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The Ploprof 600 ... a collectors guide ...

trash_gordon
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Very interesting thread and site. Thanks for that work

And yes there are right handed "inverted" ploprofs.
I've got an extract for mine but in this case Omega needs to check the
whole watch to give an extract. Providing only serial does not work.
 
DrStrong
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Vintagewtchzilla Vintagewtchzilla
Ok i replaced bs by questionable

I would say "not fully original".

My favorite watches are the issued watches, military watches, toolwatches in general.

For this kind of pieces, the collector has to understand that - in most cases - parts have been replaced at service.

That's a normal thing, it's a part of a watche's life.

Of course it has to be considered when putting a price tag on the watch, but I would never qualify a watch of "incorrect" because it has a later bezel or set of hands.

A friend of mine has just sent me a PM to ask me if collecting Ploprofs will now become as painfull as Speedmasters, where you're a loser if you don't have the "Base 1000" bezel and your watch is a piece of poo without the DON grail of the grails.....

To be honest with you, the hobby was more fun when we were uneducated by "experts" and traded NOS DON bezels for a Zippo lighetr (which I did !)
 
F
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DrStrong DrStrong
I only disagree on the word 'bs', that somehow means it's a Frankenwatch rebuilt later on purpose.

I'm only saying that we can expect to find many non original parts on these very early ploprofs, for reasons that make sense.

If the watch has a service case, of course we can ask ourselves if it's still the 'original watch' that we are talking about.

I would agree with you to say it's not.
Such a shame we don’t have access to Tsolo ..love to hear his bit on this
 
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Bill Sohne Bill Sohne
Hi @fireplace

Welcome to the forum.

@DrStrong , does not have a reason to trash any watch. He just recounted a conversation he had with someone he bought watches from.

Your comment about the diver agreeing to wear it in an advert..... Not sure he had any say in it . They look to be just work product photos for either internal reports and maybe later reused for press etc...... who knows what they were they told during process and they could have sign away rights as part of his work contract or agreement.

Just to be transparent , I know @DrStrong when I was a moderator at PuristsPro for the Omega forum. He was always level headed in any communication I have had with him. @fireplace I wanted to share with you my experience with him. I am not really seeing anyone trashing Omega ... maybe I missed something.

I agree with you on the 600. I also agree with you that the 600 is not poseurs watch. What I disagree with you on is giving a pass to Tsolo on his past actions on this forum, due to his work. I even tried to reach out to him via pm for weeks with no response.

Frankly his attitude and interactions with some of the forum members is disappointing.

Enjoy the forum.

Best regards
Bill Sohne
Well thanks so much for this I was just a little bit protective of a great and IMHO a really great watch thanks for the heads up
 
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DrStrong DrStrong
Why not share YOUR thoughts ?
Not much to say other than the guy that I knew who has these didn’t really have the same story
And Tony Coe at STS who also has one also doesn’t have the same story
And my watches are certainly not proto anything but are the same as the one you showed
watchzilla is right in that the c case doesn’t occur till much much later and the protos were marked for reference
So it’s a newer case a newer bezel which loads of people have and a newer Dial
And The guys in archives freely admit that if the movement number doesn’t relate to a distributor say Norman Morris in the USA etc etc then the movement went to testing or prototyping
And when they binned loads of watches in the 70’s in the quartz wars loads of old testing watches got chucked in the skip and people used them as service replacements so weird watch movements come up with no provenance

According to the guys who claim to know the real prototypes never even had movement numbers So that’s my bit on this can’t really add more
But you got to love the watch
 
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Hey even more weird just checked my email and Christie’s for the 192 lot which I was watching must agree with the zilla guy because they withdrew the extract !

I mean hey that’s some going backwards
 
trash_gordon
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Interesting to hear that real prototypes didn't have any movement numbers.
I have a Ploprof 600 with a 0000XXXX Number and a Speedmaster ref.11000 Prototype with no serial but hand engraved number
which apears on the outer case too.
 
trash_gordon
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F fireplace
Hey even more weird just checked my email and Christie’s for the 192 lot which I was watching must agree with the zilla guy because they withdrew the extract !

I mean hey that’s some going backwards

I've got my extract with mention "INVERTED" on head and prototype beside the serial number.
Lot 192 was mentioned PROTOTYP on Head which isn't right as it is "only" a prototype serial.
 
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trash_gordon trash_gordon
Interesting to hear that real prototypes didn't have any movement numbers.
I have a Ploprof 600 with a 0000XXXX Number and a Speedmaster ref.11000 Prototype with no serial but hand engraved number
which apears on the outer case too.
That’s sounds about right because the guy who told me about the none number prototypes said if it was early real prototypes not just some completed but preproduction watch it was so new it has no number but if it has already gone past the testing in the production phase and was being sent outside Omega the put a stamped number on it for tracking
And of course the question was were they testing the movement or the watch
 
DrStrong
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F fireplace
That’s sounds about right because the guy who told me about the none number prototypes said if it was early real prototypes not just some completed but preproduction watch it was so new it has no number but if it has already gone past the testing in the production phase and was being sent outside Omega the put a stamped number on it for tracking
And of course the question was were they testing the movement or the watch

I don't know who "the guy" is, but I would be really surprised to see a movement leave the Omega factory without a number on the bridge ! Especially a cal. 1000 or 1002, that was already in production.

I would also be surprised to see a test watch without any outer engraving, as these are used in order to identifiy the watch during the tests.

Did the owner of such a watch tell you that story ?????
Edited:
 
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