Seamaster ref. 166.010 cal. 562 - is it genuine and original looking?

[maumerstrubbi]

A few weeks ago I purchased my first vintage omega seamaster.

I wanted one for quite sometime because I fell in love with 50s and 60s vintage pieces. I have small wrists and fell in love with the design and sizes of watches from that time period. I own a few other german vintage watches (dugena, junghans and zentra) with Swiss or German movements. Finally I stumbled upon a really good offer which I couldn’t resist. I paid 720€ for it, which seems to be a fair price to me.

The seamaster 166.010 comes on a 1503 BoR Bracelet which isn’t the original/right one for a 166.010 but it still suits the watch and is also vintage and not new. So since it’s from the same time period it didn’t bother me that it’s not a 1502 or 1036 BoR.

Before the final payment I got it checked by my local watchmaker and he confirmed to me that the watch is in an really good overall condition for its age. He also confirmed that it’s a caliber 562 and should be from around 1964-66 (so he said). It looked really good and there was no water damage or anything else visible. The gaskets are in pretty good condition as well, so I was told by him. Sadly I don’t have a picture from the movement and the watchack from when he opened it for me.

Anyways I am really happy about the purchase and that I finally found my first vintage omega after a few years of looking and waiting for a good deal.

But I have a few questions for the Omega vintage experts among OF…

Do you think the watch looks mostly genuine and original? (Except for the bracelet?) the crown is even the original so I confirmed through the forum before purchasing.

And I was also wondering if the dial looks genuine to you guys too. The writing and everything looks genuine to me but I am not that experienced yet to definetly confirm it. So I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts on it.

I also am pretty sure, that the case wasn’t over polished - it seems to be the right/original brushing etc.

So what do you guys think?

Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Thank you very much upfront!

Edited: Feb 5, 2024

 

[Davidt]

Everything looks fine. Pics aren’t great but the dial looks original (although I would expect to see T’s or a single T) and the case seems pretty good. The crown is also original. Price seems fair.

 

[Spruce]

Davidt

Everything looks fine. Pics aren’t great but the dial looks original (although I would expect to see T’s or a single T) and the case seems pretty good. The crown is also original. Price seems fair.

+1

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Davidt

Everything looks fine. Pics aren’t great but the dial looks original (although I would expect to see T’s or a single T) and the case seems pretty good. The crown is also original. Price seems fair.

I know the pics aren’t the best. Need to work on those skills.

case has a lot of microswirls but that was just a sign for met that it wasn’t overpolished at some point. And it also doesn’t have any deep scratches. Which made me think it was a fair deal.

I forgot to mention above that it has an original omega signed cristal.

I didn’t think about the T but it makes sense that it should have does since it has the lumeplots/stripes on the hourmarkers and minute/hour hands
and the hour markers aren’t the black-filled faceted indices which are more common for this reference.

 

[Dan S]

Where did the watch come from?

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Dan S

Where did the watch come from?

I bought it in person of a lady, who sold it via eBay Kleinanzeigen - which is like Craigslist (but in Germany). She apparently found it at her late Dads apartment while they where cleaning it out. I don’t know if that’s true but it could very well be.

 

[maumerstrubbi]

She told me he had it serviced at some point but I don’t know if I can believe that part of the story anymore.

But anyways thanks for the fast replies. the quick answers are promising and also assure me even further that I have made a decent/good purchase.

So my next step will definitely be to take it back to the watchmaker to get the movement fully serviced. So I will enjoy the purchase for a long time. Without having to worry about if it’s genuine or not (and if it’s worth it to get it serviced). And in the end I then also do not have to worry about the state of the movement anymore - for the years to come!

Edited: Feb 5, 2024

 

[Spruce]

maumerstrubbi

She told me he had it serviced at some point but I don’t know if I can believe that part of the story anymore.

But anyways thanks for the fast replies. the quick answers are promising and also assure me even further that I have made a decent/good purchase.

So my next step will definitely be to take it back to the watchmaker to get the movement fully serviced. So I will enjoy the purchase for a long time. Without having to worry about if it’s genuine or not (and if it’s worth it to get it serviced). And in the end I then also do not have to worry about the state of the movement anymore - for the years to come!

I'd suggest you wear it for a while, before service, to see how it runs, winds sets etc.

