Hi all, new at the forum.
Because i just ran into this watch which got my attention.
The lady from the store told me everything is original offcourse.
When i look on internet for similar watches, on almost all of them the word ‘automatic’ is located under Omega on the dial, and not under Seamaster as on this watch.
Does this mean it’s a fake?
I am completely new to vintage watches and hope anyone can give some insight on this.

Asking price is around 350 dollars btw.

 

its , pukka , the automatic,s in the right spot

 

Genuine.

That being said this is way down the desirability chain for vintage Omegas.

Why don't you stick around the forum and learn a little before you jump in.

By no means a bargain at that price either.

 

allright thanks for the info!
Seemed like a good price to me, but i will take the advice and do a bit more research.

 

Good choice. Avoid the mistakes we all made, and I still make.

 

It's ok as a starter watch , but for 350 you could do better...ps the 1010 movements are a bit notorious for hassle...

 

I thought the earlier 10xx versions were and by the 1010 series the problems were worked out. Is sourcing parts a problem?

 

I understood it to be these called " self lubricating" series 1001 1005 1010...
Padders had hassles with a 1010 he tells me...

 

Self-lubricating? Can you tell me what that refers to?

The 1010 series are okay, but like all watch movements are a specific kind of compromise. In this case Omega wanted to reduce costs and create a thin watch, and those things come with trade offs obviously. I don't know what specific issue Padders had with his watch, but the dial side parts are prone to damage if the cannon pinion isn't dealt with properly, as those parts are not as robust as you would typically find on other watches. Part of making the movement thinner.

Cheers, Al

 

http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec/Movement4.pdf

is a link which explains it a little better than i can..

 

Sorry I don't have time to read a 12 page document, so could you give me a hint of where exactly I should be looking?

 

I think that article sums up the issues much better than I could but yes you are right in that I haven't personally enjoyed my experiences with this family. I am wary of extrapolating since my sample is very small and Archer rightly corrected me last time I suggested the thousand series was fundamentally flawed and the result of cost cutting measures. He highlighted that there were advances as well as dead ends and that many features are a step forward over the 500s and 550s which are anachronistic in many ways. That said I know what I trust and it ain't the the 4 figure movements. It helps that many of the watches using these later movement aren't all that nice so can be avoided without much pain.

 

Archer..page 3
"Perhaps the most balanced and accurate explanation of the problems with the early 1000 calibres is provided by Omega itself, and I quote “The calibre 1000 had certain problems with its winding mechanism, Nevertheless, thanks to its excellent basic design, its high frequency and a series of quickly introduced improvements, as well as the discontinuation of certain supposed improvements, such as self-lubrication and the instantaneous date in particular, its successors, the 1010, 1020 and 1030, launched in 1973 and 1974, held their own against the electronic calibres taking the market by storm in the early Seventies” ...you'd have to read through to get to the thing about using plastic/vinyl in construction

 

Thanks but unfortunately no details are given with regards to what this "self-lubrication" is actually referring to. Looking at an old tech guide for the 1000 series, I see this:

"Barrel

The barrel-cover is snapped on over the outside of the barrel-drum. A slip-ring of similar alloy as the mainspring is placed inside the barrel-drum. This allows the use of a dry lubricant which does not deteriorate and remains stable even if the watch is not in use. In case the barrel needs to be cleaned, also replace the slip-ring no. 1000.7221 and slightly relubricate the mainspring with selflubricant 3.03."

If this is the big complaint, then it is certainly being overblown. The solution to that problem is to discard the separate slipping bridle, and just use a regular mainspring with a bridle that is attached. That regular automatic spring is readily available from Omega.

Many brands used separate bridles on springs, and many brands in this era used mainspring barrels that were supposed to be "lifetime" lubricated. Bulova, Zodiac, Longines are some that come to mind, and in some cases the barrel can't be opened easily, so now you are stuck trying to find a NOS 40+ year old mainspring barrel...at least the Omeha system allows you to open the barrel without damage and just put in a regular mainspring.

Note that all mainsprings now come with dry lubricant on them, so they don't need to be oiled - this was maybe near the start of this trend back then, but it's not gone away...

Much ado about nothing I would say.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks for an expert appraisal Al. Whilst the self lubricating Omega movements of the early 70's aren't technically a myth, you've debunked one of the main reasons many collectors choose to avoid the 1xxx series. ..what exactly is dry lubricant anyway? Sounds like a bit of an Oxymoron. I'm interested on how it works.

 

In conclusion a nice Omega Seamaster watch to a reasonable price..

 

I believe that they are referring to the lubrication of the body of the mainspring, rather than the barrel wall lubrication. I address modern mainsprings with dry lubricants near the end of the first post in this thread, and show examples of it on new springs:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-2-the-mainspring-barrel.71246/

I've always heard that the material used was some sort of Teflon, but I can't say that I've seen any factory information that would confirm that.

Cheers, Al

 

PTFE (ie Teflon) is a good dry lubricant so that would make sense. Better than graphite gumming up the works! Nylon has pretty good lubricity too so I hear hence is good for bits that suffer friction.