I have always had a soft spot for the Constellation Calendars, prefersbly in gold with black dial..I thought this would be an appropriate time to talk about it, seen as I've seen a few of them with white or cream dials pop up recently! below the infamous one owned by Elvis for a brief time! Sold for a mere 54k !!?? My question is, what variation of these is collectable? Caliber wise? I'd be grateful if people who own any of these variations would post their pride and joy for all to see. I'm trying to simply get a feel for what's out there and which one is going eventually going down on the watch bucket list... This can be updated at your own leisure and I look forward to hear people's responses to this beautiful watch! My unobtainable ideal would be a pink gold and black dial combination
The one you show is a reference 2943 that housed the caliber 504. Later models, like Peter and Adam show in THIS THREAD, are reference 14.393 which used the caliber 561 (where I just learned the word CALENDAR was still used on the dial). We discussed a pink gold capped w/ black dial 2943 that showed up on eBay last year - it was the same watch sold at the AQ auction.
It'll be easier finding a yellow gold example with a black dial, but you have the 14393, the 2943 and 168.005 as options. Here's a 168.005 that I was on the fence about buying and my 14393.
I do like your 14393 as an option..maybe in SS.. I'm not as keen on the 168.005 with white text on black dial for some reason...it's promising if you think the yellow gold calendar might pop though!
As some of you know - I like early connies particularly those with the cal. 352 movement and I like connies with black textured dials (which AFAIK were only seen in the early connies - up to cal. 505 but not later). The 352 needs no introduction but it has particular appeal to me in the connie since it is pretty movement which is uncommon (Desmond estimates the first batch of connies released in 1952 numbered 8000 and these featured both 352 and 354 movements so not many cal. 352 connies are still around today), it featured a huge variety of dial designs (as if omega was still experimenting on what dial designs to use on the connie) and came in a variety of metals - stainless steel, gold cap, 14k YG, 14k RG, 18k YG and 18k RG. So mixing up the variety of dials and case metals and you have the closest thing to a "unique" piece. I would estimate taking into account the variations in dial design and case metal (and 2 different case styles - ref. 2648 and ref. 2652 which are the only connie case references to contain the cal. 352 movement) with a production run of about a few thousand watches at most then you have a few to several dozen made for each particular connie 352 design. When I get the chance I will try to do a Desmond like picture full article on these cal. 352 connies - at least the ones I own and post it here. The black textured dial connies are equally uncommon and for me uncommonly pretty and attractive.
Thanks Mike, I really look forward to that. It's nice to have reference for what caused the evolution in early connies. The 352's are indeed rare and beautiful movements.. I can't imagine they come around very often..especially the gold variations.. I would probably liquidize the majority of my collection for a few variations of the early Constellations. They are ranking at the top of the list for most beautiful watches..IMO.
So that reminds me of something I wanted to post. I don't own a Connie yet. Was following one and forgot about the auction end.(not the first time or last, doesn't that p u off?) Anyway here's the one I was following, so if someone on the forum bought it and wants to move it at some point, I would be interested. Sold in like November 2852 Rose Gold. Love this dial. And the case is to die for. Or if someone see's a similar one for sale. Or a 2652 with similar layout. -
That is incredible, I've never seen anything like it! Of course that doesn't say much since I'm still relatively new to this world
I would actually prefer the black dial with silver text and silver markers - I think harder to find than their gold counterparts.
Hello Mike, I too like 352/354, not that I have many yet. Here is one I was after and just missed out. Not brilliant pictures but I've not seen one quite like it before. I was thinking early, probably 352, what do you think?
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