Dear forum experts

I recently bought a vintage Omega Chronometre 30T2RG Ref. 2364 in steel. The watch was a real bargain and I bought it mainly with the intention of using it as donor watch. Now that the watch has arrived I am considering having it serviced and keeping it as is, as it actually looks great in the flesh and has a wonderful patina.

However, I would highly appreciate to get some opinions on the originality of the dial first... To me the dial looks good, except the missing seconds register on the subdial. I have never seen a 30t2rg without seconds register on the subdial. What is your opinion on this?

Do any of you have any experience with the conservation of dials? As you can see on the picture the dial started flaking a bit around the edges. Nothing too bad yet, but if I decide to keep the watch I would like to prevent this flaking from progressing further. Can the dial be conserved by having a layer of lacquer applied by a watchmaker or similar?

Thanks a lot for your insights and answers in advance!

Peter

 

1st glance looks like the dial could be original and the sub seconds refinished but need better photos and without the logo obscured by the hands to make better determination. Crown is probably a replacement.

 

The dial looks original but the subdial is a bit weird without the smaller hashes in between.

Would need larger high resolution photos without crystal - can you take off the bezel yourself?

 

Unfortunately not - I will bring it to a watchmaker and will post better pictures.

Thanks a lot for the answers!

 

Hi Evan,

I don´t want to sound like a busybody but I am sorry I must partly contradict. Please do not feel offended - not intended at all.

Firstly you can´t take an advertisment as a proof for dial design in all its details - we know how creative artists have been even in Speedy ADs
ADs can be a help to find unknown dial designs but I would not rely on such tiny details.

Secondly it is better to compair apples with apples and pears with pears...

Here is an example from the dial compilation out of my chronometer-book which comes nearest to the dial design of the OP although there are small differences.



The obvious difference is that its a champagne-coloured dial with pink gold furniture but this is not so important, it could well exist as a silvered variant also.
Another difference is the lack of SWISS MADE but the presence of all minute hashes.

And here is a similar version of this dial design:



This is a section of an old black and white photo from a vintage dial-sample catalogue which I was able to study in the Omega Archive.
The quality of the photo is not good but you can make out all details. This is not an AD created by some artist but a real b&w photo of a real dial sample of an (unknown) dial producer - judging by the font it was a dial from the Swiss company Flückiger.

See the different design version on the sub-dial, also without SWISS MADE and most likely a silvered dial, not champagne. And the numerals (hour markers) are on a circularly-brushed zone creating a two-tone effect

Edited after having enlarged the OP´s photo (did not expect a noob to post extra large photos in his first post ):

The dial is original for sure.
It is a slightly different variant of the first dial design shown above. I will gladly include a photo of the dial in my book if the OP allowed me to so.

 

OPs photos are actually very large, just have to click it and go to full resolution.

I think is may have been silvered dial with the lacquer turned golden.

 

Yes, you are right, it is a silvered dial with heavily degraded lacquer - can be seen where it flakes... it has nothing to do with smokers or the like

TBH I did not try to magnify it further - I have just done so - yes, the dial is 100% original

 

Erich,

With regard to the dial being signed with “Swiss Made”, is it safe to say that it was produced in the late 40s or does it have to do with another factor such as dial manufacturer?

Michael

 

Michael,

I have not found any rule for the presence or lack of SWISS MADE for most of the dials.
There is only a small group of dials known to bear "SWISS" only (not mandatory but often) - it is the type shown in the AD which Evan (gator) posted.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge, highly appreciated! I will definiteley leave the watch as it is

I will try to post a better quality picture of the dial without crystal soon and also of the movement.

The exact reference is 2364-4 and the movement number 10584XXX. So it should date to approx. 1945?