Omega De Ville Dynamic (rare?!)

Hello all,

I guess this will be my first proper post in the omega forums.
I have been collecting vintage chronographs for sometime now so as soon as a very close friend of mine found one of his grandpa's watches I was his first point of contact.
First thing I asked him to do was send me some pictures of the watch in tha state that it was at the moment.
And this is what I received!


I have to be honest;as was mentioned above I did not really have any experience with non-chronographs but it was important to my friend so I decided to try and do some research.
There are plenty of articles and pictures regarding the omega dynamic but I could not really find a lot regarding the watch!
My first impression was that it might be a gold filled dynamic.
I started looking more into the details when I remembered my friend telling me that this was had been his grandpas dream for a long time and that it was bought for him by a friend in Switzerland!
Considering that his grandpa used to be a very successful lawyer at the time I could not exclude the possibility of the case being solid gold.
The idea was reinforced by the fact that all the pictures I found depicted the gold filled models having a steel back.
Finally we struck a break and we found a really informative article mentioning that the watch with the same specifications we had in our hands was also produced in solid gold!
Anyway, the watch seemed to misbehaving and the crown was in a very rough state so I decided to send it to my watchmaker for a service with the directions of buffing out the crystal, replacing the crown but not polishing the case at all.
As soon as he got it we heard the news.
The watch was indeed solid gold and with the provided movement and confirmed case number we requested an extract of the archives.
The watch came back from service and I was really impressed by the result.



At the same time we also received the extract and it confirmed the story!
It was produced in 1975, June 4 to be exact and it was delivered to Switzerland! The story checked out!
Anyway, I have been reading that the combination of the movement with the case is quite rare.
The only think that is missing now is a new leather strap with a vintage omega gold buckle...
If any of you guys has any more information regarding the history of the model I would love to hear from you!
I am very happy that this is in good shape again and that it will be enjoyed by the grandchild of the original owner for the years to come!

Thank you

Edit:
Calibre no: 1022, automatic, day date, hacking and hand winding
Case no: BA166.0144


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Not rare, but one of the last iterations of the second generation Dynamics when the Geneve appellation was swapped for the De Ville name. Cal 1022 was present is a range of models at the time and serviced regularly will beat away for generations.

Nice to see that the owner has restored the watch. The dial colour is really set off by the gold case.

Cheers

Desmond

Thanks for the comment!

I agree that dynamics are quite common.
I was just wondering if dynamics in gold cases are a rare combination though...
That is what I have been reading so far!


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It really depends on one's definition of rare, which IMO is a peculiar tension between supply and demand. I know many things that are small in numbers but not rare because demand is equally small. So when we talk about rarity in vintage watches, generally people are referring to the demand being greater than supply, as opposed to just strict numbers.

Any gold Omega watch is in less supply than say gold plaque or plate, or SS, but I imagine the global supply of gold De Ville Dynamics would not be particularly small in number and would probably outstrip demand. Hence a second gen De Ville Dynamic in gold would attract less demand than say a first gen Dynamic with gold and grey bulls-eye dial and gold case.

Yours is a nice combination, attractive because of it, and so it's more a case of aesthetics than rarity.

Regards

Desmond

Thanks again!
Not mine unfortunately...
I guess as soon as one of them is on the market we would know..
I have not seen a solid gold dynamic on offer for quite sometime...
This specific one though has substantial sentimental value to my friend and I am quite sure it will not be leaving them any time soon....


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Those two are some amazingly well preserved examples...


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