Refurb Advice on 1950 Omega Bumper Automatic

[grimer55]

Hello,

I recently purchased this watch on ebay for under $300. The buyer was pretty transparent that it was by no means perfect and had some case damage. The provenance is pretty unknown, but I thought it looked nice and it was pretty cheap so I'd scoop it up as a beater/ every day watch. I'm unsure if it's a Frankenstein, but to be honest, even if it were, I wouldn't mind too, too much- it still looks nice on a strap and on the wrist.

The serial is 12956529, which would seem to indicate it being from 1950. The inside is pretty dirty, and the back case is trashed (pics attached). I live in Oregon and took it to a local shop to see if she could replate the back. She ended up trying to polish it and did a pretty poor job although there was a bit of damage already. She showed me the inside- the case back was extremely thin.

Long story short- does anyone have any opinions on this watch? And do you think it'd be worthwhile to try and go through Omega to repair the case and have it cleaned up. I think it's aesthetically nice looking and it still runs pretty well.

Any comments/ advice appreciated. Thanks all

 

[grimer55]

I should also mention that the watch actually keeps fantastic time for its age (for my standards). It gains ~1 minute per 24 hrs

 

[gatorcpa]

The case looks to be an American made gold-filled case. Omega is not going to be able to help you with that.

An Omega service will cost you several times the value of the watch.

A competent watchmaker should be able to get the time keeping accurate to 30 sec. per day and maybe better than that.

My recommendation would be to enjoy it as it is, maybe find a good independent watchmaker to clean the movement for $200 or so and enjoy it for what it is.
gatorcpa

 

[SkunkPrince]

gatorcpa

A competent watchmaker should be able to get the time keeping accurate to 30 sec. per day and maybe better than that.

Parts replaced as needed and extra time spent on adjusting... maybe ten seconds a day on the wrist?

But that puts it around $500 where I live.

 

[janice&fred]

It looks like a pretty decent watch so as advised try and get an independent watch maker to give it a cleaning and lubing and try to get it a bit more accurate. Case-back certainly is working so it's just fine. I wouldn't worry about the case back at all.

 

[Dan S]

As others have suggested, the upside is not high on this watch in terms of value, so your best bet is to put it into wearable condition.