A month or so ago I found an interesting Constellation on eBay: This was one of the better pictures... The description was: How could anyone resist that? I could tell from the pictures that it was most likely a cal. 50X-type Constellation, but the dial with its missing "Officially Certified" looked like something off the 14.XXX-series. I reasoned that it probably was correct, seeing that you'd have to butcher the dial off a 14.381 to make it fit on a 2852 or whatever was on the inside of the caseback, but it could be a service dial... I got it today and got the lid of - it was a 2852-16! The movement (cal. 505) looks as if it has never been touched, which is both good and bad; I am certain it is original, but there are signs of rotor wear and a bit of dirt under the bonnet as well. The gasket looked nice, sealing the watch properly: ...Until you realise that it has turned into a tar-like goop due to age Anyway, I got the watch taken apart, the smashed crystal popped out and the case parts given a good, long bath. This was one of the dirtiest watches I've ever handled - dirt was everywhere. The broken crystal posed a problem, but luckily I had one (1!) spare crystal lying around which had been returned along with a newly serviced watch at some point, and YES - it was a fit! The end result: As you can see it isn't a 10/10 watch, but I am delighted to have a very nice dial in a reasonable case - IMO the 2852 often look abused and worn (especially the bezel is prone to looking flat and overpolished), but this one just look honest and well-worn. After learning about the reference number, I had a look around the web to see if I could solve the mystery of the dial. Where do you think I found another example? On OF naturally! A similar model was sold by @X350 XJR last year, a listing that I no doubt saw myself... At 205 numbers apart, I am pretty certain that it isn't a service dial, but instead a transition into the Constellation text that is normally associated with ref. 14.XXX, lacking the "Officially Certified". Thanks to @mondodec and @Peemacgee for advice before pulling the trigger and to @Andy K for assisting in getting it to me
That is a lovely piece there! It's exactly how I like to find them. I hope you didn't forget to ask the seller if he had more of these "quartz" constellations laying around . The crown looks very sharp. Usually they are replaced or in quite bad shape. Good catch!
That is really awesome. It is so cool to see these watches that have served as the bridge to innovation within Omega at the time. Thanks for sharing!
Nice to see a little of the chamfer / facet on the edge of those lugs. Turned out to be a good gamble.
That happens often enough not to be a surprise. Sometimes, even the second hand ages more rapidly than the other two hands.
Great score Troels congratulations. What a difference a crystal makes - lovely dial. Just goes to show “fortune favours the brave”
Any moisture inside the watch raises, due to the heat from the wrist, to the inside of the crystal, which makes the hands, especially the secong hand, to degrade/ corrode/ stain before the dial does. According to my theory......
I cannot get over how clean that dial is! Well done. Send it back to my house when you have a chance....