bad shape cosmetically. It had pitting in the metal and dial, deep scratches throughout, the crystal was terribly scratched and partially cracked in the corner; But I decided to wind it up and off it went! It even kept really good time! However, I decided I wanted to get it properly restored. I know that word is disliked by many in the realm of collecting but I know this is not that kind of watch that is part of that group. To me, at least, getting it restored was a way of kind of honoring the previous owners who had it and wore it. I think many watches have their own stories to tell and many don't always survive long enough to continue on another generation of those stories. But I digress haha. I decided to take this into an Omega Boutique and was greeted by their staff and I explained the situation and after looking at the watch they were not convinced that they would be able to have it serviced or even restore it. Obviously these people are not watchmakers so what would they know? However, they decided to give it a shot and send the watch out to Switzerland. A few weeks later I get an email telling me that they are going to move forward with the restoration. I was extremely excited and approved the go ahead. Just about over a half a year later or so the watch had come back from Switzerland. I headed over to the boutique to see my watch. The representative came out with a red box with the omega logo on it and opened it up. Sitting inside was my brand new fully restored watch. I could not believe what I was looking it, it was complete night and day. It was nothing short of magic. The watch even came with a 24 month international service warranty and a really cool Victorinox Swiss Knife, a microfiber cloth, and the original worn parts they swapped out. However, the most amazing was the extract of the archive with the before and after photos as well as when the watch was made and where it was sent. 1936 to Germany. What a life it might have lived. I love all the little marks and scratches it has from previous use or who knows what; it's a survivor. So I just wanted to share this with everyone as this is my first Omega watch I ever owned and plan to keep it all my life.

 

[timjohn]

I'm not normally a fan of restoration, but in this case you've got a really amazing watch back. Well done

Did they change it from fixed bars to spring bars?

Edited: Mar 23, 2024

 

[gbesq]

Thumbs up from me as well. Too often watches like this end up in landfills. Kudos for giving it a new lease on life and wear it in the best of health.

 

[SuperToaster76]

timjohn

I'm not normally a fan of restoration, but in this case you've got a really amazing watch back. Well done

Did they change it from fixed bars to spring bars?

EDIT: Sorry as I was typing I was trying to think what kind of strap I originally used before service and thought it was a spring but yes you are right they were solid as I just looked and have the strap I used that went under the watch. But they were just bent. It currently has spring since they gave me two straps, a black calf and brown calf pair. I don't know if this model had fixed bars or not. I remember seeing someone post a original ad for this movement/watch but I don't think it said anything about the bars, just the lume for the numerals.

Edited: Mar 23, 2024

 

[Spruce]

A really nice watch and a great post

 

[Poppyboy]

This is great to see. Very nice job indeed!

 

[lawler]

This is a very sympathetic restore and you have given a watch a new lease of life. Kudos!

 

[mac_omega]

I don´t want to rain on the parade but I really don´t understand what Omega thought when they put this hour hand on the watch
It is much to slim and the proportions are totally off by this choice. See the original hands...
I would have a watchmaker put the old hands back.

 

[gbesq]

mac_omega

I don´t want to rain on the parade but I really don´t understand what Omega thought when they put this hour hand on the watch
It is much to slim and the proportions are totally off by this choice. See the original hands...
I would have a watchmaker put the old hands back.

I'm not sure about that. With the rest of the watch having been restored, don't you think that the original hands are going to look out of place?

 

[mac_omega]

To demonstrate how off the hour hand is I have photoshop-mounted the old hand next to the new one on the same scale.
The correct hour hand should be nearly twice as wide. It's simply ridiculous what Omega has done here.
I confess I could not stand this disproportion and I would either mount the old ones or at least search for a new (NOS) complete correct play of hands. But thats just me... to each his own...

 

[gbesq]

mac_omega

To demonstrate how off the hour hand is I have photoshop-mounted the old hand next to the new one on the same scale.
The correct hour hand should be nearly twice as wide. It's simply ridiculous what Omega has done here.
I confess I could not stand this disproportion and I would either mount the old ones or at least search for a new (NOS) complete correct play of hands. But thats just me... to each his own...

If he so desires, perhaps the OP could have a competent watchmaker refinish, relume and then remount the old hands so that they wouldn't look out of place aganst the refinished dial.

 

[Bruce235]

I like the new hands. They go better with the new dial.

 

[Poppyboy]

I agree. The white dial would clash with the older lume.

