Hi all,

Have been continuing my trawl of the interwebs for an original 70's 166.099 Geneve and saw thisPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network today. I like that the angles and edges on the front of the case are all nice and well-defined (I've seen so many that have been polished away). Serial number, movement, caseback number all seem legit. I am concerned about what looks like wear on the rotor. The crown also looks to have been replaced. Any comments on the overall originality of the watch (or anything that looks amiss) are greatly appreciated,

J.

 

I'm not an expert but the parts seems to be original, except for the crown this one should be marked with the Omega logo. The wear on the rotor concerns me as well, looks like water damage to me.

 

Don't think it's water damage, rather crappy materials used as rotor weight by O. in the 70ies...

 

Ha ha, I think you could be right! Wouldn't be the first dodgy thing to happen in the 70's

 

I think there was moisture intrusion at some point. Note the corrosion/pitting where the caseback seals to the case. I think the rotors were treated with a laquer and in this case moisture caused the discoloration.

 

The bracelet looks to me to be loose, and worn, and that could be a problem on the style of case, as you have ZERO options in replacing the bracelet. If you lucked out and found a NOS bracelet, you'd likely pay more for it than you paid for the watch! If the movement is as worn as the bracelet, you could spend the price of a highly collectible watch, turning this one into anything decent. Forget it, would be my advice.

 

Canuck, I have a Seiko with a similar-style case/bracelet, so I get where you're coming from on the replacement issue. It's one of the things that attracts me to this particular Geneve though, I really like how it looks. I hadn't considered the possibility of water damage. Think it would be best to leave this one after all. Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated. What's really opened my eyes is that there's at least one of these going up online every week, and I have yet to come across ONE that I haven't had some kind of doubt about.