Having received a couple of movement swapped watches, I don’t think we can be sure of anything any more - there are linen dial gold watches without OM markings, could be swaps too - but ultimately I don’t think there was a clear ruleset so anything is possible

I’ve seen a crosshaired C-Cased Constellation recently, they don’t exist, but maybe even that is a factory watch

I’d be surprised if there’s a no-date male version though

 

Thanks @kaplan - as seems to be the case with vintage Omega - there will always be exceptions!

The reason I ask - I’ve been lusting for a yellow gold C-case for quite some time. I love the idea of an 18k case but a gold dial to boot just doesn’t do it for me. I’m a big fan of the champagne linen dials but my research suggests accompanying cases would ‘only’ go up to 14k gold cap. The hunt continues!

(I don’t mean for the term ‘only’ to be disparaging)

 

Back from service with a new crystal (so I can read the date) and more appropriate hands for the 561 movement.

The minute hand is possibly a millimetre or so longer than the original hand would have been but both the crystal and the hands are an improvement on the crystal and hands on the watch when I bought it.

Many thanks to @kaplan for finding the hands for me.




I’m told that the old dauphine hands were probably designed for a non-Genta case Constellation and I’m planning to sell them. Obviously if anyone needs the dauphine hands, let me know.

 

Finally joining the club.
Still sourcing for the endlinks though.
Please show me the direction if found any for sale.

My 168.029

 

Did you ask Omega?
Maybe you`re lucky and AFAIK it`s the lowest price option.

 

Have not tried that. Will try my luck with them then. Thank you

 

I really like those milled edge bezels

 

Hey guys. I posted this one a while back but somehow deleted the post unintentionally, so here I go again. The textured dial one on the right is unfortunately a bit out of focus as I was in a rush to get a shot of all three before the middle one was sold (also, sorry for the strap size on that one, the client insisted on it ).

Attached my old C-case F300 Connie too, regret selling that one. Super cool dial that you don't see too often. I dont even know what to call it

 

Welcome to the forums! And great that you start with these under-appreciated beauties.

The moiré dialled version has very fine fluting — is it gold capped, or solid?

 

Thank you! The Fumé dial with fluted bezel is 18K solid gold, the rest are gold capped. I've had a lot of different C-case Connies over the years but this my first with this gradient dial

 

That gradient style of dial is very 1970s!

 

Them c case Connie's are simply stunning kyorin
Ern.

 

Cheers mate, I agree ☺️

 

Some bits of amateur information that might help those who look for parts in the future

Crystals
Our crystals are 29.6mm in outer width, 297 / 29.7mm non-armored generic ones fit, but obviously one should seek 296 / 29.6mm armored / ringed / gilted ones with domes as high as possible - especially day/date movements have slightly higher sitting hands, so they are the most challenging, ironically the most accommodating day/date crystals are cheaper than the shorter date-only crystals when you are buying genuine ones, this is probably because I bought all the cheap/short ones on eBay and those that listed afterwards just reference the highest price later on TL;DR: Hard to find aftermarket crystals that are both ringed, really high domed and 29.6mm - this seems to be why 29.7mm non-armored ones seem to be used which is probably less water resistant

The crystal ring is part of the look, sometimes crystals have this very ugly staining on the edges, it's usually because rust dyed into the crystal, it can't be removed easily, but replacing the crystal gets rid of it

I'm sharing my crystal press case holder design, it's specifically for C-Case Constellations 168.0**'s - since the domes are super high you need a lot of space, with this tool the plastic presses on the case rather than the gold/steel bezel and there's much space for the crystal to freely fall

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/2CmxTsrGif2-cool-trug-jofo



Removing is easy and seems safe, could be done even for a good cleaning, which will probably reduce water resistance by removing the gunk that formed to make a seal. Pressing it back is obviously more challenging, I'd say it's risk free if the stem barrel isn't in the way as most watches don't have it in the way. If it's in the way you can't get inside the case with a peg, as it will be pressing on that stem tube, you'll need to press on the caseback, so a bit more challenging to get a good fit for a safe press

Hands
Last bit of information is about hands, basically there are almost no directly buyable replacement hands that are ideal for our Constellation's - our hour and minute hands are shorter than other watches that use the 561-752 family sizing - when you buy replacement hands, you realise how much difference 1mm makes - they fit and they look good, but they aren't 100% right - even if you find a short minutes hand, make sure you learn the length of the hour hand too, it's usually 1-2mm longer

Just received some steel hands from Ofrei, got the minutes length right, but the hours hand is longer. Only the minutes hand length is reported, so you'll need to infer the hours hand size by measuring the photo. Dimensions are center of the circle to tip of the hand. I'm still going to use it as it's better than the original hands that the original owner got painted to increase contrast.

Advert
If anyone gets an Omega authorised watchmaker service and gets their original hands in a bag, I'd like to buy them

 

Took this lumeshot yesterday, had no idea these things still worked, or tritium absorbed light, I thought it just emitted light on it's own until it faded away - it only lasts for 2-3 seconds though after you charge it with light

 

I first saw this on Instagram yesterday, and today while browsing watches, maybe I didn't pay attention before but there are these fat Omega logo watches - the steel one has replacement hands and crown, so it's kind of a bad example, if I saw that first I'd think it was just a made up dial, but the second one is a special-made watch (100 of them for a group) with an assumably Omega made caseback - so if these dials are Omega made, maybe they were the results of special orders

 

I’ve done my best to match up the inside of the strap with my carpet - as you do

 

Gorgeous! A great result on this one, @Spruce.

 

If the seller wonders why this happened, Catawiki was asking to reserve 1000 euros even though I was previously verified when I tried to bid 1400 so I decided to let it go, I guess this is a record low for 18K C-Case's

Also their filtering system is messed up, it wasn't working a while ago, and when a reserve is hit, it doesn't appear under "No Reserve" query, it should

Lucky buyer and unlucky seller