Hi,
please let me first introduce myself.
I am collector of vintage watches and own several old watches.
My first vintage watch was a nice Omega Chronostop 145.008 from my father.
Now, I have looked for a nice Omega dress watch and found the following Omega Seamaster Calendar.
It was a quick buy, although I knew, there is some work to do.
But first some pictures:







I love the design, but have several problems with the watch.

First, I want to save the (genuine?!) Naiad crown.
Do not know, if this is possible, because the stem was broken:



The crown on the watch (not screwed on stem!):



The second problem:

Want to open the case, because of the reference number in the caseback and to see the movement.
But this is very difficult.
My brother wanted to help me (he has opened a lot of watches, because he is a collector since many years), but he could not open it.
Am I right, that this is a case with normal caseback?







Or is this a special case and we have to remove the stem and then the crystal?

Does somebody know the reference number of this watch?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Best regards,
Peter

 

Hey Peter

Welcome here too
Very nice watch. I think the caseback is a pressed one. I remember to have a similar one with same difficults for opening.

 

I think you need to open with a knife here (but from between the lugs )

 

Alum which is available in the spice department of many supermarkets can be used to corrode the bit of broken stem out of the crown. The case back is a snap on type, and careful application of a suitable case knife will remove it.

 

Oh, you guys are really fast.
Thanks for your help.
If it is a Ref. 2849, the hands could be correct for the reference.
But, I think, they should be gold coloured as the second hand.
This silver hands could be correct for the bright, silver dial Ref. 2849? Am I right?

I will try to open the case in the next days and will keep you up to date.

Have not found many of this correct gilt dial Seamaster Calendar, but a lot of "redials"?!

Thanks again for your help, a great forum.

Best regards, Peter

 

I sold this 2849 in gold cap a couple of years ago. Your's looks fine to me.

Any watchmaker can open the case - you can see in my pictures the chamfer on the inside of the case back that @trash_gordon is trying to indicate to you and that's where the case knife goes. Any watchmaker can open the case for you and resolve your crown issue. Your old crown won't be water resistant though.

Enjoy your watch.

Regards, Chris

 

Thanks for this nice pics, Chris.

With "your's looks fine to me" do you mean all of this watch (including colour of hands?).

It is such a nice watch and I am glad, that I have found this little gem.
Will give it to my watchmaker for a service.

Is it possible to find a correct Omega BoR (should be very difficult, I think)

Thank you guys for your great help!

Regards,
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

I was really commenting on the redial aspect. Your hands look the correct shape (same as mine were) but they should match the furniture. I would not expect this mixing of gold and stainless. They may have been plated and a watchmaker polished them and removed the plate?

The rest looks fine to me. Yes, a BOR should be available (used) for a couple of hundred Euros. Looks like mine had No. 11 end links. Try eBay.

By the way, the crown is just a crown - it's nothing special and you can probably buy a replacement today that will be almost identical and it'll be water resistant - looking at my service report for that watch, it passed 30m WR with a new Omega 42023SX crown (gold plate).

Best regards, Chris

 

Thanks for your reply, Chris.
Your assumptions sounds logical to me (polished hands).
Thought, it would be nice to save the crown, because it seems to be a Naiad crown.
But a replacement crown is a possible solution and of course better for a WR test.
Thanks again.

Best regards, Peter

 

That's right, you can soak it in Alum.. Archer had a nice post on it with pics:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/removing-a-broken-stem-from-a-speedmaster-crown.61416/#post-766008

 

Thanks, have read this post and will try to do it as described.....

Best regards,
Peter

 

Some news:
Found a genuine Omega 1036 BoR bracelet with 11 end pieces.
And I have managed to open the watch:











The omega 503 seems to be in good condition.
The movement number would date the watch to 1957, I think.

I am in love with this watch.

Regards, Peter

 

Great news Peter…enjoy that beauty !

 

Yes, looks correct and complete apart from the crown so, get that sorted, a service and I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers, Chris

 

Replacing a gasket in an old omega crown is also possible, even if it may not be as waterproof as a new one.

Nice dial BTW!

 

I suppose you mean not water resistant to the same depth rating? It's interesting as it comes up regularly and I've not had any luck replacing such seals, neither do I know of anyone that has with most crowns. Would you be interesting in sharing your method? Have a look at this thread here.

Cheers, Chris

 

The simple rule of thumb is that hands match the indices. I can't decide from your photo if that dial is limed or not. One index appears to have a notch for the lume dot: the others don't. So you'll be looking for gold tone hands, same shape you have, with or without lume, depending on the dial.

To my old eyes, that looks remarkably correct. The niaid is a nice touch. I may have to pull out my laptop later and have a close look at it.

 

I just looked at the photos again on a larger screen - could you post some straight on photos without any reflections? Particularly focus on the font at the bottom of the dial?

 

Well, it was for my own watch, so I can take the risk. I had an original crown for my cal. 564 Seamaster with a bad gasket (felt wobbly on the tube, it was completely degraded), I did not want to open it up so last week I dissolved the gasket inside, and simply put a big O-ring instead (like the ones on japanese crowns). Now instead of an hollow crown it is at least dust resistant, I can feel the pressure of the gasket on the tube. I will have the find the time to test it this week if it is 2-3atm WR, this could be a nice trick to keep old original crowns when replacements can't be found, but it is only a last resort trick.

I would not do it on a seriously waterproofed as the WR is probably not nearly sufficient.

The right way to do it imho would be to remove the crimped cover (on the lathe), replace whatever is to be replaced inside, make a cover from brass or SS and crimp it back into place. One of these days I will have to try this, but mounting the crown on the lathe can be difficult. Also, it is not really done in 5 minutes.