Seeking Information - Omega Automatic Century

[DanG]

Hello All,

During a discussion with my dad over Christmas, he let me know that he had my Grandpa's gold watch that he received as a retirement gift after 30 years of service to the city. This was, of course, after he learned that I'm a bit addicted to watches. He then casually mentioned, "I think that it's an Omega," to which I replied, "Why am I just finding out about this now?!"

Anyway, my mom sent me these pics(not great), but I'm having a heck of a time finding much information. Most of what I find seems to be manual wind watches from the 50's or 60's. My grandpa retired ~1971, so I'm just assuming that this is probably the year this watch is from. Appears to be all gold including the bracelet. Once I can get my hands on it, I'll open up the back to see what other information is inside. But in the meantime, if anyone can lead me to more information, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[DanG]

After some more digging, I finally found a very close match on chrono24. Seems like this might be a pretty rare watch to find. Has a 552 movement in it. But even with this knowledge, the Omega vintage watch DB still doesn't show any "Century" models. One thing I did note though is that many of the models that used the 552 movements in the lates 60's/early 70's indicate that they were in international markets. Is it possible that the Century wasn't sold in the US? If so, it definitely makes it more interesting to me to figure out how my grandpa got it.

Again, appreciate any information that anyone might have. Below is a link to the chrono24 listing I found...

https://www.chrono24.com/omega/century-automatic-18k-gold--id17669442.htm

 

[onlyomega94]

The Century was a line of watches primarily for the Canadian/overall North American market. More here: https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-century.31830/

The Omega database is nowhere near complete and one specific reference would often have many compinations of dials, markers etc. Therefore it is common that a specific watch can’t be found online.

 

[DanG]

onlyomega94

The Century was a line of watches primarily for the Canadian/overall North American market. More here: https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-century.31830/

The Omega database is nowhere near complete and one specific reference would often have many compinations of dials, markers etc. Therefore it is common that a specific watch can’t be found online.

Thank you for the information and the link!

I hope to be able to get my hands on it soon and find out more details.

 

[Gibbs]

I have one too from my dad! And looking for info. Mine is italian, bought in 1966 when my sister was born.

 

[DanG]

Gibbs

I have one too from my dad! And looking for info. Mine is italian, bought in 1966 when my sister was born.

Wow, this is awesome! Although I am beginning to wonder if my Grandpa's watch really was a retirement gift that was purchased in the US. That side of my family is pure Italian, so it seems a bit more than coincidence that your watch looks almost identical, and is from Italy. I'm wondering what more there is to the story of how this watch came to my Grandpa... Thank you for your reply and the pictures!