Following the encouragement of @Nobel Prize here goes with my "story" that I hope will be a little more relevant than some of the weird stuff lately.

A bit of background
When I first stumbled across this watch I really knew very little about the 168.022 Seamaster, but was instantly blown away by its beauty and wrist presence; this vintage Seamaster wears larger than one would expect for a 36mm watch (I believe a similar age Connie is only 35mm).

After some cursory research I discovered that a Seamaster 168.022 with the 564 (1) movement was rather rarer than expected, so I became convinced that it was worth acquiring and so it became my 50th birthday present project. From what I can gather production of the Reference 168.022 with a calibre 564 seems to have started in 1965 (my birth year) and being a Moon-mission fan a production date in 1969 was a bonus.

To part finance it I traded an equally great Breitling Windrider Headwind that sadly was both too large and too heavy to comfortably wear for any length of time.

The part-ex victim

After some interesting negotiations I finally purchased the 168.022 in August 2015, without original Omega box or papers….something of a gamble.

Since it was of unknown pedigree I decided to cough up for an official extract from the Omega archives.


This was, in my opinion money well spent as it nicely filled in some of the gaps and confirmed its authenticity.The Specification:-

Model: Seamaster

Calibre: 564 (1) Automatic chronometer certified movement featuring a central sweep seconds hand, quickset date (activated by repeatedly pulling the crown), 24 jewels, adjusted in five positions and (to two) temperatures in order to meet chronometer standards, with a beat rate of 19800 A/h, and a 50-hour power reserve.
Not sure about the stuff in italics - experts please confirm or correct.

Case Material: 18k Solid yellow gold

Bracelet/Strap: non-Omega leather strap with Omega gold buckle

Movement Number: 26.935.xxx

Case Number: N/A

Watch Reference: BA 168.022

Production date: 1969-02-25

Delivered to: Mexico

After the initial euphoria of bagging my golden Seamaster wore off I started to inspect it more closely and compare against any images I could find for contemporary pieces. My observations were as follows:-

The case, including the bezel had obviously been polished, perhaps several times.









I’m fairly sure on this point as an untouched Seamaster of this type and age should have a partly brushed partly polished case. For example the bezel ring surrounding the crystal should have a brushed sunburst pattern, but the sides of this bezel should be polished. The top of the case should be brushed in a slightly curved vertical pattern following the case outer form into the lugs and the case sides should be horizontally brushed. The facets next to the top side of the case should be polished and have nice crisp, sharp edges.



None of this was the “case” on my Seamaster. It had probably been cared for a little too well over the years as all surfaces were mirror polished and the case side to top facet had lost much of its edge definition. Despite all this, I still think it is a beautiful watch.


Having established that the case, although attractive, was not in its original state I started to look at some of the other parts more closely. The case back had also been heavily polished and showed signs of having seen some serious action as the central medallion was slightly indented.



Over to the crystal: Omega logo present but faint, so was also subject to some polishing over the years but might even be the original.

The dial is a thing of real beauty. This watch has a yellow gold grained or “sparkle” dial which is so impressive that it does a brilliant job of hiding its true character. First over to the 3 o’clock position. It looks as though it has lost its little lume dot at some point in time.


So I searched for images of what it should look like on-line but only found images of Golden Seamasters without any lume at the hour markers. Looking at the other hour markers I noticed that the lume dots were not absolutely identical. I’m not expert here so I don’t know if this means the lume dots have been added at a later date or that degree of unevenness was typical for that period. Interestingly if one looks down at the 6 o’clock position there is the inscription “-T SWISS MADE T-“, which I take to mean it has a Tritium dial, so maybe the unevenness and lack of luminosity is evidence of authenticity.


And here comes the killer. I guess I must have only ever viewed my Seamaster at certain times of day, because on one close inspection the hands were no longer covering a rather unsightly scratch right next to the hole in the centre of the dial where the hands are attached. I had never noticed that before. That was a real low point, since all the other findings could be written off as patina or character, but for an aerospace engineer perfectionist that scratch was just not nice.


