Hi, I got an Omega Cal 485 movement and an Omega De Ville Dial in a lot of the bay. What peaked my interest was the dial is marked OM Swiss Made OM, turns out the dial is 18k gold with two inset "8 cut" diamonds at 12 and 6 o'clock. It is also marked on the rear:

18k 0750
173K*48 and a small 4 - Is this a serial number?

The movement it came from has a serial number of 28592770 which I gather is from 1969.

After a fair bit of google ninja I am yet to find another example with this dial and thus am here to see if anyone know if it is a custom job or if its a rarity in itself?

Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to give.

 

Why would you paint over a solid gold dial?

 

Lucky that the scrappers didn't realize the dial was gold. What is the size? Ladies watch?

 

Hi, it is is from a ladies watch and the dial measures 12.9mm x 15.9mm

 

Hi, do you suggest this is a custom dial ie repainted?

 

Does it not seem odd to you that someone would paint over a gold dial? If you look at the back, it appears that the paint has been scraped off in a couple of spots.

 

Yes, it sure does. Do you know if there is a database to check what I assume is the serial number on the back of the dial. Perhaps then I would be able to determine what it was originally.

 

Nope, not at all.

 

Hi, what is your thoughts then - redial or original? Would you know what the numbers on the back of the dial represent?

Thanks

 

I can't say I've studied a lot of dials for ladies watches, but it doesn't look "redially" to me.

The numbers on the back are likely internal production or batch numbers - they don't seem to be part numbers.

Cheers, Al

 

Thank you for the informative reply. I was hoping the number on rear of the dial may be some sort of serial number.

Thanks again.

 

It doesn't relate to an Omega part number (tried searching a few variations, but no results found), but may be a number used by the dial producer to track it internally. Are the last 4 digits 484? Not sure if there's a second 4 there or not, and if so that would be a reference to the caliber series, but the "173K" doesn't return any results for a part number.

You could always order an Extract of the Archives from Omega using the serial number on the movement, but not sure it's worth spending the money on it...but you are lucky that whoever scrapped the case didn't realize it was a solid gold dial certainly.

Cheers, Al

 

You are a master, thank you so much for your effort! I really apprieciate it.

I do not think it is worth the cost to get an extract from the archives and certainly was lucky to pick the movement and case up for less than £20 - not too sure what I should do with it now though!!

 

Since it's around graduation time, I think we can bestow an honorary doctorate of horology on Al. Not to be confused with Trump's doctorate of whoreology.

 

Looks like a plated finish not a painted one. The scraped off areas are where the diamonds are attached just like the rivets on the figures on a regular dial, the excess is ground off as you see.

 

I see "paint" or "painted" as a generic terms people tend to use for a dial with colour applied. Dials are printed with ink in most cases, so not generally really "painted" with actual "paint" but people use that term all the time. I think the main point is a dial that is made of solid gold and has colour applied is not unusual in any way - very common on ladies watches in particular across many brands.

Here's a ladies Patek I serviced a while back with a solid gold dial...





Cheers, Al