Hi

I'm looking to buy a vintage Omega - I love old, elegant, timeless pieces and Omega feels right! Trouble is, I know next to nothing about Omega, you guys all seem to and so I'm hoping you can direct me.

I love 1950s/60s/70s watches. Gold. Elegant watches (this kind of thingPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network - 1959/60 Omega).

Is there a 'hierarchy' of Omega sub-brands ie. Seamaster more desirable than De Ville? Are some cals better than others?

What's the best way to avoid frankenwatches/fakes? Are there checks that I can make to help identify I'm looking that the real thing?

Thanks - much appreciated. I'll share pictures of my first purchase when it comes. Soon!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

First important thing in collecting vintage Omega is how to avoid redial and frankened watches. (that kind of thing is a redial, avoid)
And yes some models are better than others and some cals are better than others.
The best way for you to do right now is not buying anything, spend about 3 hours a day in this forum in 3 months and ask a lots of questions.

Best.

 

Sound advice, thank you. Credit card locked away.

Redial = new dials?

 

Redial means the dial was repainted , not original.

 

Clear, thanks. Is it fair to say that a collector would not want a redial, but an amateur nice watch wearer would likely not care so much?

 

Sure you can put anything on your wrist as you like.

 

You can choose anything you like.
However, keep in mind that most collectors want their watches as original as possible. As you grow in collecting, you eventually will go in this direction so why not start off with an all original example.

 

Nods. Sound. I'll look for that.

For any given year, were there a range of cals in use? For example, in 1960, were the company only using 285s or a small selection. I think I understand that some cals are considered better than others and I'm wondering if that means that certain *years* are also therefore considered better.

 

Big generalisations, but as a guide - as far as movements go, there is a kind of hinge point around 1955 -57 where the automatic movements change over from the "bumper" 3xx series (which were introduced in 1943) to the full-rotor 5xx series. Both families of auto movements are excellent, but the 500 and later series are easier to get parts for these days. The other oddity to bear in mind is that the movement is usually the same for a given model no matter how flashy the rest of the watch gets. So the 354 chronometer rated movement in a 1954 Constellation Deluxe with gold dial and 18k case is exactly the same as the 354 movement in the most basic steel cased version of the same date.

 

Hoi

Why do you think that Dennison is a redial?

 

OMEGA font looks odd, second track isn't crisp and no SWISS OR SWISS MADE, which should be on one of this vintage.

 

Fair comment, Norm. My feeling is also that the minute track is too heavy, usually the minute marks are quite fine, as here -



This one is roughly the same date, and also has alpha hands, and has the Swiss Made. But quite often these Dennisons do not have Swiss Made on the dial, I don't know why -



Again alpha hands and 1961 this time. Both these examples are from Robin Armstrong's site.

 

Ok, so what are Alpha hands?

 

We are talking about the shape or style of the hands. Those two examples above have alpha hands.

This one of mine has leaf hands -



Then there are dauphine hands (my American watch) -



And finally (and much too modern for me) there are index hands -



So now you know . . . .

 

I do! Great. Agree too. Those modern things...