Just doing my morning troll through WatchRecon, I thought these only came out of the Ukraine: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/fs-omega-pocket-vintage-2036586.html
Yea, people do it in various places but one thing remains the same, its worth about its weight in tin.
There were a lot of conversions done in the 10s, 20s, and 30s. Could be a vintage conversion, who knows? Seems like it was well done. Not collectible but to say "worth its weight in tin" is a little biased, don't you think? Tom
Actually there were a lot of pocket watches that were fitted with "conversion dials" when hunter type cases started to fall out of fashion. I do think that if converted to a wrist watch any thing larger than about a 8s size it too big. I really dis-like dinner plate size wrist watches. This is my 1902 Rockford with a factory conversion dial. Grand dad had it re-cased (sometime in the mid 30's) into an open face when the plating started to wear through on the hunter case it was originally in.
I'll admit I have looked at these out of curiosity, but would never want to wear something on my frequently moving wrist (that always seems to bump into things) that was originally designed to rest in a pocket.
Now here is a real bastard conversion. Took a relatively collectable watch and totally ruined it beyond recognition. http://www.ebay.com/itm/16-SIZE-HAM...732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c54787cecPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
F*** that is NASTY! At least you can still find cases and faces to fix them with, if he wasn't asking stupid money for his ruined watch.
It will take more than a new case and dial. Hands and putting the movement works back in order. This is an unholy merging of 2 maybe 3 movements. The 992 and 4992, and maybe other of the 992 family. The 4992 came with a black 24hr dial or a white 12 hour dial (British and Canadian issue) and center seconds. My 4992 U.S. issue. British issue 4992 http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?88624-Mystery-British-Dial-Hamilton-4992B 3992 Had a white 3 track dial http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?88624-Mystery-British-Dial-Hamilton-4992B And finally the 992 which had various 12hr dials but had a sub second hand. this one is from 1911. And none of them had any provision for 2 hour hands. I suspect that the "conversion" I posted has had a second hour hand affixed to the original. Sorry for the long windedness(new word).
Perhaps $250 to $300. I'd have to see the case a lot more closely to see how well the conversion was done and whether it was done years ago or recently. Tom
The trouble is conversion cases specifically designed for these movements are available from China on Alibaba for $0.5-2 per unit in any style you like, order 500 and get a discount. Nearly every one you see on eBay carries one of those variants, the ones that were old conversions, while quaint are pretty rough compared to the Chinese ones. This gentleman has quite a significant profit margin:
They actually even do ceramic and painted ones, including in custom patterns like Burleigh blue and white dinnerware pattern prints on the case, the variety is incredibly.