 

[DON]

I say leave the new hands. Would be difficult to match the new luminous plus restoration of the old hands.

finding replacements with matching lume would also be difficult

 

[SuperToaster76]

mac_omega

To demonstrate how off the hour hand is I have photoshop-mounted the old hand next to the new one on the same scale.
The correct hour hand should be nearly twice as wide. It's simply ridiculous what Omega has done here.
I confess I could not stand this disproportion and I would either mount the old ones or at least search for a new (NOS) complete correct play of hands. But thats just me... to each his own...

So I can understand your frustration with the hands being changed. I was a bit confused when I saw them the first time and on the long check list from the restoration, at the bottom it said, "Restoration of the Hands." So I thought they almost "reforged" them and reshaped them. I noticed how much more slim the hour hand was to the original. But they obviously just replaced them with similar ones. I later found out, from what I am aware, that due to the age of this watch, I believe Omega HAS TO remove all old Radium paint on any lume type of surface. So that is probably why they completely swapped out the hands. Now to my second point; when I looked up this caliber of movement from this era, there are countless variations of dial style, hand style and colors. I do see other watches of this caliber with the hands mine had. But I was able to find some that do have these style of hands; but they seem to be a different variation of the Caliber. I will add a photo. It is a Caliber 26.5 T3. Has the rail track around the edge and the sweeping sub seconds. Obviously a different variant but there's the hands they used. Now whether or not this matters, but maybe to bring hope and credit to Omega; only but a total of 6 parts in this watch were changed out for replacement due to wear, including the hands. However, the hands were not included in the worn parts baggie, again the whole radium paint thing. So I have to at LEAST give credit to Omega for not just quite literally reviving a watch that was clearly battered and nearly destroyed, but also in my opinion hardly tampering with the internals and just changing out a bunch of parts. The dial is still original and even has all the tiny little pock marks from the wear if you have it angled in the right light, while adjusting it again, the dial changes it's look to the newly finished beautiful silver like brushed finish. With the dial in that condition, even the watchmaker on site said they will most likely swap out the dial. All but 6 parts are original from the 1936 made movement. I think that's amazing. I don't know what kind of archive or images they have to their watches of this age, I am sure it is extensive but at some point I am sure they had to make a decision on what hands to use, and with their best judgement and choice, they chose these. I think the were going for the "Inner outer" look like many of these watches had with this caliber. (See the last photo) I apologize for the long reply, and I this is certainly not me arguing back at you by any means, just trying to clarify some stuff hopefully and give you my view point on the whole thing. Lastly, again if it's any kind of consolation, the hands lume are definitely a different kind than the ones applied to the hour markers. It might be hard to tell in photos and I will post a photo of the lume dial glowing, but it is a far weaker lume, and it does not glow nearly as bright as the markers do nor does it last nearly as long I mean the lume overall does not last long, maybe a couple of minutes at most at its brightest then it will quickly get weaker but still readable then just not glow bright enough which I don't mind. (In the photo the lume was exposed to a bright led light for several seconds so you can see the difference in the green color) It is also a more dark yellow than the somewhat pale color of the markers. I really do not plan on changing out the hands that are now part of this watch. I really love the way they look, the blue steel coloring of them and how the minute hand reaches to the outer rail of the dial and the hour to the inner edge. I believe they did a very honest and fair restore of this watch considering everything.

Edited: Mar 24, 2024

 

[Ogion]

I am so impressed by this dial restoration! Getting better and better. Give it 5-10 years and it will be indistinguishable as long as there is a reference

 

[kaplan]

mac_omega

I don´t want to rain on the parade but I really don´t understand what Omega thought when they put this hour hand on the watch
It is much to slim and the proportions are totally off by this choice. See the original hands...
I would have a watchmaker put the old hands back.

We are all tuned to different things, as someone who's not tuned to the original, I personally love it - while I also understand how it might look to you

Whenever I see a modern Omega I share how bad the tiny new logos look and get downvoted to oblivion on Reddit

 

[Wooden_spoon]

I love a good restoration! Do you mind disclosing how much Omega charged for it?

 

[SuperToaster76]

W Wooden_spoon

I love a good restoration! Do you mind disclosing how much Omega charged for it?

I think it depends on a case by case basis obviously but Omega charges at base price for a full restore I think 3.5k. That's for the watch to go to Switzerland and get the full treatment. I won't say how much I paid for mine alone though, sorry haha. They will tell you, once they reach a decision, of how much it will cost in total and you can opt out if you want of course. But at the Boutique they will give you that base price most likely. I think any of their watches pre 1950s are automatically sent to Switzerland if they need a restore. Hope that helps.

 

[Winston_Smith]

Many thanks for sharing your experience. Always wondered how the restoration processes go with the Omega HQ. Indeed, your watch seems to have gone through quite an adventure!