Thoughts on this 1950 Seamaster

Hello everyone! I'm very new to this thread and quite the novice when it comes to vintage watches. A couple months ago, I was traveling for work and came across this Seamaster at a high end consignment shop. It was hidden among a bunch of other various watches, not displayed in any eye catching way, but still managed to draw me in. I know I took a bit of a gamble deciding to buy the watch without any sort of real knowledge of Omegas, but the shop uses 3rd party verification for all items they sell and were willing to come down to a price I was comfortable paying.

When I came back home, I took the watch a local repair shop who was recommended by the Omega boutique in town to have the watch opened up so I could get a closer look and find out more about my recent find. I was told some maintenance would be good in the near future, but that the watch is running near perfectly (which I was happy to hear). While I'm sure some work has been done on this watch (possible redial?), I would love to get some insight from more experienced folks about this piece. I have no intentions of selling and plan on using this as a daily wear, but if anyone has an opinion of value please let me know what you think. Sorry if some of the photos are a little blurry.

Thanks for letting me share my newest addition with you all.

The dial has been redone, and they didn’t do a good job I’m afraid to say. And the movement looks like it’s had a hard life.

This would have very little value to collectors, who cherish originality, but if you like the look and didn’t pay too much, just enjoy wearing the watch.

Thanks for sharing, sadly it's a horrible redial so the value is pretty low. Sorry

I concur with the above. I would recommend getting it serviced if you plan to wear it frequently, even if it is keeping good time.

I was wondering why there were so many photos of the movement.

I just included all the photos I had taken, not certain of what would be helpful since some areas were blurry in a few photos. Sorry if I included too many of the same thing.

You could try searching eBay for cal 342 or 344 movements with an original dial attached. I think your Omega is an early '50s ref 2576; can you post a photo of the inside of the caseback?

Once you find a candidate, post a link to the auction here and ask if it's worth pursuing.

Best,

Art

Oops, I completely forgot to post the case back photos. Thanks for the reminder. And thank you for the suggestion.

As I thought, a ref 2576, although I'd peg it mid-'50s now based on the later [-12] production run. The movement was probably made in the early '50s, but cased later.

I checked eBay and unfortunately there aren't any candidates at the moment, but that's not an issue if you have patience. It might take a while, but eventually a gold-trimmed Seamaster dial will pop up attached to a cal 342 or 344 movement.

Art

Do you know what do those 3d parties verify? Case seems to be gold-capped and seems to be in a more or less decent shape although pics aren't very good. Unfortunately dial has been truly horridly redone, sorry to say.

Hi @audiosqueaks, really interested in what attracted you to the watch? There are clearly some things that caught your eye and so you should enjoy wearing it and don't worry too much about resale value.

I’m curious what would cause the finish to come off the movement like that. Any ideas?

I bellieve that is caused by the wrong cleaning solution, disolves it right off. That's not gold like some think but rather copper.

Tom

If this watch hasn't been serviced and you really like it, an Omega service, while horrendously expensive, can get you a factory redial. But only do that if you want to keep it forever because with the redial I think the price approaches $1000.

Tom

Thx Tom. Clearly a sign that someone inexperienced has had the watch apart at some point.

Than you Archer. Those old wives, they are nothing but trouble 😉. I appreciate your time and knowledge on this

The old wife I (wrongly) paid attention to said ammonia.

Tom