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·Here goes a hyper specific thread on a particular bracelet that is a bit long, so apologies in advance if you become disinterested, but I've added a quite a bit of photos to hopefully entertain you potential readers. Stumbling across the bracelet below got me curious and I dove into more than a few searches, so I figured I'd post what I found as maybe someone else may find it helpful or have some knowledge on the subject that they'd also like to share.....
Back in February there was a thread, linked here, asking for information about a Jubilee style bracelet with an Omega No.12 signed clasp (no bracelet reference stamp) that the OF member had picked up at an estate sale. I had recently purchased a 1381 ref. bracelet with 772 end links which is somewhat a Jubilee style, but the one posted in above linked thread really intrigued me as it looked dead on to the 5 link style Jubilee, with equal width 2-3-4 links, used by some other manufacturers. The links of the bracelet were also not the more common flat bottom style links of the 80s era 1381 bracelet but were rounded similar to the 1098,1171,1125, etc. bracelets of the late 60s and 70s. Here's a couple of the OP's photos for reference:
This lead to a curiosity/fascination of "Did Omega manufacturer a bracelet with this link style like this back in the day or was this just a kit of parts that someone had sourced together?" so I jumped down the rabbit hole in search of an answer.
I found quite a few examples of similar references with the more common flat bottom style 1351 / 339 bracelet, seen below on this 166.0263, but I'd yet to find another rounded style bracelet to confirm my suspicions that this was a legit offering from Omega at some point in the past.
Though, a lot them I noticed had end links marked 339.1, similar to the one above and one posted here on OF.
Even found a thread here where @zoohannover provided a wonderful bit of information which clarified which references were fitted with the 1351 / 339. Really helpful, appreciate they posted that!
Then out of sheer luck, during a routine scroll through eBay, I found this listing titled "Omega Electric Chronometer" that was asking much more that I thought was a fair price. It looked to be a ref. 198.003 which I'm not particularly interested in but I immediately recognized the bracelet and took a closer look.
And now there were two! I'd now seen two examples of these rounded bottom 5-link, Jubilee style, bracelets with an Omega stamped clasp. Who knows yet if it's legit but I'm intrigued enough to take a chance, which naturally led me to thinking, "I've got to find one!"
This is where it got more interesting for me.....
Cut to a few weeks ago, I'm again scrolling eBay at some wee hour of the morning, as one normally does, I came across a similar Omega No.12 clasp with the jubilee style round bottom links available for sale, albeit without end links. Turned out that it was the same bracelet that was posted here on OF (first set of images with the blue background). After some quick back and forth the seller and I agreed on a price, I decided to purchase the bracelet, and it arrived shortly there after.
No to find end links, which I fortunately found a pair in great condition across the pond.
And for you picture loving fiends, here's some more of the bracelet:
And then then end links arrived:
Now to get a rough idea if the bracelet is in fact legit and not a kit of parts. And when I say rough, I mean rough as other than the other example shown above, where the bracelet is paired to the ref. 198.003, I couldn't find any info from Omega stating it did in fact manufacture these. I figured one way was to compare to a bracelet of the similar time period and look at the dimension / shape of the links. Fortunately I also have a 1098 bracelet so I compared the profile shape of the links:
They appear to be very similar if not identical in shape and size, which was the icing on the cake for me, as I became confident enough in the legitimacy of the bracelet that I decided to fit the bracelet and end links to my late 60s Seamaster 166.028
For me the bracelet is very complimentary of the Seamaster's case shape and design and I think it's a pretty complimentary pairing. While I have the correct 1098 / 540 bracelet for this, something just feels right about this pairing and I'll most likely be wearing it this way for years to come.
If you've made it this far, thank you!
All in all I'm thinking that this bracelet wasn't a kit of parts but was in fact manufactured by Omega at some point in their storied history, but the more important questions is what do you think OF? Do we think it was a bracelet that Omega offered or has it been strung together from period correct parts?
Back in February there was a thread, linked here, asking for information about a Jubilee style bracelet with an Omega No.12 signed clasp (no bracelet reference stamp) that the OF member had picked up at an estate sale. I had recently purchased a 1381 ref. bracelet with 772 end links which is somewhat a Jubilee style, but the one posted in above linked thread really intrigued me as it looked dead on to the 5 link style Jubilee, with equal width 2-3-4 links, used by some other manufacturers. The links of the bracelet were also not the more common flat bottom style links of the 80s era 1381 bracelet but were rounded similar to the 1098,1171,1125, etc. bracelets of the late 60s and 70s. Here's a couple of the OP's photos for reference:
This lead to a curiosity/fascination of "Did Omega manufacturer a bracelet with this link style like this back in the day or was this just a kit of parts that someone had sourced together?" so I jumped down the rabbit hole in search of an answer.
I found quite a few examples of similar references with the more common flat bottom style 1351 / 339 bracelet, seen below on this 166.0263, but I'd yet to find another rounded style bracelet to confirm my suspicions that this was a legit offering from Omega at some point in the past.
Though, a lot them I noticed had end links marked 339.1, similar to the one above and one posted here on OF.
Even found a thread here where @zoohannover provided a wonderful bit of information which clarified which references were fitted with the 1351 / 339. Really helpful, appreciate they posted that!
Then out of sheer luck, during a routine scroll through eBay, I found this listing titled "Omega Electric Chronometer" that was asking much more that I thought was a fair price. It looked to be a ref. 198.003 which I'm not particularly interested in but I immediately recognized the bracelet and took a closer look.
And now there were two! I'd now seen two examples of these rounded bottom 5-link, Jubilee style, bracelets with an Omega stamped clasp. Who knows yet if it's legit but I'm intrigued enough to take a chance, which naturally led me to thinking, "I've got to find one!"
This is where it got more interesting for me.....
Cut to a few weeks ago, I'm again scrolling eBay at some wee hour of the morning, as one normally does, I came across a similar Omega No.12 clasp with the jubilee style round bottom links available for sale, albeit without end links. Turned out that it was the same bracelet that was posted here on OF (first set of images with the blue background). After some quick back and forth the seller and I agreed on a price, I decided to purchase the bracelet, and it arrived shortly there after.
No to find end links, which I fortunately found a pair in great condition across the pond.
And for you picture loving fiends, here's some more of the bracelet:
And then then end links arrived:
Now to get a rough idea if the bracelet is in fact legit and not a kit of parts. And when I say rough, I mean rough as other than the other example shown above, where the bracelet is paired to the ref. 198.003, I couldn't find any info from Omega stating it did in fact manufacture these. I figured one way was to compare to a bracelet of the similar time period and look at the dimension / shape of the links. Fortunately I also have a 1098 bracelet so I compared the profile shape of the links:
They appear to be very similar if not identical in shape and size, which was the icing on the cake for me, as I became confident enough in the legitimacy of the bracelet that I decided to fit the bracelet and end links to my late 60s Seamaster 166.028
For me the bracelet is very complimentary of the Seamaster's case shape and design and I think it's a pretty complimentary pairing. While I have the correct 1098 / 540 bracelet for this, something just feels right about this pairing and I'll most likely be wearing it this way for years to come.
If you've made it this far, thank you!
All in all I'm thinking that this bracelet wasn't a kit of parts but was in fact manufactured by Omega at some point in their storied history, but the more important questions is what do you think OF? Do we think it was a bracelet that Omega offered or has it been strung together from period correct parts?
Edited:
