Seamaster De Ville dial - original or repainted?

Posts

5

Likes

10

njvintage

·Mar 1, 2020

Hi everyone. I nabbed this piece in an auction - something I've been hunting for a while. Only caught the tail end of the auction so had to make a quick call. Now I'm wondering whether the dial is all original or not - in particular noting how the "L" and the "E" in "De Ville" appear to blur together which is not how they should on an original dial. Hard to tell whether this is just blurriness of the photos, a function of uneven printing on the linen dial, or a repainted dial. Would appreciate any feedback from the pros 😀 Thanks.

 

Posts

21,456

Likes

48,723

Dan S

·Mar 1, 2020

Looks ok to me at first glance.

 

Posts

5

Likes

10

njvintage

·Mar 2, 2020

Thanks everyone! (though still happy to take feedback if anyone has a different perspective). Cheers!

 

Posts

2,086

Likes

2,897

OMEGuy

·Mar 2, 2020

At first glance, I'm missing the "T" near the "SWISS MADE".

Do you have higher resolution pics?

Edited: Mar 2, 2020

 

Posts

2,327

Likes

2,539

Professor

·Mar 3, 2020

OMEGuy

At first glance, I'm missing the "T" near the "SWISS MADE".

Do you have higher resolution pics?

I'll dig mine out later, but I don't remember it having the T markings either. The T is for tritrium lume. Not all of them have it.
I don't think mine had ever had any lume at all.

 

Posts

9,874

Likes

15,514

padders

·Mar 3, 2020·Oooo subtitles!

Looks good. They don’t usually have Ts if pre ~1963 even if the lume used was tritium and even after that some lumed dials lack them so it might just be early. Some Omegas even after 1963 have none, some 1, some 2.

 

Posts

5

Likes

10

njvintage

·Mar 3, 2020

Thanks, this is all really helpful. I don't have higher resolution pics at the moment but can take some when it arrives later this week.

@Professor, would definitely be interested to hear whether yours has the T marking.

Don't have the ref number either (yet) so can't cross-check the exact year...

 

Posts

2,086

Likes

2,897

OMEGuy

·Mar 3, 2020

It seems like the markers were designed to bear tritium dots on their ends, but I can't see any lume, while it's present on the hands. Similar watches I've seen date to post '63 production and have at least one "T" near the "SWISS MADE" and I'm not convinced the print is clear and precise.

That's why I asked for better pictures.

Edit: Here is an example of what I had in mind:

Edited: Mar 3, 2020

 

Posts

1,502

Likes

5,696

KingCrouchy

·Mar 3, 2020

Is it me or do some of the indexes look oxidated? A pretty much spotless dial, oxidated indexes and perfectly fine hands, looks bit weird to me.

 

Posts

3,184

Likes

13,842

Vitezi

·Mar 3, 2020

Hard to tell if you have a repainted dial from those pictures. You won't know until you have the watch in hand. Fonts and kerning look ok but check the minute marker spacing relative to the hour markers. Always be extra suspicious of fresh white dials with black print.

 

Posts

3,133

Likes

5,559

Edward53

·Mar 3, 2020

njvintage

Hard to tell whether this is just blurriness of the photos, a function of uneven printing on the linen dial, or a repainted dial.

This, I think. All looks fine to me.