Omega 30T2SC (~1940) - Does anyone know this dial?

EthanEsrah · Oct 22, 2022

Dear Omega Aficionados,
Some time ago, I purchased a vintage Omega wristwatch with 30T2SC movement (16 jewels, sweep second) in a stainless steel case. According to the serial number of the movement (93xxxxx), the production year should be about 1940. Here are some pictures:

(I know the movement looks a bit butchered, you can see the remains of every watch maker that ever put his screwdriver on it 😉. However, it still keeps good time.)

I have some questions regarding this watch:

During my research, I have not found other Omega watches with exactly this dial design (railroad tracks, arabic numerals for all hours, two circles framing the hour numerals).
Did you ever came across such dial?
How big was the variety of dial designs for 30T2 movements (-> rather big watches) in the early 40s?

Movement and case do not seem to belong together. As said, the movement has a 93xxxxx serial number while the case back has a 100xxxxx that dates it to about 1944. Its diameter (without crown) is 35,1mm with lug-to-lug of 40,7mm, the lugs are straight and quite slim with drilled holes. From outside, the case back is rounded without any markings.
Would you agree that movement and case do not belong together (making my watch a "slight" mariage)?
Do you know other wristwatches from Omega of the 40s from which this case could have been lended?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Best regards,
Sven

mac_omega · Oct 23, 2022

IMO case and movement are in the correct number range and belong together. Its common that the case serial# is a bit higher than the movement serial#. The dial looks OK although I must admit that I have not seen this type of dial before (which does not mean a lot as there have been so many dial variants...).
I like the watch 👍

EthanEsrah · Oct 23, 2022

Thanks a lot, @mac_omega, for the information. For a moment of confusion, I thought that the movement and the case serial number has to be the same to be an "original". I checked my two Omega W.W.W.s from about the same time, they both have movement serial numbers in the 102xxxxx range and case serial numbers in the 106xxxxx range. It seems that the case serial numbers were a bit ahead of the movement serial numbers at that time.

Here are two more pictures of my watch:

Somewhere in the past, the original radium lume of the numerals must have been replaced by "modern" lume. From originality standpoint, this is a bit sad but as a vintage watch collector it's also a kind of relief that there is one watch less where I have to worry about radiation 😉.

Since this is the first thread I created in this forum I owe you a short introduction:
My name is Sven, I live in southern Germany (near Heidelberg) and collect vintage watches (both pocket and wrist watches). My affair with Omega started about ten years ago when I bought a classic Speedmaster Moonwatch (311.30.42.30.01.005) and then a Seamaster 300M Co-Axial (212.30.41.20.03.001). From there, I traveled back in time with my Omega collecting habits, buying watches from the 70s, 60s and some from the 40s. My "oldest" Omega wristwatch is a contemporary mariage of a 1920s pocket watch movement (caliber 17SB) and a modern stainless steel case.

SkunkPrince · Oct 23, 2022

This is my 30T2 of similar age, but closer to 1950 than 1940.

There are raindrops on it, not dial errors. 😀

I tend to agree with you that it is suspicious that your dial and hand lume does not match, and that, while it looks very good, your dial migiht be refinished. It is also possible that the entire dial is a factory replacement from having the watch serviced by Omega at some point in the past.

At this point, I'd be thinking, "it is what it is" and get an expert to mix some matching Super Luminova for your hands.

By no means is this a suggestion of insurmountable problems but rather a celebration of what you have and a path to continued enjoyment of a very nice watch that you have every right to be proud of.

t268 · Oct 24, 2022

SkunkPrince
This is my 30T2 of similar age, but closer to 1950 than 1940.

There are raindrops on it, not dial errors. 😀

I tend to agree with you that it is suspicious that your dial and hand lume does not match, and that, while it looks very good, your dial migiht be refinished. It is also possible that the entire dial is a factory replacement from having the watch serviced by Omega at some point in the past.

At this point, I'd be thinking, "it is what it is" and get an expert to mix some matching Super Luminova for your hands.

By no means is this a suggestion of insurmountable problems but rather a celebration of what you have and a path to continued enjoyment of a very nice watch that you have every right to be proud of.

