Dear OF members,

After spending a considerable amount of time reading posts on OF and Desmond’s blog on Constellations, I purchased my first vintage Omega, a 14k gold capped crosshair pie-pan.

Ideally, I would have posted pictures here prior to purchasing but I didn’t want this one to get away and the seller accepts returns.

There were no pictures of the movement but the seller indicated that it is a 168.004 with a cal. 561. I know, not ideal to purchase a watch without a picture of the movement; however, the seller has indicated that the watch is 100% original and offers returns if there are any issues with the watch.

My main concern is the dial, which appears to be original and unrefinished. My observations:
- The font is crisp
- MOY is OK
- the ‘n’s have the proper shape
- the ‘i’ is dotted
- the crosshairs appeared to be aligned correctly based on comparisons with other watches I have looked at
- the pie-pan lines are a bit more domed/rounded which is typical for the 004s
- sunburst effect looks correct

Please share your thoughts!

Thank you!

 

nice dial and welcome

 

a few things are worrisome to me

the boldness-vividness of the printing, but very nice serifs
the uncentered crosshair at the star and Omega symbol
some uneven minute marks

some of this may be due to parallax through the crystal and some by camera operator error

I would want to hold in my hand and evaluate it

 

I noticed the alignment of the crosshair and the star but, as you’ve noted, I was hopeful that it was due to slight distortion from the crystal.

Any other thoughts based on the picture I have posted?

 

Agree. The printing looks very fine, but there appear to be some alignment issues between the printing and various applied markers. Look carefully once you get it.

 

Can't stop looking at that 'OFFICIALLY' print

 

The sunburst looks too strong to me and I am not quite sure it is original dial or not.
Compared to mine.

 

The MOY looks good, the font and minute track all look pretty good. If it is a redial it has been well done.

 

The minute marks between 8 and 10 have a couple that appear to squiggle and also seem to be different lengths

 

I vote for original. The script looks good to me. I take the point about the minute markers but that could be due to the crystal. As has been said previously, different contractors made these dials and imperfections did sometimes get through.

 

Looking at mine, it has minute markers withdrawn. (I have the same example) Although I'm not sure of other variations.

Also, from the pics the star is slightly crooked and the omega symbol is misaligned - although it could be the angle.

 

Is this always the case?

 

I would say it's original... and I'm quite paranoid when it comes to connies...

 

https://omegaforums.net/threads/comepare-dial-168-004.23535/

 

Comparing with the same example for mine since they have the same case ref. - but then again I'm not too sure for every example as there may be imperfections and a ton of variations.

Although, the second pic you posted has wrong hands!

Can definitely be wrong though.

 

Yes, but I was focussing on that minute markers. It's a interesting point you came up with. I have two pie pan 168004 also with withdrawn minutemarkers but I have some doubts if this is always the case on a 168.004.

 

Looking over some examples and hoi posted a few years ago his that has non withdrawn minute markers, so yeah I'm probably wrong.

 

+1
The star alignment wouldn’t worry me too much but the misaligned Omega symbol is a bit odd though.

 

Seems opinions are 50/50 split on this one. Another vote for original here.

 

My vote is original as well.

The condition of the movement will provide some insight - i.e. likelihood of a redial increases if the movement is in poor condition or if there are signs of moisture or damage