Strange Seamaster with Mosaic dial - original or restored dial?

[fizz]

A friend who deals with mostly vintage Rolexes and knows I collect vintage Omega's showed this to me.

It has me puzzled. I can't find anything similar to this elsewhere. I am most curious about determining whether this dial might be a factory original or a custom/restoration job.

From what I can tell the material looks (and even feels like) mosaic glass. When I was trying it out the bezel popped open and the glass fell out which isn't really a good sign (the crystal is clearly aftermarket since it has no Omega logo in the center and the date window didn't exactly align). Only the first picture from the set below features the bezel and crystal. The rest are without.

The caseback has a Seamaster logo, the crown seems like a later service replacement (the fat logo doesn't correspond with the skinny one on the dial). No movement pics, unfortunately, so no way of dating it but I'm guessing it's between the mid-'60s to mid-'70s. Apparently, the watch was sourced from an owner in Saudi Arabia. No other details are known beyond this.

Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[Dan S]

That is called cloisonné. A mosaic dial is quite different, at least in the the Rolex world, where it is also called shantung.

 

[X350 XJR]

Cloisonné dials certainly aren't unknown on Omegas, there are several pages devoted to them in AJTT, but more typically seen on Constellations and in solid gold cases as the dials were quite expensive.

Don't know enough about them to give an informed opinion as to this being a factory dial or not.

BTW, crystals for these front loaders have a special notched design that integrates with the bezel to hold them securely on the watch.

 

[Pvt-Public]

I think I just threw up a little bit…..In my mouth.🤮

 

[janice&fred]

At a watch show in Hong Kong I seen a vintage Tudor with a cloisonne multi-colored map of Israel. It was genuine. Not sure about this Arab Omega but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[dsio]

janice&fred

At a watch show in Hong Kong I seen a vintage Tudor with a cloisonne multi-colored map of Israel. It was genuine. Not sure about this Arab Omega but I wouldn't be surprised.

There is a cloisonné artist with a very high degree of talent in Israel who had done restorations on a lot of true vintage Omega and other cloisonné dials and has also created many of his own for vintage Omega, Rolex and other brands

 

[SC1]

This falls gently in the "Acquired Taste" category.

 

[fizz]

Thank you for the insight - I never knew about these being referred to as cloisonné dials. You learn something new with vintage every day.

I have to say, the dial isn't very visually attractive - it's a cross between being a an average work of art and a child's scribble. I can't tell if I like it or not. If it is aftermarket (or not original Omega) I have to commend the artisan because the way the applied Omega logo is embedded into the dial is very good (not seamless, but very well done).