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MikeMan2727
·Hello all,
I've been wanting to share this watch with the community for some time but have held off until I got all the information in hand. Pardon my long post but I want to express the full story!
I previously have not owned any Omega Constellations but have been researching and reading about them since joining this forum. I came upon the Constellation below from a small watch shop that did not know anything about the background history or prior owners. When I saw that the watch was in 18K white gold, I knew I had to buy it. From Desmond's excellent blog and from discussions here, I remembered that WG cased Constellations were uncommon to say the least.
As soon as I purchased the watch, I placed an order for an Extract from the Omega Museum. In the meantime, I contacted Desmond to find out more about this reference, which was marked "7190" on the caseback. I waited for many weeks and did not hear anything from the museum, so I decided to contact them directly - what's the worse that could happen? To my surprise, they responded within a day and attached a "soft copy" of the extract to their email response.
However, the extract was completely wrong. It had the watch listed as a "C" Connie in 18K YELLOW gold. I, of course, freaked out and wondered if my watch case and movement met each other later in life. I followed up with a project coordinator at the museum and sent photos of the movement and caseback. It turns out that they made an error and had sent me the wrong extract. What a relief!
This is where it gets interesting, and I refer you to Desmond's (@mondodec) blog for a full write-up of the watch. http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.com/2017/09/this-watch-is-history.html
In short this watch was delivered to Gameo Switzerland in 1969. GAMEO, an anagram of OMEGA, was an official distributor for Omega from the 60s to the 80s. They distributed regular watches but also had their own watchmakers who would modify special watches. This watch was delivered to them with the reference 368.4098 and customized to become reference 7190. GAMEO went out of business in the 80s and Omega had a hard time getting their logs back, which is why it was difficult to find the extract. As Desmond says in his post, it "is one of the rarest Omega Constellations ever made..."
Thanks for bearing with me, now enjoy some photos of this beauty!
Very interesting lugs:
Original marked crystal!
Craftsmanship of the Milanese mesh bracelet and buckle:
Solid gold caseback:
Caseback:
In regular sunlight:
I've been wanting to share this watch with the community for some time but have held off until I got all the information in hand. Pardon my long post but I want to express the full story!
I previously have not owned any Omega Constellations but have been researching and reading about them since joining this forum. I came upon the Constellation below from a small watch shop that did not know anything about the background history or prior owners. When I saw that the watch was in 18K white gold, I knew I had to buy it. From Desmond's excellent blog and from discussions here, I remembered that WG cased Constellations were uncommon to say the least.
As soon as I purchased the watch, I placed an order for an Extract from the Omega Museum. In the meantime, I contacted Desmond to find out more about this reference, which was marked "7190" on the caseback. I waited for many weeks and did not hear anything from the museum, so I decided to contact them directly - what's the worse that could happen? To my surprise, they responded within a day and attached a "soft copy" of the extract to their email response.
However, the extract was completely wrong. It had the watch listed as a "C" Connie in 18K YELLOW gold. I, of course, freaked out and wondered if my watch case and movement met each other later in life. I followed up with a project coordinator at the museum and sent photos of the movement and caseback. It turns out that they made an error and had sent me the wrong extract. What a relief!
This is where it gets interesting, and I refer you to Desmond's (@mondodec) blog for a full write-up of the watch. http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.com/2017/09/this-watch-is-history.html
In short this watch was delivered to Gameo Switzerland in 1969. GAMEO, an anagram of OMEGA, was an official distributor for Omega from the 60s to the 80s. They distributed regular watches but also had their own watchmakers who would modify special watches. This watch was delivered to them with the reference 368.4098 and customized to become reference 7190. GAMEO went out of business in the 80s and Omega had a hard time getting their logs back, which is why it was difficult to find the extract. As Desmond says in his post, it "is one of the rarest Omega Constellations ever made..."
Thanks for bearing with me, now enjoy some photos of this beauty!
Very interesting lugs:
Original marked crystal!
Craftsmanship of the Milanese mesh bracelet and buckle:
Solid gold caseback:
Caseback:
In regular sunlight:
