Please help me identify my vintage Omega!

markowatches · Jan 21, 2025

Hey guys,

I recently bought this Omega Seamaster from an online Auction in the US (I'm from Australia).

I'm just struggling to figure out exactly what model I've got here. Ref number is 2996-1 on the case back. Serial number is 16853036.

Going off of that serial I know it's a 1958 model but given the ref number is 2996-1 I was under the impression it was a Ranchero (Seachero) but haven't found any that are gold plated so I'm a bit stumped.

Any help/advise is much appreciated!

Cheers guys.

Davidt · Jan 21, 2025

The movement and case look correct for a 2996. I fairly sure gold plated was an option.

However, the dial has been very poorly repainted and it looks as though some of the gold plate has worn away from the bezel and lugs. Hopefully you didn’t pay much?

JimInOz · Jan 21, 2025

I can't answer with any authority, but try Google with:

omegaforums.net: omega 2996-1

This will bring up all of our discussions on this reference.

markowatches · Jan 21, 2025

Davidt
The movement and case look correct for a 2996. I fairly sure gold plated was an option.

However, the dial has been very poorly repainted and it looks as though some of the gold plate has worn away from the bezel and lugs. Hopefully you didn’t pay much?

Thanks, paid a fair price for the condition. Thinking of possibly getting it re dipped.

Davidt · Jan 21, 2025

Obviously it depends on what you paid, what your plans are and how much enjoyment you’ll get from a restoration, but 9 times out of 10, it costs more to restore a watch than to just buy a good one in the first place, and you usually still don’t end up with a good example.

In this case, you could have the case replated, but the dial is still repainted which hugely impacts collectability and value

markowatches · Jan 21, 2025

Davidt
Obviously it depends on what you paid, what your plans are and how much enjoyment you’ll get from a restoration, but 9 times out of 10, it costs more to restore a watch than to just buy a good one in the first place, and you usually still don’t end up with a good example.

In this case, you could have the case replated, but the dial is still repainted which hugely impacts collectability and value.

Yeah completely understand, would only be for my benefit, but I do enjoy the 'worn' look of it.

Can you give me a better understanding of how you can tell the dial has been repainted?

Cheers

sheepdoll · Jan 21, 2025

The more correct examples you see, the worse this one will look.

One has to look at 100s of examples, some here have seen thousands. These watches were mass produced and not rare. In many ways the best ever made.

MtV · Jan 21, 2025

markowatches
Yeah completely understand, would only be for my benefit, but I do enjoy the 'worn' look of it.

Can you give me a better understanding of how you can tell the dial has been repainted?

Cheers

Extremely poor quality of the font, minute ticks etc. Swiss Made seems to be completely missing and Seamaster looks to be scribbled on by hand. This isn’t anywhere close to the quality of an original, unfortunately.

JimInOz · Jan 21, 2025

markowatches
Yeah completely understand, would only be for my benefit, but I do enjoy the 'worn' look of it.

Can you give me a better understanding of how you can tell the dial has been repainted?

Cheers

The obvious signs are the minute ticks (too big) the "Omega" badly done and out of proportion and the "Seamaster" is nothing like the text that should be there.

Stini · Jan 21, 2025

MtV
Extremely poor quality of the font, minute ticks etc. Swiss Made seems to be completely missing and Seamaster looks to be scribbled on by hand. This isn’t anywhere close to the quality of an original, unfortunately.

The capital S seems different than verified exemplars and the space between the a and m make it read "Sea master"

Davidt · Jan 21, 2025

markowatches
Yeah completely understand, would only be for my benefit, but I do enjoy the 'worn' look of it.

Can you give me a better understanding of how you can tell the dial has been repainted?

Cheers

As others have said, when you know what correct looks like, this dial is very wrong. The print is very poor quality, the fonts are wrong, the minute marks are too large.