Hi, I've recently bought a watch at Auction and would like to know a bit more about it?

- Year it was made etc?
- How can i tell if it's authentic?

The watch came with no box or papers however I believe it is circa 1958/60

I am intending on buying an authentic Omega brown leather crocodile skin strap and attempting to Rose-Gold plate the case using a home kit from eBay c/w online tutorial I have seen on YouTube.

Has anyone tried anything similar?

 

Also, if you intend to plate the case yourself, know that it will likely adversely affect the value of the watch.

Also, that watch looks strange pics are blurry but hands appear to be much more worn-out than the rest of the dial. case probably is polished.

It screams redial.

Edit: A simple google image search will show that the font used for Geneve is not standard for the watch.
https://www.google.com/search?q=omega 166.041

The 166.041 did not come with a sub-seconds feature. This movement is not from this watch. (what we call Franken)
Good Luck

 

Total franken watch.
Ref. 166.041 should be with cal. 565 and not a 491.
http://naligazone.com/index.php/dat.../25-watch/omega/caliber5/883-cal565-st166-041
Dial is a fantasy redone.

 

The watch might be composed of Omega parts, but as noted above the combination is wrong. Also, the dial is poorly refinished.
At this point, it has value only as parts, so you might as well experiment on it. Using a home kit to plate will not do much good, since you these kits usually allow for very thin plating, compared to watch the watch was originally at. My guess is the plating will hold up for a very short period.

 

I did notice the comments you made which raised my suspicions regarding its authenticity. If it has been redialled that's fine, I just want to know really so I can tell its story. Thanks for the heads up and confirmation

 

The parts are authentic. But the watch does not resemble a "Geneve" that ever existed. It is a bunch of parts from a bunch of different watches. If it looks nice and you like it - great.

It was likely put together by a watchmaker who had spare parts from 2 or more watches and put them together. In this case, each part probably has a story I guess.

 

I'm not 100% fussed if it's a Franken as I bought the watch initially to experiment as it was relatively low in value £190

However, I did buy it from a reputable Watch auctioneers (Fellows) so I am surprised that they did not identify this within the online catalogue.

 

So if I were to replace the glass, dial and strap, what websites should I be using and what parts numbers should I be searching?

 

For the glass you could try Cousins UK and find the item by using the case reference. Hopefully the caseback is original to the watch.

The dial is much harder. It won't be available as a new part and will require a donor or old dial (eBay etc). There may be problems with this as well, do you get one for a cal 491? Will it fit the case or did the good doctor "modify" the dial to fit the case/movement combo.

A strap can be found anywhere, if I were you I wouldn't bother with authentic Ω items, they will be more than the value of the watch.

 

Really not worth spending money on the watch.

I'd return it if possible and save for a correct watch.