I wanted to share a piece of Omega history that I recently learned and found interesting.

After WW2, Finland was a poverty stricken country with heavy restrictions when importing watches. Importing watches required permits, import tax was hefty and the availability of gold watches for importing was low. However, an import permit was easier to gain if the importer provided employment for the local workforce.

As a solution, some Finnish companies started to import Omega parts and have local goldsmiths make solid gold cases for them. Most of these watches were made between the years 1948 and 1954. After that, the restrictions on imports were lifted and partially Finnish made Omega watches faded into history.

These watches are prevalent enough in Finland that a local watch boutique I visited had three of them in stock. They're very nice looking watches, however I have no idea if they hold any value outside of Finland. At least, apart from the gold of course.

Have you guys heard of this or any similar cases from other places?

As my reference, I used a Finnish watch site (written in Finnish, sorry...). Link: http://www.kellomies.fi/?p=4114

Obviously, pictures are a necessity. First, a cal 266 from 1954 from the article I linked:




Then, a photo I took of two watches I tried on at a boutique. Sorry about the quality, I didn't think about sharing it with anyone when taking it. On the right, we have a 1952 cal 266 in 14k solid gold, Finnish made case. I was told that the dial had been restored, but it looked really nice.

On the left there happens to be a regular 161.024 solid gold Deville I asked to see, no Finnish case here. It dates to 1965 when importing Swiss made gold was already feasible


Photo from their website of the same watch:


Pekka