 

[krogerfoot]

I haven’t seen a 1503 bracelet 70/570 endlinks on a 166.010 or similar model. It looks like the endlinks won’t sit flush against the case, but a correct 5-row bracelet with 11/511 endlinks shouldn’t be hard to find.

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Spruce

I'd suggest you wear it for a while, before service, to see how it runs, winds sets etc.

It winds and sets the date well.

But after wearing it for almost three weeks almost daily - I can say that it needs a service it’s running erratic and definitely too fast +30-40 seconds a day isn’t really good in my eyes. And then there is those days where it runs even faster. It’s pretty inconsistent and so I am opting to get it serviced rather sooner then later… Although the watchmaker put it on the time graph the first time I got it checked out and stated it is supposed to run really well.

Edited: Feb 6, 2024

 

[maumerstrubbi]

krogerfoot

I haven’t seen a 1503 bracelet 70/570 endlinks on a 166.010 or similar model. It looks like the endlinks won’t sit flush against the case, but a correct 5-row bracelet with 11/511 endlinks shouldn’t be hard to find.

that is true it doesn’t sit completely flush/doesn’t fit perfect with the 70/570 endlinks but it doesn’t look to off when wearing it. And I think it suits the watch good so I am not going to change the bracelet for now. May be in the future but for now that needs to do it.
First a service and then I will may be start looking into a 5 row BoR with the mentioned/correct endlinks.

Edited: Feb 6, 2024

 

[Spruce]

I hadn’t appreciated that you’d been wearing it for three weeks. Ample time for a 'test drive'.
Lovely watch - send it for service

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Spruce

I hadn’t appreciated that you’d been wearing it for three weeks. Ample time for a 'test drive'.
Lovely watch - send it for service

That’s alright. Appreciate any advice I get!
I already ask in a different thread about the accuracy and I wore it another week now and it continues to show the inconsistency. And since everyone recommends a service for a “new” vintage piece - which doesn’t have a prove of service - anyway I am going to hand it in this week. After testing it in real life conditions I am understanding even more why everyone recommends it….

 

[Spruce]

Let us know what it’s like after service

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Spruce

Let us know what it’s like after service

I will do so. But the service is going to take some time +-10 weeks most likely

 

[krogerfoot]

maumerstrubbi

that is true it doesn’t sit completely flush/doesn’t fit perfect with the 70/570 endlinks but it doesn’t look to off when wearing it. And I think it suits the watch good so I am not going to change the bracelet for now. May be in the future but for now that needs to do it.
First a service and then I will may be start looking into a 5 row BoR with the mentioned/correct endlinks.

It does like a fair bit better than I would have expected, and anyway it can be tricky to get even the correct endlinks shaped right so they fit flush.

 

[maumerstrubbi]

krogerfoot

It does like a fair bit better than I would have expected, and anyway it can be tricky to get even the correct endlinks shaped right so they fit flush.

Thank you for acknowledging that it looks alright with those endlinks and for giving that valuable advice, that it is even tricky to fit the correct endlinks flush/sit tight!

Since I am leaning toward perfectionism in doings things I can adjust my expectations when a BoR with the correct endlinks is fit to the head. So I don’t need to expect it to fit absolutely perfect

 

[maumerstrubbi]

Spruce

Let us know what it’s like after service

I finally got it back from the service. It took him almost 6 month to finish it since the watchmaker had to wait almost 4 month for an omega replacement crown.

I have been wearing it for 3 days straight now and it runs perfect and it’s keeping the time spot on. It’s running only few seconds faster since putting it on for the first time 3days ago.

During the service he replaced quite a few movement parts. So the service was overdue badly. I am really happy that I did it. It is even water resistant again/waterproof up to 3 Bars. Which is even better than I expected it to be.

Only thing I can critize is the fact that he replaced the Glas with an non original omega chrystal. It’s doesn’t contain the omega logo. But at least I received the original one with all the other replaced parts.

 

[SOG53]

Nice watch looks great on your wrist. I think you will be happy wearing it regularly knowing it is water resistant
Wear in good health!

 

[maumerstrubbi]

SOG53

Nice watch looks great on your wrist. I think you will be happy wearing it regularly knowing it is water resistant
Wear in good health!

Thank you very much. I did so for the last 4 days and will continue for some time. Until I find the next one. It’s really nice that I can wear it to work not worrying of damaging it…. I have to wash my hands a lot at work…