Hello! I recently got bitten by the vintage watch bug, and before I knew better, I had purchased a pretty terrible looking Seamaster. (I didn't know that at the time). I've done a whole lot more research since then, and have found a Constellation C (for some reason, I really like the C style cases). To my untrained eye, it looks decent, almost too good. It lists the calibre 1010, which from what I've researched, isn't the right chronometer movement for a Constellation, at least, the Omega site doesn't show any Constellations with that movement (this is close, https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-omega-constellation-c-st-168-0056/). I asked the seller for a picture of the inside of the caseback, but they said that they don't have the ability (a little fishy). They do show an image of the movement though, which seems to have a curiously different hued rotor. The listing claims a 1960-1969 age, but my guess dates it to the early 70s.. My main questions are: Was the 1010 used in any Constellations? Is there any other glaring issue with this? Thanks for helping a newbie!
Yes, the movement should be a 1011. The hands and dial are also incorrect (wrong logo, wrong text), and even the case is wrong. This is basically a monster, you should leave where it is. If you like the C-case (and I agree) I would look for the cal 564 versions, I think they are better all around: nicer dial, movement, and case and they are not very hard to find. Just make sure you familiarize yourself with the case finishes so you can tell when they have been badly polished and the dials and hands so you can spot problems like on this one. You can find all the details about them here http://omega-constellation-collecto...12/constellation-c-shape-omegas-child-of.html Here is a picture from the same series for comparison, look at the logo, text, hands, and bezel.
The crystal is also a service replacement, as it has the new logo instead of the old "flat foot" logo which used to be on the crystals.
Seconded about going for a C-shape 564 instead. As @micampe says, they are better-looking and not hard to find, plus IMO they are still undervalued. The 500 series movements are part of the "great" period; the 1000 series are not.
Thanks! You guys are great. I was unsure of the dial text, I had read that they flipped the text in some newer models, so I wan't sure which one this should have had. However, I should have noticed the issue with the hands! Just to confirm, the hands should typically match the indices, in this case, should have black inserts and not white, similar to the one micampe posted. I suppose I wouldn't mind a 10xx series movement, assuming it was all original, but I'll shop around and see. It seems that the search is part of the fun of a vintage watch. Thanks everyone!
The hands are completely wrong, they don’t even look similar: the correct ones have a black insert, lume on the tip, and the tip is pointed; the ones in your example have a straight tip and only one lume insert.