Hi all, I'm talking to a seller and am in consideration of purchasing an SM300 that is vintage but has a replacement dial, hands, and bezel. He claims the caseback reference number is 165.0024. The crown looks like a period-correct naiad crown. I know that 166.0324 is the current service case and is not vintage, but I have been unable to find much regarding the 165.0024 case reference. Is it a vintage case, or is it a modern Omega service case? If so, is there a difference between the 166.0324 and 165.0024 cases? Thanks for the help as always, Jeff
Same thing, service case: they just changed the number at some point. You can tell the difference from the way the lugs curve down from the side, the vintage has a more gentle curve, the modern has a more sharp drop. There is a comparison picture on the forum somewhere, if you can't find it I can take one of mine.
Here is a list of all the correct vintage 165024 165.024 vintage references. Last line is the service reference.
Brilliant responses! Thank you as I was recently talking to someone about this. I'll link the info to him
Thank you for the quick help, guys. Here's some photos I was able to snag. What's with the naiad crown? Perhaps Omega salvaged it during the service 8-9 years ago? According to the seller, it was serviced by Omega around 2009.
Hi, The crown is not an original Naïad crown but a service one. The original has 24 teeth, the sevice has 32 teeth. I see 516 end-links and probably a 1039 bracelet, that's a 1k € bonus.
Would need a wider side shot but given the crown and shape of the lugs I think that's a vintage case, maybe only the back was replaced.
Thank you everyone for all this wonderful information. I think I'm going to spring for it if the seller agrees to my asking price. It is indeed a 1039 bracelet. Not entirely sure what I'd do with it, but it's a good find and has some nice originality versus that of a WatchCo, but it isn't commanding the insane prices of a 100% vintage piece.
One thing, if sm cases are anything like speedy cases, the new caseback won't fit and old case properly. You can get it to screw on, but it's gritty and won't seal. Good luck with the hunt!
Let me clarify my first comment above now that I’ve had some coffee. As far as I understand 165.024 and 165.0024 are the same reference for Omega: the number of zeros doesn’t matter, you see it in their vintage database, where they add an extra zero to references that never had it. The difference is that service cases had the extra zero actually engraved in the case back, whereas the actual vintage ones have only .024. Here is an example with the double zero, it’s also easy to tell the engraving is laser etched rather than stamped like on vintage ones.
That issue is specific to certain Speedmaster cases made by specific case suppliers...same with the bezels that don't fit.
There is no 1650024 case - only the case back with that number, which is a modern replacement case back. The only full case available is the 1660324. Cheers, Al
That doesn't look like the modern replacement case back. Seems like you're going to buy this based on blind survey without all the pertinent pictures and info. Hope the price justifies.
I've told the seller to let the auction run (it's on eBay). I don't know enough about it to justify a purchase. I asked him for movement/inner-caseback pictures and he said he'd try to get them soon, so hopefully that'll help fill the information void. Thank you again, everyone, for sharing your wealth of knowledge. You are the best!
He's posted internal pictures now. That's a slightly older, not frequently seen variant of a replacement caseback.
Really clean movement too. This will be a good find for a guy who isn't worried about 100% originality and likes a 1039 bracelet.
