Seamaster Pie Pan

MSNWatch · Sep 6, 2013

dsio
All Piepans should have short hands, that said, so far all SMPPs with date at six that have been found in the wild have been fitted with long hands. Its technically wrong for a PP dial, but on a SMPP its correct, there's just too much evidence to support it. The one in AJTT has been messed with, it has a Constellation crown which is completely wrong, and I believe they put the short hands on it at the same time.

I kind of agree - not ready to conclude that this is how these watches were released from the factory. Willing to concede though it is a distinct possibility that at least some of these watches came from the factory with the long hands installed. Either way, these hands (either short or long) are easy to find and the watches in original guise are rare enough that you can install one pair and keep the other pair aside.

jonardi · Sep 6, 2013

Thanks for the advice everyone.What about the minute chapter ring? Any views?

John R Smith · Sep 6, 2013

Whether the hands be long or short, however, I assume that the chapter ring should always be inside the hour batons?

I have another similar strange hand length puzzle to update you on, later.

dsio · Sep 6, 2013

MSNWatch
I kind of agree - not ready to conclude that this is how these watches were released from the factory. Willing to concede though it is a distinct possibility that at least some of these watches came from the factory with the long hands installed. Either way, these hands (either short or long) are easy to find and the watches in original guise are rare enough that you can install one pair and keep the other pair aside.

Part of it I think comes back to the question of why do these watches even exist to start with?

The suspicion I have is that these SMPPs were not an intended product but more the result of a conflict between the marketing position of the Constellation, and the reality of Omega's available movements. Specifically that until the mid 1950s when the Calibre 504 was released, Omega lacked a watch with both a calendar function and chronometer rating.

That probably wasn't a big issue, but it meant Omega had no direct competitor to a solid gold Rolex Datejust in that segment other than the much more basic Seamaster Calendar, so if someone wanted a deluxe highly finished version of a calendar watch, they'd either have to create a non-chronometer rated Constellation, which would look rather strange given the significance of the observatory caseback, or... as a workaround put the deluxe piepan dial on a Seamaster which didn't require a chronometer rating.

There are no Seamaster Piepans from the period of the Constellation Calendar onwards so it sort of fits that they removed the need for it to exist at that point.

It also sort of fits with the long hands at least in my eyes in that all of them are 14K gold with an 18K gold dial, an odd miss-match, and all the date at sixes have been found with long hands, as if they were a regular dial 14K gold Seamaster date at six models that had almost been plucked off the production line and had its dial switched to fill a customer's special request rather than being a consciously designed and created model.

hoipolloi · Sep 6, 2013

How about the sweep second hand ? It's original to the watch, too ?

😁

ulackfocus · Sep 6, 2013

dsio
(he had the short hands installed but I still have the long ones)

Was just about to ask if I sent you them with the rest of the stuff.

dsio
Well I found four of the four, its just that one of them is on permanent vacation in the Northern hemisphere 😉

Yeah, proximity doesn't even mean dibs. 😁

ulackfocus · Sep 6, 2013

J jonardi
Thanks for the advice everyone.What about the minute chapter ring? Any views?

John R Smith
Whether the hands be long or short, however, I assume that the chapter ring should always be inside the hour batons?

Yes, pie pans always had the minute/second markers at the edge of the 12 facets, not at the outside edge of the dial.

Mothra · Sep 6, 2013

J jonardi
Hello everyone chatting about this cal.355/2757 SM. I bought it yesterday. I was unaware it was being chatted about here but I formed the view that within a price range it was worth buying and rescuing. I had noted all the dial's deficits you speak of, including the chapter ring erroneously around the outside, but I believe it can be re-dialed to near original specifications and largely restored to its original character and I am confident my watchmaker will rescue the movement from its current regulation issues. I have a spare set of shorter appropriate hands ready for it to. My firm view is that it is sufficiently rare, or should I say scarce, to justify a rescue bid and I am prepared to give it a go. It may take a little time, but I hope to let you all review it in time in its "rescued" state. Doesn't it deserve a chance? I am a collector, not a trader, so I plan to have it a long while and its the first I have seen in years. Journey through Time describes this caliber and case back as very rare, so I think its worth the effort.
cheers everyone.

I'm certainly interested to see how close you can get it to original, and it was ridiculously cheap. Shocking dial at the moment though...

jonardi · Sep 6, 2013

OK everyone. I am comfortably convinced that the long hands should stay. It may take a take a while, but I will post results in due course.
Any suggestions for candidates to re-do the dial?

ulackfocus · Sep 6, 2013

J jonardi
Any suggestions for candidates to re-do the dial?

hoipolloi

jonardi · Sep 6, 2013

As an after thought, may I request that, if you wish, you post some images of your watches to confirm for me the dial configuration I should strive for. I appreciate that you may not wish to and I would totally understand that.
cheers, Jonardi

dsio · Sep 6, 2013

Here's a couple:

jonardi · Sep 6, 2013

Thank you. They really help because they confirm the images I already had. They are a sensational pair. Interesting that each sports a different length of hands. From all earlier comments I plan to stay with the longer ones. Does anyone have any views on Kirk Rich as a dial refinisher?
again thank you, Jonardi

dsio · Sep 7, 2013

J jonardi
Thank you. They really help because they confirm the images I already had. They are a sensational pair. Interesting that each sports a different length of hands. From all earlier comments I plan to stay with the longer ones. Does anyone have any views on Kirk Rich as a dial refinisher?
again thank you, Jonardi

Yea they were both long originally, Dennis had his watchmaker fit shorter ones before we knew more about these watches.

dsio · Nov 7, 2013

This Seamaster has now been re-re-finished, its never going to be perfect but its a lot better than it was:

Screen Shot 2013-11-07 at 9.53.42 pm.png

dsio · Nov 7, 2013

Original version:

cicindela · Nov 7, 2013

dsio
This Seamaster has now been re-re-finished, its never going to be perfect but its a lot better than it was:

Where is it now??

dsio · Nov 7, 2013

jonardi has it, he just emailed me the pics to put up

Mothra · Nov 7, 2013

I think I need to see the dial in the watch to come to a meaningful conclusion about how I would feel if it was mine... Certainly a lot better...

cicindela · Nov 7, 2013

I'm sure we will see more pictures once the watch is reassembled 👍

Seamaster Pie Pan

MSNWatch

jonardi

John R Smith

dsio

hoipolloi

ulackfocus

ulackfocus

Mothra

jonardi

ulackfocus

jonardi

dsio

jonardi

dsio

dsio

dsio

cicindela

dsio

Mothra

cicindela

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