Remember a while back Dennis mentioned buying a Universal Geneve triple date moonphase due to the fact that the vintage Cosmic triple-dates were all pretty nasty condition wise or refinished... just looking around it seems that's pretty well on the money with most examples Ive seen being very discoloured and patinad.

Just wondering what is it about these that makes them wear so much more poorly than Constellations, Seamasters and Chronometers of the era (not that they're always perfect but good examples are still easy to find).

 

As an example, this would be a great wearable piece of it was clean like so many Patek moonphases of the era rather than all manky and discoloured:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintag...863201369?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item27c83d8c59Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Wonder why they ever stopped using porcelain, the Cyma pocket watch I have from 100 years ago has a mint condition dial due to being made from that, and there are some makers still using it today, its just an excellent material for dials.

 

It's possible to find these TDMP watches with very nice dials - will post some from my collection. Hard to find well preserved though because aside from the snapback case, they had 3 holes along the sides (for the corrector buttons) so moisture/water could easily seep in. These watches I think are pretty undervalued in the vintage omega universe. Another caution is you need to make sure with these watches that all the functions are working properly as certain replacement parts are unavailable (or at least unavailable at anything close to reasonable in cost).

 

Is it an Omega movement or is it one of the common TDMP movements of the era rebranded and tweaked?

 

Omega was using mostly natural lacquers long after other manufacturers switched to synthetic coatings on their dials. Omega dials were more affected by environmental agents like smoke, radium burn and humidity. The change to tritium lume in the 1960's helped preserve some dials.

When treasure hunters come across gold objects in the ocean, they usually are not damaged unless in contact with wood (encrustation) or other metals (galvanic corrosion). You can see what I mean in this picture taken from the wreck of the USS Central America:



The coins in the picture were sitting on the ocean floor for about 130 years. Gold is a truly noble metal.

That's why everyone loves it,
gatorcpa

 

The movement is an omega inhouse movement and not rebranded from another maker.

 

If that's only "just a bit" out of your price range, I envy your watch budget

 

If so, how many parts do these moonphase movements have in common with the 27CHRO which is a chronograph movement?

 

It seems that 90% or more of the parts are different so it's hard to see how much derivation there can be. I don't think the base plates are interchangeable between the movements as well.

 

Well, some of the TDMP dials survive in good shape.