Vintage OMEGA need help!

efauser

I don't see any gold marking in the photos. Could you take a photo of where it is stamped 14K?

X350 XJR

Reference D6778.

As long as you didn't pay much beyond melt value you're OK.

Genuine Omega watch.

sheepdoll

There is not much information at all.
Would be nice to have an index of such things. So far no one has done the research or has not found any "lost" records.
There must be advertisements and other ephemera. Omega was not a heavy hitter when it came to advertising in the trades. Might be stuff in newspapers and glossy magazines. Ephemera by design does not last.

Usually in these cases what one sees in the example is what there is.

The best search is to use the 'site' option in google to look here. I can not paste the link as it comes back with a smiley. Here is a screenshot of what such a search returns:

For most history Swiss makers were OEM distributors. Selling uncased movements. Most pre war pocket watches are known as Swiss fakes. The country was low wage and did not before 1880 have any real laws, other than whomever occupied the larger cities. (Think Napoleon.)

By the early 20th century there were 1000s of sub assembly makers. Which consolidated into 100s around the 1920s and 1930s. More consolidation as markets became more globalized after WWII. Japan and the other Asian markets copied these business models starting in the 1930s.
By the 1970s the quartz crisis hit. The writing was already on the wall due to the disposable "Canadian" timex type watches in the 1960s.
The design of the integrated strap put this watch into that time frame. Cost cutting was all the rage.

The modern ideas of intellectual property and design really only date to the 1990s. Where information becomes the valuable commodity. This is where we see more consolidation into the sub names like Geneve, DeVille, Seamaster, Constellation. Note the Speedmaster is on a separate track. With a completely different marketing focus.

When these were 'tool' watches used for timekeeping, no one really cared about anything other than the look and feel of the watch.

The main thing is if the watch makes you happy. That is the main focus. If one wants an investment, then stocks and bonds currently are the better option.

Edit: here is the link to the best reply to this sort of inquiry https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-omega-watch-with-286-movement.149937/#post-2042960

X350 XJR

Are you saying it is stainless steel? Photo of the outside of the case back?

sheepdoll

This is not the question you should be asking.

These are the opposite of one of a kind. Such watches were imported in the millions. Probably 100s of millions. The casing done this way was to get around high tariffs.

One reason these are not collectable is there is so many and they were worn until they wore out. Sent to charity shops like goodwill. Stuffed in a drawer. Such are the common garden variety everyday watch. Usually sold as job lots. This sort of item might be a sweetener.

Such watches are more like a nice cell phone, use it loose it. Something every household has.


The odds of finding an American cased watch in the US are fairly high. They are worth their scrap melt value. Most probably have been scrapped. The few that remain are there because they have sentimental value and make the owners happy.

You paid the price.

620 movements were for dress watches with no sweep hand. These are probably the most common out there. Last week such movements were NOT selling for 35 to 60 bucks. On the other hand 630 movements are few and far between.

So in this case even the movement has no value.

Of course if one was to do research, write a coffee table book, start a blog Pay the NY times a fee to read an ever so old obituary. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/26/...watch-seller-and-foundation-president-99.html
Then perhaps one could increase the value of such common items.

Otherwise the interest is as interesting as old Normon Morris himself. Which is quite dead. Like the link to the paywall and the compaines (Google?) who profit from the dead.