Hello all. I could use some help with this 145.006 Seamaster Chronograph. I’ll give my assessment but please fill in the things I’m missing as I’m not an expert on these.

My assessment: hands and dial look really lovely and correct to me. Seller claims the case is unpolished, but I have a hard time believing that on a watch this old. Does appear to be in good condition with nice case lines. I can see some faint signs of polishing. It is subtle. Crown is definitely a replacement and the bottom pusher looks a bit larger to me. Possibly a replacement?

I was thinking of offering the seller 3k GBP for this one, thoughts on the price?

 

I agree with your assessment on the faint polishing and replacement crown, but I believe it is the top pusher that was replaced and the bottom one is correct.

3k GBP is a high price for this piece IMO. However, they do not come around too often and if you’ve been hunting for a bit and that is the dial style you want, I say offer a little lower and then find the correct pieces.

I paid almost the same price for my 146.006 only a few months ago. Different dial, but just to give you an idea of what could be out there and pricing. A few photos:







@kov has owned a few amazing examples of these and 145.016’s. I leaned on him with a few questions before I bought this one. Also check out his thread if you haven’t already for some great info on these from him and other members https://omegaforums.net/threads/145-006-145-016-seamaster-chronograph-research-thread.77145/

 

I agree about the top pusher, it's even a different color.

Tom

 

Yeah, good point. After looking again the top one is a bit shinier

 

I think this is what factory finishing looks like:

 

Well I still own all the variations of the 145.006 except the yellow gold.

I know this particular example, have seen it from the seller and my opinion is that it is beautiful.

Some people do value the case and other parts above all. I am a dial/hands guy. What I can tell here is that you rarely see such a dial and hands.

 

The pictures provided by the seller look to be more of a circular pattern, you believe this is incorrect?

 

@kov thanks for weighing in, I’m still making my way through your original research thread. Do you feel the pricing is fair?

 

Yes, I do. It appears that’s how these get incorrectly refinished when serviced.

But, I’d yield to @kov , who’s the recognized expert on these.

Here’s my white one, with a flawed (but to me attractive) dial

 

I’ve been looking around online and many examples seem to have the circular brushing pattern...is there a way to definitively say that some examples would have never had circular finishing from factory?

 

I am not able to say definitively as I have not handled enough pieces or seen enough in my very short time so far in this hobby. I can only pass along information that I have available to me. In AJTT (A Journey Though Time) pg 544 they reference the case as being "sun-brushed" and the photo of the 145.006 is the circular brushing pattern. However, there are other watch reference photos with the sun burst pattern @airansun has provide photos of also being called "sun-brushed". Maybe they used both patterns back then? Maybe the examples they took photos of for the book have been serviced previously? I also yield to @kov for an answer.

 

Very interesting that they cite one type and the photo evidence is opposite...come on editors!

 

AJTT was a tremendous consolidation work, that’s a matter of fact, and we can only be grateful to (RIP) M. Richon for that work.
Unfortunately the information in that book was not fully backed by archives at the moment of publishing and many things have been proven wrong since then.

My opinion on the case finish is the following. The original case finish was that very light circular brushing, on both references. I have observed it on several watches in a close to NOS condition as well as on a couple of NOS cases I could find.

I haven’t seen any sunburst case that did look untouched so my opinion is that cases with a sunburst finish were redone somewhen during a service.

It might be that sunburst finish was an option, later, for 145.016 cases but I think it’s quite safe to say it wasn’t for 145.006s.

 

Just finished going through the original research thread, fair amount of sunburst examples, but seems a greater amount of the light circular finishing. In addition, the circular grain examples shown have more of the dings and patina I would expect from unpolished examples, so I'm leaning toward that as the original finishing. However, I do still find the sunburst examples to be very attractive! I think I'll make an offer for the watch above, unless @kov has already beat me to it! Thanks to everyone for your input!

 

I hope you are able to get it @Taybharr. I really enjoy wearing mine when I decide to let it out of the box. It is currently my only vintage Omega piece so I take really good care of it the best I can. Let us know if you get it!

 

Mine (145.016) looks quite the same (Mine has a black sweep second hand)

Funny thing I found out while wearing it: You really have to take a close look to read the time.

Black dial with white hands makes a far better contrast!

Got the watch on a 1116 ss bracelet in the meantime...

Good luck!

 

Think you are right, here a 145.016 "NOS" that i unfortunatley missed to buy





Partially still with protection coating

 

Dang...do you remember what the asking price was on that one?

 

Really tragic this one - Initial asking price was 2900€, I offered 2300 (willing to accepet a counter offer for maybe 2600)

The guy from Watches 83 bought it instead of me and just sold it for - I think- 4150€

Complete offer is here:

https://watches83.com/en/omega/1585...145016-cal-861-new-old-stock-collectors-.html

That's life

 

Wow 2600 euro would have been a sweet deal I think