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Makesbelieve
·We're all getting older, and some of us are ageing better than others… watches are the same.
That has me thinking about vintage Omega, and which references are aging worse than the rest. By ‘worse’ I don't mean dated or out of style. I mean structural aging: Watches that haven’t weathered the storm of time as well as others.
A few come to mind, but I'd like to hear which Omegas you think haven't held up as well as others and why.
Here are my top 3 and if you own one of these please don’t take this to heart (I’d love to own a good version of any of these), and yes I know there are good examples, and when I bump into one I’m mesmerized, but the majority of these references available today IMO are in a sorry state:
The Chronostop 145.008 and 007
The lume on these watches doesn’t age well which coupled together with a dial that tends to dry out turns an otherwise potentially attractive face into a black hole of sadness. On top of that I don’t think I’ve seen many versions of this reference that haven’t been polished to smithereens. That being said owning one of these is high on my list.
The Flat Jedi - 145.024
I don’t think I’ve seen one good original (not refinished) version of this watch. The dials all seem to have faded in the most unattractive ways and the case form seems to suffer more than others when given even the slightest polish turning most examples into formless bars of soap.
The Teutonic - 145.0040
The sandblasted finish on these watches, coupled together with a Tachymeter that’s engraving isn’t deep enough to hold its paint doesn’t tend to take knocks and bumps very well. That combination with variants that have silver dials tend to produce an unfortunate anemic look.
I have of course chosen terrible images to reinforce my opinion, but what I’m posting below, IMO, are examples that are more the rule than the exception.
Which would you add to this lineup:
That has me thinking about vintage Omega, and which references are aging worse than the rest. By ‘worse’ I don't mean dated or out of style. I mean structural aging: Watches that haven’t weathered the storm of time as well as others.
A few come to mind, but I'd like to hear which Omegas you think haven't held up as well as others and why.
Here are my top 3 and if you own one of these please don’t take this to heart (I’d love to own a good version of any of these), and yes I know there are good examples, and when I bump into one I’m mesmerized, but the majority of these references available today IMO are in a sorry state:
The Chronostop 145.008 and 007
The lume on these watches doesn’t age well which coupled together with a dial that tends to dry out turns an otherwise potentially attractive face into a black hole of sadness. On top of that I don’t think I’ve seen many versions of this reference that haven’t been polished to smithereens. That being said owning one of these is high on my list.
The Flat Jedi - 145.024
I don’t think I’ve seen one good original (not refinished) version of this watch. The dials all seem to have faded in the most unattractive ways and the case form seems to suffer more than others when given even the slightest polish turning most examples into formless bars of soap.
The Teutonic - 145.0040
The sandblasted finish on these watches, coupled together with a Tachymeter that’s engraving isn’t deep enough to hold its paint doesn’t tend to take knocks and bumps very well. That combination with variants that have silver dials tend to produce an unfortunate anemic look.
I have of course chosen terrible images to reinforce my opinion, but what I’m posting below, IMO, are examples that are more the rule than the exception.
Which would you add to this lineup:
