Hello, I recently pulled the trigger and purchased a vintage seamaster for my grandfather for the holidays. I started doing research the past couple months on vintage Omegas, as I wanted to get my grandfather a gift he would truly appreciate. I ended up purchasing an early 1950s Seamaster with Omega 17 jewel cal.354 bumper automatic wind movement, a honeycomb dial, and a steel case with beefy lugs. The dial has been cleaned, but still retains that classic look. As I only have several months research and appreciation under my belt, it would be fantastic if the community could give their thoughts, opinions, recommendations, and analysis of the piece based on the pictures below (whether good or bad). I would like to present the gift whilst having an broadened perspective. Much appreciated.
I'm sorry to say this, but it would have been a good idea to show us these pictures before purchasing the watch. Some things that I'm seeing: 1. The case has been fairly heavily polished, but that's true of a lot of older watches out there. 2. The dial is very clean, but it is too clean for a 60+ year old watch. The whole dial has been refinished, and not very accurately either. Register markings don't really line up well with the markers and the fonts are all wrong. . 3. I hope that the movement was restored with more care than what was shown to the dial. 4. The crown is not correct for this model. Replacements are available for a reasonable cost. While none of the above items affects the authenticity of the watch (at least IMO), it does severly damage the collector value. In other words, what was once a collectors item is now just a functional watch. None of the above flaws are "unfixable", but it will cost more than the watch is currently worth to put it totally right. I hope that you didn't pay too much for this watch. Here's a link to a similar watch that has been properly restored (new OEM dial and case, correct crown) by an Australian watch dealer: http://watchco.com.au/ome00053 Some would argue that this one is overrestored, but to me it is done just right. This should give you an idea of what is possible, gatorcpa
Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. I got the watch for a reasonable price, so fixing it up for my grandfather may be something I am interested in doing. In order to get it tip top, similar to the watch you linked, how much would you estimate it would cost?