Hi all

I've seen someone on this forum (or watchuseek, can't remember where) with a similar issue. I have a beautiful Constellation Pie Pan here that has two issues that I can't resolve.

1: The dial does not have the usual "officially certified" stamp on the dial.
2: Issue 1, might relate to the fact that the movement inside is a 562?

I've searched high and low and can't find any confirmation on this particular version. The one other article I've managed to find reports that maybe Omega was running low on 561 certified movements, so they threw this together to keep production moving.

Anyone out there with more insight on this?

 

Seems like there are some replaced parts in that movement - a real shame

The dial is fine, "Officially Certified" was omitted on most of the series 14.XXX Constellations. Does the dial have luminous compound by the applied markers?

 

cal 562

 

Thanks for the response.

What can you tell that has been replaced?

There doesn't seem to be any lume.

 

In that case the hands are replacements too.

The movement should be a cal. 561, so at the very least all the parts signifying anything else have been replaced. I'd suggest that the entire movement could well have been replaced.

 

CEP knows these models better than I do and I might very well be wrong here, but those hands look ok to me. They have a recess for something which I assume is lume, now lost. They are the right length and a correct style for 561s of this era.

As mentioned the movement is not a cal 561 and is thus wrong for the watch. The story about using 562s is nonsense and anyway chronometer movements are marked adjusted in 5 positions, temperatures etc which this one isn't.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Dial and hands do look good to me too, based on other examples I have found. Just not sure what that movement is doing in there. And mine is not the first. Other than official chronometer adjustments, what are the differences between the 561 and 562 movements?

 

They are the same movement except that the 561 is timed to chronometer spec. I don't know how they chose the chronometer grade movements.

Your watch is not the first to have the movement replaced! Someone was selling a Constellation 565 on ebay recently with a story about 565s being used. Again, I can't see why they would have done this. The simple explanation, ie that the movement was simply swapped over because the original one was damaged in some way, is the one to go for.

 

Here's the original discussion I found a while back. And this is not the first one. Seems there are a more than a few examples of this. Maybe Omega was up to something fishy back then?

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/od...ibre-562-help-94465.html#/topics/94465?page=1

 

Hmm, I thought the hands looked like they had luminous compound in them, but they could well be "empty".
However, there are three types of hands for Constellations; with lume, filled with black lacquer (or some other black material!) and solid metal. As far as I know, those with the black centers were only used if the hour markers had either onyx inserts or black paint, just as the ones with luminous compound goes with lume dots on the dial. As this dial looks to have neither onyx/black paint (I'd expect onyx, given the ref. BTW) or luminous compound at the base of the markers, I'd expect the hands to be solid.

No doubt that they have the right dimensions for a pie pan dial, though

 

If it has chronometer on the dial, then I would expect to see Adjusted 5 pos etc on the movement. I can only say I wouldn't be happy with that movement in that watch. The dial and case are very nice and if it were mine I would look for a donor 561 movement which may or may not be easy to find.

Looking again (a bit more carefully this time...) at the base of the markers I don't see a recess for lume or any traces of it so I take the point about the hands.

 

Nice dial
nice case
But the movement is 23,9xxx circa '66/'67
So there's no way it belongs to that dial
And if it's a 14902 case it doesn't belong to that either (date-wise)
If it bothers you -as above find a period 561 and you have a cracking Connie

 

Are these not notches?

 

I honestly can't tell.

I would be nice if they were - at least concerning authenticity. That they would be missing the filling is not so good.

 

I'll take some high res macro photos a bit later and post them. Would be good to hear your thoughts.

 

All the info you could ever need is in this thread...

 

I was referring to the hands and the notches.

 

As was I. Refer to what @Peemacgee and I have written previously and have a good look at the markers and hands. No reason for me to repeat what I have already written.

 

What we're saying is:
Do post your macros
But after digesting the info above (and whatever else you might find/read) - it's your turn to give us your thoughts
That's what the forum is all about
(We like people with opinions - right or wrong)

 

I appreciate all the advice / comments.

So here's some macro shots to better see what you were taking about regarding the lume. I don't see any evidence of lume being on either the markers or the hands.

I think what I've got is a Connie that has had its internals replaced but everything else seems to check out.

View attachment 417168