Update: First Post with Dad's Omega

[UWG]

Hello to everyone here in this Forum,
after enjoying you and your posts for a longer time, now its time to write my first post here:

My Name is Werner, Iam 55 years young and iam living in Germany. I love watches , I am collecting them and my real watch passion belongs to Omega Watches.

Today I like to ask you about your opinion and comments concerning my Dads Omega I got from him.

About 30 years ago, I got this Omega (Jumbo, 38 mm, Cal. 283, Ref. 2502-1, CB, 80 Microns). It has a Serial-Nr. starting with 1237…. and should be produced in 1950-1951, delivered to Turkey.

My Father got this Watch from his Father (my Grandpa) as a present for finishing his Military-Service in 1952 in Turkey, when he was 20 years old. As I can remember, he used it as his everyday watch and i loved it always a lot. He always knew that and one day he said "its yours". But the watch had one capital flaw for me. The inner circle of the dial changed the colour over the years and became a very dirty and brownish. OK, today we would say "Tropical dial", but 30 years ago it was an estatic obstacle for me.

Mistake 1.

So I decided to give this watch to a watchmaker (a random one, no expert) to clean up or redial the original dial. What to say, first I have been happy with the result but later on I realised the damage done. Originality and quality (very poor quality and damaged indexes).

Mistake 2.

After the redialing I sent the watch to Omega (Pforzheim/Germany) and asked for an overhaul. There the watch got a new crystal and new hands (correspondig to original parts) and also a new crown (nit corresponding to original). This Omega ist still a great watch for me, it is running perfect but it got no wristtime at all. But I still have all the original parts removed by Omega.

What to do now?

After all that time i am thinking about a "relaunch" for Dads watch.

Any chance to bring the dial in a better and close to "original" shape? Accept it as it is?

What is your opinion? Please let me know and thank you for sharing.

Werner.

 

[Passover]

Hallo Werner und Willkommen hier!

Sorry but I can't help you with your dad's watch but I'm looking foreward seeing more watches from your collection here on the forum

Have fun!

 

[Rudi99]

Hi Werner and welcome to OF.

Thank you for sharing your story. It is cool that your father gave the watch to you and I for instance own no watch that was given to me either from my father nor grandfather. So that is already something to be happy about!

As you realised, the redial is of poor quality, unfortunately. One thing I would like to add, is that the hands are not 100% correct. The length of all three hands should not exceed that of the inner dial and the colour should be rosegold.

In regards to the dial, I think there might be two options.

Option one: you send the watch to Omega (in Switzerland) and have at least a real overhaul with a factory dial. It will not be original but I think it will look at least better than this redial. It will however be very expensive.

Option two: you try and hunt for an old vintage dial fished out of a vintage watch. That is however difficult and it might take a long time and you would have to take out an original dial of another watch. I don't know the exact reference of your watch though, and you would not be able to start your hunt without that information. But I believe you already know that! Do you know the reference to your watch?

Finally, my very similar reference 2438 says hi. It didn't come from my father, but it was my first vintage watch.

Ganz liebe Grüße aus Berlin!

Edited: Aug 9, 2021

 

[jaguar11]

A big welcome! A nice story and it is indeed a shame about the dial. You are lucky to have the watch though. Personally I would look for an original old vintage dial so you can recapture the vintage feel as it would have been when your father wore it. Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[watchyouwant]

Leave the movement as is and keep the returned parts with your watch. Omega re- dials are not good either. Beeing in Germany, send the dial to Juergen Causemann . Include a picture of Rudi's watch and tell Juergen, you want it exactly as this. Tell him you want the finest possible lettering done. He should have the font. Will take a while , but will be your best option in Germany. You can tell him, that you are a collector friend of Joachim Kretzschmar from Australia. Hopefully that will speed things up. Tell him, you want to see the printing font before he starts. Tell him, you want the outer section not in silber, but in a kind of eggshell white. And the middle in aged silver.good luck ! Kind regards. Achim

 

[UWG]

Thank you for your warm welcome to OF.

@Rudi: A beautiful one! The reference-no. of mine ist 2502-1, as I can see inside the case back.
@Achim: Thank you for sharing your network. I appreciate that a lot. What about the flattended indicees. Do you think they are repairable / a job for Juergen Causemann?

Does anyone has experiences with replacements resp. Omega factory dials for vintage watches? My question is: In case of following Rudi's idea, would that be an old stock dial (maybe a close to original one) or a custom made one? Dont get me wrong. Iam looking for the best result to preserv the watch (for me and my children - actually they dont want any watch, but things will change!), "even it will cost some Euro more". Werner

 

[watchyouwant]

Causemann might have Indizes for his work. You have to ask him. Omega in Biel outsources Most Vintage dial repaints. It can be like Russian Roulette. I have seen very bad ones, had them made very bad ones for me and sent them back. I have seen very good ones, but the chance that your reference has a stack of NOS left, is not great.... You have to enquire with Causemann first and the factory might be your next step .

 

[UWG]

OK, thank you. That sounds good to me.
Hunting another vintage one for changing the dial was without success in the last years and seem too complicate for me.
Will keep you updated!

 

[Canuck]

My rose gold filled jumbo says hello. I am the second owner. Original dial has not been refinished.

 

[DON]

As Achim said. However. Also include a picture of your watch, so Juergen knows where to place the minute track to match your hand length

Do a search on Reference 2506 which seems to bring up dials close to what your dial should look like

DON

 

[UWG]

Yes indeed, Reference 2505 is very close to mine. I already contacted Juergen today and am waiting for his reply. Let‘s see.
Werner

 

[UWG]

Hello all,
I like to give you an update of my redial-project.
I can imagine that some of you would also be interested in seeing a possible result of a redial, if needed.

This morning, I got the dial back from Causemann, as Achim recommended (thank you again, Achim). I am very fine with the result and the look of the dial. Nevertheless, there is only one thing to complain, the frame of the "2" has a little flaw. But: I think I will leave it, as it is now.
What do you think?

I am attaching before- and after pictures. Thank you for reading this, I would appreciate your comments.

Kind regards, Werner

 

[fjf]

I like it!. Wear it and enjoy!.

 

[Franzjoni]

Looks much better now!!! Thanks for the story!

 

[tamura]

Sorry, for me it is a new disaster

 

[watchyouwant]

I'd have hoped for a finer print. But definitely wearable now. Enjoy it now and see, where your vintage watch journey leads you.....

 

[Tet]

Neither look ideal if I'm being honest, but the second redial is certainly an improvement over the first so try to just wear it and enjoy it now. It's still your father's watch overall and even more so in heart and that's the important part.

 

[UWG]

Thank you for all your honest answers, thats why I am here .
Yes, this dial is not a gamechanger, but as you already said, it is definately an improvement (for me) and I can hand it down in a better condition.
I am making my peace with it! And who knows, one day, I will find an old vintage replacement dial in its original shape...

 

[vintage hab]

UWG

there is only one thing to complain, the frame of the "2" has a little flaw. But: I think I will leave it, as it is now. What do you think?

Overall it looks much better now. But the flaw in the 2 would drive me crazy, so I would ask to have it corrected. Once it's installed and worn on the watch, I will be too late. Beter to go through the hassle now.

 

[watchyouwant]

Vintage watch dials have flaws. So..... Just enjoy and wear.