Hi,

I've seen this watch in the jewellers and whilst I am familiar with the watch, I'm not familiar with the "Chronometer" not appearing on the dial. I believe this to be 1999, but searching for similar watches on the Internet, I cannot find the same watch and dial, all of the ones I have found do have the Chronometer line on the dial. I think it also has the reference TI 378.0504. Can anyone explain this, and is there any difference in terms of resale price or collectability/desirability etc? I would have thought that those with the missing line would be a much earlier version.

Also, do the hand lumes look like they've been replaced? It's a bit off compared to the hour markers.

Thanks all

 

I believe that at the time of release, Omega couldn't get enough movements chronometer certified to satisfy demand, so they sold these non-chronometer watches on the Italian market, where demand was greatest.
There are also some 2531's out there with non chronometer dials for the same reason.

 

The hands look original to me - the tritium hands didn't age the same way the tritium dials do, so they don't get the yellow appearance that the dial markers get.

With regards to the dial not being marked chronometer, if you can get the serial number of the watch and send it to me in PM or post it in the thread, I'll do some checking on it.

I've serviced a lot of these and never seen one that was not marked as a Chronometer...

Cheers, Al

 

OK thanks for the tips. OK I will get the serial number for you. And I'll look into the Italian market thing...very interesting.

 

Just one other observation when I first looked it the watch - you could hear a lot of movement from inside the case when I was shaking it around - I know this happens as a normal occurrence with other watches, and noted several times in forums, but I've not have it happen to 3 Seamasters I've owned in the past 15 years, so I didn't expect it to happen to this one...unless the titanium is not as sound proofed as steel.

 

Titanium cases transmit sound better than steel cases do. However if you are hearing the rotor rattle against the case back, that means the bearing is worn...I would ask about service history on the watch also.

 

OK will check that rattling again, but sounds more like the rotor swinging back and fort rather than banging. There is no service history - he's offering it very cheap, and with a service will still keep the price well under market value.

 

Well I went to see the jeweller last night - he's a legit man and good business man to deal with - he often buys jeweller's out with their stock, so he has a plethora of stock of all brands and ages. Some pieces he just wants to get rid of to get his money back and this is one of them. However, he said to me that it needed a new movement as his repairer told him it had seized. He took it to Frank Muller and they repaired it and working with 12 month warranty, but he cannot guarantee if any of the replaced parts are Omega (I suppose it's an ETA movement anyway so parts are "generic"). He hasn't had the chance to remove the case to inspect it himself or ask his repairer what has changed. I've just sold my SMP 300m Ceramic to fund other watches, but right now I don't have a "knock-around-watch", and this would fit the bill at £600! I'm happy that the watch is a legend to some, and I'm happy to part my money for this - just need to ask a few more questions on the repair job.

 

There's no way it has a new Omega movement if he's selling it for £600, as the movement would be more than that just to buy from Omega (if you could get one that is). So best case scenario is an ETA 7750, but there are also Sellita versions, and then of course the Chinese versions. I would get some idea of what they used in the watch, and make sure it comes with some sort of warranty.

If they are replacing all the seals in the watch, so case back, crown, pushers, and HEV, giving you some sort of warranty, then it might be worth it as a beater, but it will still be a franken of some sort...how franken to be determined I guess.

BTW although the Omega Cal. 1164 is based on the 7750, it is not identical by any means as Omega has done their own tweaks to it.

Cheers, Al

 

Totally agree. It's been in his vault for years and not done anything with it since buying a watch dealer out, but since I walked in with the Seamaster on my wrists (which I have now sold), he showed it to me and offered £1k for it there and then. A month later it's still in the window, but that's when he said it had been repaired since I saw it and is offering £600. Going there now to see if I can get more information out of it in terms of work done.

 

Wow , you learn new things everyday, was the price much lower originally on the Italian market since there were not ''chronometer'' ?
and Kuchars22 can you update us on how did the story end finally ?

 

one seem to have went up for sale on this forum a while back, and the warranty card has the 1121 code which is for Italy, very interesting.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/ome...uperb-smp-chronograph-great-appearance.42912/