A little over a month ago I stumbled on Desmond's blog about vintage Constellations and fell in love with the steel C-shape Omegas. In exploring the different iterations, I decided that I was most interested in the cal 751 168.029 with the "silky guilloche" dial and coin edge bezel. I spend countless hours scouring online shops trying to find one that was in good shape without being overpriced as I wanted it for daily wear. There really aren't a ton that meet these criteria except for the occasional few that pop up on eBay auctions. Armed with the knowledge gleaned from Desmond's articles but without the help of these forums (I somehow missed the vintage forums previously) I ended up buying the watch in the album below:

http://imgur.com/a/O8iM7#0

I wanted to see what everyone's impressions are about this watch and to see if there are any glaring inconsistencies that I may have missed from the pictures (from the seller) that I should be aware of. The watch was sold as 100% authentic Omega. Should I also take it somewhere to get checked out/certified as authentic or is that generally only done with higher-end watches? Should i also have someone check the condition of the movement? It seems to be running perfectly so far.

I have a small list of additional questions about how I intend to wear the watch that I will save until once I make sure that she's a keeper.

Thanks in advance,
Colin

 

Looks like a very nice example, congrats!

 

Looks fine to me too. While collectors would prefer an all-original watch, there are parts that need to be replaced occasionally. Looks like they were replaced with genuine Omega pieces so that's okay.

 

Thanks for the speedy responses. I will have to take it somewhere to have it opened up to inspect the movement. I guess I didn't notice the off colors that others are seeing because I assumed it was the lighting. But what I'm seeing now is that it looks a little too "flat" and seems to be missing the original plated finish. I'd like to have someone take a look at the movement anyway since the watch came with no kind of service history. Also, the crystal is supposed to be signed but I can't find a mark anywhere on it.

If everything looks good, I may go ahead and have them help size the bracelet for my skinny 6.5" wrist. From what I can tell, my wrists are perfectly proportioned for a bygone era as the C-Shape sits perfectly on my wrist.

 

It's tough to see the Ω symbol in the center. You have to use magnification and look at about a 45˚ angle just above the pinion.

 

Would it be uncouth to ask if I got a good/bad/ugly deal on it?

 

Depends on how you'll react to the news. We have no qualms discussing price / value.

 

I paid $775 with shipping.

 

That's not terrible at all. Not a bargain either, but we see plenty of new members that really get shafted by paying bigger bucks for redials and frankens. If that's your first foray into vintage Omega you did friggin' excellent compared to the others!

BTW, wanna know how bad I f---ed up with my first vintage Omega purchase?

 

Well, I knew based on Desmond's guides that they should be in the $6-700 range but I was amazed by how many of them were set at BIN prices north of $1,000. I was starting to think that in the 1-2 years that some of his articles had been written that the market had taken off (just my luck). I had to wade through a ton of really dreadfully cared for watches, clear forgeries and watches with little to no pictures or description. I might've been inclined to take a flyer on some of these but they were also priced very high. Wishful thinking?

Regardless, I'm relived that I didn't end up pursuing my original plan to drop twice a much on a Rolex 16014. The Omega is just as pretty and now I can justify two of them!


I'm almost afraid to ask about your first purchase... ok... how bad was it?

 

I spent $550 on a total franken about 6 years ago. It was a 14.381 case with a bad redial and a caliber 561 (date) inside. That reference should house a 551 (no-date). I had some vintage Bulovas, Elgins, and Longines so how hard could anothe brand be, right? It did have a two tone Beads of Rice bracelet, which were pretty uncommon. Eventually I gave it away to another forum member who was fascinated with pie pans. Hoi gave me a proper dial for it so all the kid had to do was track down a 551 from 1961 for it to be correct. While it was a total loss, it gave me the drive to learn and I got plenty of karma points. Another good side effect was one of the experienced Omega collectors took me under his wing and helped me score a sweet 18ct Seamaster caliber 591 for a real bargain.

 

Well that sounds like exactly what I was afraid of. I'm glad that now I have the forums as a resource! It looks like while your karma wasn't exactly redeemable for cash, it certainly helped you score a nice watch in the end.

 

Hahahaha... funny you should ask. Considering my wife still doesn't know about the Connie, I might be well served to buy her something next. Then again, I do need a dress watch. Maybe I'll save up for an 18k C-shape since they seem to fit me so well.

 

I'm talking the watch to a watchmaker tomorrow afternoon to have them take the case back off and take a quick peek at the movement. She seems to be keeping great time (about 1.5-2.0sec/day slow) but I'd like to talk to a professional just in case.

A quick question about the behavior of the seconds hand: when setting the time and advancing counterclockwise the second hand either stops, runs counterclockwise or jumps back about 5 sec or so back and forth. After I release tension on the winding mechanism everything operates properly. I'm familiar with the stopping and/or running backwards on other non-hacking movements but not the jumping. Is this normal behavior?