At one of my many visits to the Omega Boutique to discuss great Globemasters, Speedmasters and all things Omega-like I happened to be wearing my Seamaster, so naturally I mentioned my unhappy scratch discovery to the salesman who asked me if I would like to have it tested for water resistance. I replied yeh what the hell, at least it should be watertight as it was supplied services with a warranty. I spoke too soon. My Seamaster failed all the tests and was in dire need of a thorough check up; so much for buying a fully serviced watch with guarantee. After a few micro-seconds of consideration I handed my Seamaster over to Omega to at least give it a thorough check and recommendation for further action.

The watch was sent to Omega in Pforzheim, Germany and very quickly assessed.


All that nice German above means Omega want to completely strip the watch and restore all parts and functions, including tidying up the case and correcting the defects on the dial….all for the bargain price of 1096€ and it will take circa 21 weeks.

I know some purists think you should not mess around with the aesthetics of a vintage watch and I couldn’t agree more for tool or sports watches like a vintage Omega Speedmaster or Rolex pre-bling Submariner where patina is very important; but a gold dress watch should be defect free perfection IMHO.

Since I love this watch it will be treated to some serious TLC. My Golden Seamaster is in the process of being dismembered and re-built.

The first result (thanks for humouring me Omega) is a rather nice picture of the dismantled movement.


I sincerely hope some of the horror stories I have read about Omega’s restauration skills will not be the case for this watch. I believe the work is all being done in Germany and having lived and worked with Germany for the last decade they are nothing if not thorough. Fingers crossed that all turns out well.

 

Great story, keep the updates coming.

 

A few other pictures for reference and general interest

 

Don't know why you needed encouragement. This "Tale of a watch" is as good as it get's for all to know.

Great watch BY THE WAY, truly beautiful. I am quite sure you will get a stunning piece back.

Cheers.

 

Well, it's my way of making amends for some of the less serious stuff I posted previously. Hint to the moderators - sometimes Newbies just need a little time to warm up to the real business at hand. Hope you enjoy this thread.

I will of course post updates as and when; whether good, bad or ugly.

 

thanks for sharing the write up.

I had my seamaster sparkle done by omega. mine was in much worse shape than yours to begin with, so I wanted it cleaned up - rescued even. I probably wouldn't have that done to a speedmaster, but for the sparkle, it was worth it.

 

If the watch doesn’t have the original finish anymore I think even many purists would agree that getting it back to its original finish is the right move. Looking forward to see the results, I’m sure it will be a bang.

 

There's a really good image of how I think mine should look (albeit without the day complication) here..
http://download1484.mediafire.com/shjdti768t1g/cohqato92pdi2g3/GoldenSeamaster.pdf
Check out page 5 - that has such perfect surface finish.

 

No date is better

 

Very nice watch even prior to the omega treatment.
I'm interested to see how they redefine the edges on the case. Thanks for posting definitely update with some photos in 21 weeks!

 

Hope these can help.

 

Do you have any before vs after pictures. I would find that very interesting.

 

THE Golden Seamaster - we are in the presence of greatness! Do you still have it in your possession, I would love to hear the story behind this fine watch as well as seeing some shots of the bracelet.

 

What can I say? You really are an OmegaStar! thank you so much for all these detailed images. I now have sufficient info to instruct Omega precisely what i would like to see done. Whether they can or will do any of these re-finishing actions only time will tell.

Once again thanks guys for all your help, I'm so glad I posted.

 

Update: received a message from the OB today. My Seamaster is due back end of this week (it's been at Omega since end of Jan) which is pretty quick.

I have replied that the results will be posted here and asked are they really sure it's ready or would they like just a little more time to be spot on?

Update: It arrived back in Hamburg and promptly went back to Omega...some more work needed.

 

Hi @oddboy can I trouble you for some info please?

I have recently started to suffer (again) from numb fingers and wrist pain which seems to be triggered by my more modern watches (Speedy, Globemaster etc) and noticed that this never happens with my older watches. I think it's a simple matter of watch weight and size. So to my question, what does your (very beautiful by the way) 168.023 weigh all up including the strap?

And just out of curiosity, is it a 168.023 or a 166.023, i.e. With a 751 or a 752 caliber?

Cheers

Longbow

 

I'll weight it up tonight or tomorrow.

..If you like, i'd be happy to trade my sparkle for your Globemaster to help you with that pain!

 

It says Chronometer so it should be 168.023 with cal. 751. The non-Chronometer is 166.028.