New forum member requesting thoughts/opinions on this Omega Constellation with a cal.551, serial 14381. Bought it on eBay, ad had pretty bad/blurry pictures but the seller advertised it as original and accepts returns so I took a chance. Dial looks pretty good, however, I note the following: 1 - chronomet're' spelling instead of chronomet'er'. I know that many early model constellations were spelled 're' but very few in the late 50s with a cal.551 used this spelling. 2 - no "Swiss Made" mark on the dial. The crown appears to be a replacement. Dauphine hands appear to have had lighter coloured lumination. Mechanism is in need of a good cleaning, otherwise seems to be authentic. I note that one piece appears to be a slightly different colour tone, a likely replacement. Watch is running ~30 min fast per day. Your thoughts on the dial and mechanism would be appreciated!
Return it if you can! Fast! Dial is redone (badly), case has been polised and lost it's shape, and the movement..... Service might turn out to be expensive, a movement that looks like that has not been cared for for a long time and you wouldn't know what problem might show up down the line. Keep looking for a better one is my advice.
Don't like that movement. Looks at the screws, clean heads near black with dirt ones. And the dirt is not even across the movement. Look like maybe a made up movement by a filthy hand. Second hand is way too long, not original. The dial without 'SWISS' or 'SWISS MADE' just to start is not good. Has the feel of an ensemble piece
Bad redial or bad cleaning job? I think it might be someone who tried to clean the dial. The movement is scary as mentioned
The movement was advertised as clean and "just sweet" ... I suppose the cliche 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' applies here Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping to give the watch to me father for his 60th but I guess I'll have to keep looking around.