I am looking at a 1960 Dennison solid 18k cased Constellation with an 866 reference number. I believe this preceded the use of 168.**** numbers by Dennison. As a general rule is there a difference in value between similar Swiss made and Dennison cased Constellations ?

 

I picked up an early 60's Dennison cased Seamaster in Parma, Italy last November. The Dennison case is heavier and has more gold content.
A couple of the members indicated it increased the value, but only by the additional gold content.

 

The 866 replaced the original clipback model 870 and itself was replaced by the 168.5415. They are heavy cases - heavier than the Swiss equivalent and so the scrap value is higher but I don't think there is enough interest/knowledge to make them more or less valuable than the Swiss cased examples.
Cheers

 

Values of Dennison are greatest in the UK as some people collect Dennison examples only. As Aroma said, cases were of high quality. There is a marginal difference between values of Swiss cased Constellations (generally a little higher) and British cased examples.

Cheers

Desmond

 

Thanks for your replies - very helpful.

One further question - Were the dials of these watches supplied by Omega with the movements from Switzerland or were dials made in the UK with the cases ?

 

I believe the dials were omega and only the cases were "made in England"

 

Dials, handsets and movements were imported into the UK by OWC. OWC then sourced the gold case from UK casemakers - primarily Dennison until their closure in 1967. After 1967 the preferred casemaker was Shackman (stylized 'S' or DS&S stamped on caseback) and later Wilmot (stylized 'W' stamped on caseback).

 

When assessing the value of a watch in poor condition I guess the base value is determined by the gold content. Does anybody have an idea of the approximate weight of gold in an 18K case such as an 866 mentioned above ?

 

Weight is approximately 32g without movement and strap

 

Thanks - very useful bargaining info