New to Omega, new to vintage

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

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 thing - 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!

 

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hoipolloi

·May 17, 2014·Vintage Omega Connoisseur

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.

 

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

Sound advice, thank you. Credit card locked away.

Redial = new dials?

 

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hoipolloi

·May 17, 2014·Vintage Omega Connoisseur

Redial means the dial was repainted , not original.

 

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

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?

 

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hoipolloi

·May 17, 2014·Vintage Omega Connoisseur

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

 

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Joe K.

·May 17, 2014·Curious about this text thingy below his avatar

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.

DigitalJonathan

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?

 

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

Joe K.

You can choose anything you like.
... 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.

 

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dsio

·May 17, 2014·Ash @ ΩF

1950s-1970 are the sort of golden years for non chronographs, in terms of chronographs I can't really think of any bad movements.

 

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John R Smith

·May 17, 2014

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.

 

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John R Smith

·May 17, 2014

Hoi

Why do you think that Dennison is a redial?

 

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X350 XJR

·May 17, 2014·Vintage Omega Aficionado

John R Smith

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.

 

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John R Smith

·May 17, 2014

X350 XJR

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.

 

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

John R Smith

alpha hands

Ok, so what are Alpha hands?

 

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John R Smith

·May 17, 2014

DigitalJonathan

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 . . . .😉

 

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DigitalJonathan

·May 17, 2014

John R Smith

so now you know

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