Hey everyone, I’m after my first vintage watch and have found this one for sale. Only just got into vintage watches so I’ve got a lot to learn. What better way than to ask this awesome forum. I have found the omega seamaster, it is a deville model as the dial comes out from the front but I’m not sure why it doesn’t say deville on the dial. Could this possibly be a re finished dial!!? Would like to know your thoughts. Thanks in advanced
It is not the model name, but the model reference (in this case 14770 as seen on the last photo) that determines how the case construction is. You then have to research the reference number to see if there are Seamaster only variants.
Thanks for your reply. Ok great, I plugged in the whole number and couldn’t find anything but doing a search for “14770” has brought this up... it looks like this model is a deville but didn’t have it written on the dial
Well, that's step one. Since Omega doesn't have a picture, you'll have to find other sources to compare pictures to. Honestly I'm inclined to think this one is a good one. If you look closely, there are some spots on the dial in the upper left quadrant, something I doubt would be on a refinished dial. The case might have been slightly polished at one point, but gold capped cases are generally less sharp to begin with so
Yes the photos show a darker spot towards the top left of the dial, I was thinking it was just a shadow but it looks like patina. Also there are a few dots on the dial. Omega does have a photo listed on the site but that screenshot above says it’s a solid gold case, which this watch is not
Omega often made the same reference (14770, in this case) with a bunch of different case materials (gold capped, stainless steel, yellow gold, white gold, etc) and often only put one case material per reference in the database, so I wouldn't put to much weight on that. The one you just posted is a different case reference. Stick to the 14770 reference (several were sold on here in the past year) when finding examples to compare yours too.
Are the lug polished? Looks like there is quite a bit of optical distortion near the edges, but it could be just the photo...
The seller hasn’t said the case has been polished but I suspect it has. The seller is wanting $836 usd for this omega
I think you did ok if you are new to watch collecting. Price may be a bit higher than collector to collector, but it's pretty reasonable for a dealer, and you ended up with a nice watch. Now you can relax and consider the next purchase at leisure!
Thanks for the replies. I actually don’t know what that mark is. It could possibly be an import mark but I don’t know anything about it. What does it mean if it is an import mark? The watch is from Brazil. Yes this is my first vintage watch. Thanks, I’m happy with it. I have been already searching for my next one!