I would think that messing with that lume might be detrimental to the person working on it given that it's radium, no?

X350 XJR · Oct 24, 2022

t268
I would think that messing with that lume might be detrimental to the person working on it given that it's radium, no?

Well actually NO.

SkunkPrince · Oct 24, 2022

What he said. The professionals take necessary precautions.

Ocean · Oct 24, 2022

I did not seen this dial before..just wanted to tell that I like the condition of this watch very much 😀

EthanEsrah · Oct 24, 2022

SkunkPrince
I tend to agree with you that it is suspicious that your dial and hand lume does not match, and that, while it looks very good, your dial migiht be refinished. It is also possible that the entire dial is a factory replacement from having the watch serviced by Omega at some point in the past.

At this point, I'd be thinking, "it is what it is" and get an expert to mix some matching Super Luminova for your hands.

According to the professional vintage watch dealer I bought the watch from, the dial was indeed refinished. Unfortunately, I did not get any "before" pictures so I cannot say what was done beside a general cleaning and replacing of the radium. However, this is nothing I care a lot for this specific watch.

In reality, the color of the numerals is a lot darker than shown on my second set of pictures. There, the numerals seem quite bright due to the lighting. The "real" color is more like on the first set of pictures. This also means that the color difference between the and hands is much smaller. I have no problem with the difference and will keep everything as is.

EthanEsrah · Oct 24, 2022

t268
I would think that messing with that lume might be detrimental to the person working on it given that it's radium, no?

You're right that you should be rather safe than sorry when it comes to radiation. However, in my case it's clear that the lume of the hands is not radium (although it looks a bit older and darker than the lume of the numerals). There are two reasons why I can claim this:

1. I check all my vintage watches with a quite expensive radiation detector that can measure alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. There is no radiation whatsoever coming from this watch.

2. When I charge the lume with bright light, both the numerals and the hands are glowing (see picture below). If not exposed to light for some time, none of them is glowing. If it would be radium it would either always glow or never glow, even if exposed to light. Regarding the age of radium watches, the latter will happen much more often.

SkunkPrince · Oct 24, 2022

EthanEsrah
If it would be radium it would either always glow or never glow, even if exposed to light. Regarding the age of radium watches, the latter will happen much more often.

Not strictly true. It depends on the nature of the luminous material.

I have vintage alarm clocks thay still faintly glow from the radium, but after being in some bright light for a while, will glow more. So I give this one a huge "it depends".

I don't know how long my extraordinary dark-adapted night vision will last, but that watch I shared above? I can see it glowing.

EthanEsrah · Oct 25, 2022

SkunkPrince
Not strictly true. It depends on the nature of the luminous material.

I have vintage alarm clocks thay still faintly glow from the radium, but after being in some bright light for a while, will glow more. So I give this one a huge "it depends".

Thanks for the information. Although I have 20+ wrist watches with radium dials, I never came across one that still glowed (not even slightly). All of them were "burned out", that means, the zinc sulphide that was mixed with radium to emit fluorescent light was exhausted. Maybe, this is different in alarm clocks where the amount of lume is much higher.

So you're right, "it depends". Anyhow, my reason 2 was only a poor man's rule of thumb for wrist watches. If you want to be sure you have to use a radiation detector. It's advantageous if it can measure alpha, beta, and gamma radiation but alpha is not that important. Although radium itself only emits alpha radiation, this type of radiation is more or less completely shielded by the watch case and glass (Radon gas is a different story). Almost all the radiation you can measure from outside is beta or gamma radiation that stems from decay products of radium like Pb-214 or Bi-214.

Tire-comedon · Oct 25, 2022

Hello,
The dial looks period correct, if redone, it is well done. Here is one very similar, yours has an extra circle around the hour markers, with a 23.4SC (serial 89XXXXX) in a large 35.5mm case (ref CK 2015, serial 97XXXXX) :

Omega 30T2SC (~1940) - Does anyone know this dial?

EthanEsrah

mac_omega

EthanEsrah

SkunkPrince

t268

X350 XJR

SkunkPrince

Ocean

EthanEsrah

EthanEsrah

SkunkPrince

EthanEsrah

Tire-comedon

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