I concider purchasing a Speedmaster from a friend of mine. The "Speedmaster" logotype, with its "S" and long "r" dates the watch to be from the eighties I suppose. What confuses me, is the serial number on the movement. It is not the typical 8-digit one, but rather: R.38422 The seller claims the movement to be genuine Omega; copper colored, and the correct "Omega" text engraved. But he can not explain the strange serial number. My first thought was that the Escape-wheel-bridge has been changed during service once upon time, giving the movement a new serial number. Or the entire movement is a replacement movement from Omega?? I hope you guys can help me out here. The watch is in very good condition, and the price is friendly. This number is all that bothers me.
unfortunately not, but it is definitely a 861 movement, with all engravings (omega, swiss, 17.jewels)
In that case we are still talking about a genuine 861-omega movement, but not the one that was delivered with the watch when it was new... Will this devaluate the watch?
Cal 861 (Lemania 1873) was used in other brand watches.. so maybe a put-together from a different type of watch. Probably OK for wear, but would probably be hard to let go of later. If you want a proper Omega, then this is a pass.
thank you for thid info. I didn´t know other brands also used this movement. So it might be a escape-wheel-bridge, belonging to a breitling or n Heuer !? I found, by the way, this lo-res picture of a Cal861, at Chronomaddox.com. If you look closely, the escape-wheel-bridge does have something that look like a number or a letter, then a empty space followed by 5 digits.
Does anyone know if there was any other brands using the Lemania 1873 with the same copper color used in Omegas Cal-861? I´m no expert, but I believe Omega stopped using this color in 1990?
Very nice what year was the engraved "unadjusted" text added to the escape-wheel-bridge? I see yours does not have this text.
Nothing about the piece makes it so compelling that it's worth taking the risk on this purchase when there are so many other nice 861 and 1861s available on the market with zero questions or issues. Pass.
This is highly likely a prototype or a pre-production sample. When developing new models Omega sent samples into the field for evaluation. Most of these samples were not returned. I know this because I obtained several pre-production models and all the class 861 movements had an "R" on the serial number plate.
