A watch is coming up for auction (11 January) which sadly has been ‘doctored’. The following for the advice of anyone who may be considering a bid – caveat emptor! The watch is an Omega 30’’’ ‘Goliath’, dating about 1907/1908. There is no doubt that the watch was made by Omega – but neither the dial nor the movement should be signed Omega. As the following images show, an Omega signature has been added to both dial and movement. The movements on this calibre were never signed. Only the very late watches (later than this watch) had a dial which was signed Omega – and then with a different script/font. The script on this dial will not have been fired into the enamel and could easily be removed with spirit. The engraving on the movement plate spoils it permanently. Below is an example of a similar ‘doctored’ dial, showing the false Omega signature – and the result after removal. The final note is that the (false) script on both doctored dials looks very similar; the same goes for the script on the movement. Maybe someone has set up a little production plant to doctor these?! A sad tale.
Very resourceful of the person who did this though Tom. Pour some quick cure rubber into the engraved plate of a caliber 20''' and you now have a cliche to stamp the dial, and just enough ink to stamp the bridge for an engraving guide. I'd better get mine out and check it.