Please be gentle with me I'm a noob. I have always admired Omega watches and now that I have my first job after leaving Uni, I can finally afford one. I have found the one I want (in a local auction), but before I jump in at the deep end, I have a couple of questions.... Is the strap on the watch original? I have only seen leather straps on these and how do I know if it's mechanical or wind up? Also, if anyone could advise me of the model number I'd be grateful. Thanks in advance for any info you knowledgeable people can give me.
hello, Congratulations with the new job. The refrence number for this model is 135017 and it has a manual 601 movement. There is another one with the reference 166035 which has a selfwinding movement and a 752 cal inside. The crystal should have an omega logo in the centre that is difficult to see unless you look for it. It should have tool 107 on the case back.These watches were produced from the late 60s until the early 70s. I am not sure if the bracelet is original or not. The only one I could find on the internet and claimed to have an original bracelet was different to yours but that does not mean it is true. Most of them were sold with a leather bracelet on them I believe. There should be a number on the bracelet that you can cross reference to give you an idea of what watch it belongs to. They are nice watches and under appreciated, the good thing about that is that they are reasonably priced. If you are going to buy this then it will probably need a service so you should factor that into the cost. Have a look on chrono24 and ebay to give you an idea of what you should be paying for this watch. Its not exact but will help you determine roughly what these go for. Although it is difficult try to be patient so that you get the best watch for your budget. Buying a second rate one for first rate money and later discovering that you could have got a better deal is frustrating. See what else is about and ask on here for help and advice before you buy.
Excellent, thank you so much for the information and advice I really appreciate it. I'm hoping that if I buy this watch It'll be the first of many vintage Omegas..... Well, that's the plan anyway. This might be a silly question, but when you say crystal .... What do you mean. Also, how much roughly should a service cost. Thanks again.
The crystal is the glass covering the dial. Yours should be a plastic composite with a tiny omgea logo in the center. The tool 107 is actually a reference for watch makers. It is a tool to take off the crystal to get to the movement. In this watch you can't open the back. This is the same for the Geneva dynamic model from the 70s. A service will be a few hundred quid. Depending on where you are in the world someone on here will recommend a good watchmaker. Take their recomendation. A good watchmaker is essential to making this an enjoyable hobby. Many of the members of this forum have a freakish knowledge about watches and are helpful and generous with their time and knowledge. The for sales threads here are full of honest watches at fair prices
It says automatic on the dial. So if it does really have a cal. 601, it's a re-dial. A 752 would have day and date. Or again, it's been re-dialed.
Oh No!! So, it might not be "right"? This is turning in to a Minefield. I'm guessing that redials are quite common? Why do people do that?
Oops sorry I didn't notice the automatic under omega. The reference number for this is 165023 and it should say tool 105 on the case
From looking at similar watches it looks fine. Some tells are the cross line being off and the t swiss t being too close together or too far apart and the minute markers not being consistent in length or how far apart they are from each other but yours looks ok. I am no expert though, so hopefully someone else can give an opinion too on the dial
Having nothing much else to do I decided to do a bit more searching about this model. It seems there are many references that apply to this model. So far I have found out the following: Ref 135.016 601 movement this is a manual winding watch that is also 30 meters waterproof and came on a leather strap. This watch was created in 1960. Ref 136.0017 613 handwinding movement it shows the date but not the day and has tool 107 on the back. According to the omega database it was created in 1960. Ref 165.0023 552 automatic movement. Created in 1958. No date function. waterproof to 30 meters. Came on a leather bracelet. Different dial types available. Ref 166022 565 movement no day/date tool 105 This model has an automatic movement with a central sweep second hand and also came on a leather strap Ref 166023 562/565 movement date function tool 105.This model has an automatic movement with a central sweep second hand and also came on a leather strap. The 562 movement was created in 1958 and has 24 jewels while the 565 movement model was created in 1965 and also has 24 jewels This is also waterproof Ref 166035 752 movement with date function.This model has an automatic movement with a central sweep second hand and came on a leather strap has 24 jewels and is waterproof to 30 metres. There is also a gold plated version of this model. Ref 166.036 752 movement with day/date function.This model has an automatic movement with a central sweep second hand and came on a leather strap has 24 jewels and is waterproof to 30 metres. There is also a gold plated and a gold capped version of this model. From what I have found out I am sure yours is the 165.0023. There is also another version/later model called the cosmic 2000 which I have not looked at just to keep it simple. They have cosmic 2000 on the dial. What I have learnt, one should not trust everything one reads on the internet. I started out by searching for omega seamaster cosmic. This gave many results. I checked a few on google images that had your watch come up with many different reference numbers. many of them turned out to be wrong or non existent when I typed them in the omega vintage database. It took quite a lot of cross checking to find the right information. This just goes to show that a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous and that collecting vintage watches is a minefield without a lot of research, however it has been enjoyable and I have learnt a lot. regards stuart
Very, very true. Just because it isn't in the data base does not mean it doesn't exist. I have a SS 2367 but all I find in the data base is a solid 18K. Which was my guess until I saw that the 165.0023 is a screw back case. My guess it just may be a "franken" but instead of me doing any more speculating maybe some of the more knowledgeable members will put in their 2 cents worth.
Thanks so much for your input. It's been invaluable. Having finished Uni and all of the coursework, revision. research and reading, I think I will start revising, researching and reading about Omega vintage watches for the next few years. Thanks again for all your help.