Omega Caliber 601 information please

GeeJay · May 5, 2022

Hello from NZ - this is my first post. For my 21st birthday, my grandparents bought me the above-mentioned watch. That was 54 years ago 🙁. Bring young with a limited budget and more pressing commitments on the horizon, servicing was ignored with predictable results. There was a bit more to the story but essentially, it got shoved in a drawer and ignored until this year when I decided to have it restored as a legacy item for our eldest son.

The restoration was done by an old time watchmaker and I feel quite emotional to have it back in working order again. Having seen various photos of 601's since the restoration, there seem to be slight variances. It may depend on the year of manufacture but I'd love some info if anyone knows the reasons for these variances. Firstly, mine has Geneve on the face where many don't. Most seem to have plain backs on them but mine has Seamaster as per the photo. That's got me stumped. Anyone care to venture opinions please?

As an aside, I took my grandfather's old pocket watch and chain along to the watchmaker at the same time to see if he could service it. I was surprised to find that its value was apparently similar to the Omega because it had a gold case. I was even more surprised when he said the chain was about 3 times the value of the pocket watch on account of it being high purity gold. It does have some minute hallmarks so I must see if I can get further information.

Thanks in anticipation.
Best regards,
Geoff

dsio · May 6, 2022

Hi Geoff, It’s not unusual to have a Seamaster caseback on some Geneve models, the same cases were sometimes fitted with some Seamaster dials and some Geneve dials. They’re a good watch as long as you don’t get them wet but Omega made a LOT of them and they were quite durable so the number of survivors is very high. That coupled with the fact that they were one of Omega’s entry level models is why they tend to be fairly cheap these days, I recommend them often as they’re among the best value Omegas out there and are superb to wear but value tends to be around $250-350 USD for a gold plate Geneve 601 at the moment.

JimInOz · May 6, 2022

G'day Geoff, welcome to the forum.

First, let's clarify terminology/nomenclature.

601 is the number of the caliber or movement and it was used in many of Omega's models such as Seamaster, De Ville and Genève.
It was introduced in 1960 and about 850,000 were produced. I regard it as an attractive and reliable movement.

Now to the actual watch. Omega had a habit in those days of using the same case/movement/dial combination for different watches. Slight changes (name on dial) resulted in different references and I've seen many legitimate Genèves with Seamaster casebacks.

GeeJay · May 6, 2022

Hi dsio and JiminOz,
Thank you so much, I couldn't wish for better tutorials, both history and correct nomenclature - massively appreciated. Now that I have it back, I think it deserves a fair degree of wrist time before handing over to our son. My everyday watch is a TAG Heuer which I bought in the 90s.

Just as an aside, high end watches in NZ seem to have "approved" service agents, the common feature being outrageous price gouging. The second service of my TAG was 25% of the original one with near identical work. The difference was that the second one was done by the old school watchmaker who restored the Omega.

Again, my thanks for the education!

Best,
Geoff

Gary Johnston · Jan 3, 2025

GeeJay
Hello from NZ - this is my first post. For my 21st birthday, my grandparents bought me the above-mentioned watch. That was 54 years ago 🙁. Bring young with a limited budget and more pressing commitments on the horizon, servicing was ignored with predictable results. There was a bit more to the story but essentially, it got shoved in a drawer and ignored until this year when I decided to have it restored as a legacy item for our eldest son.

The restoration was done by an old time watchmaker and I feel quite emotional to have it back in working order again. Having seen various photos of 601's since the restoration, there seem to be slight variances. It may depend on the year of manufacture but I'd love some info if anyone knows the reasons for these variances. Firstly, mine has Geneve on the face where many don't. Most seem to have plain backs on them but mine has Seamaster as per the photo. That's got me stumped. Anyone care to venture opinions please?

As an aside, I took my grandfather's old pocket watch and chain along to the watchmaker at the same time to see if he could service it. I was surprised to find that its value was apparently similar to the Omega because it had a gold case. I was even more surprised when he said the chain was about 3 times the value of the pocket watch on account of it being high purity gold. It does have some minute hallmarks so I must see if I can get further information.

Thanks in anticipation.
Best regards,
Geoff

Whe

Omega Caliber 601 information please

GeeJay

dsio

JimInOz

GeeJay

Gary Johnston

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