I recently purchased a Vintage Omega Seamaster ref.166010 cal.562 and I love it, but I have a few questions about it. I have been a watch enthusiast for about a year and a half now, but I only recently began purchasing watches, especially vintage watches. As a matter of fact, this Omega is my first Vintage watch. My main question pertains to condition. Sense I am new to the world of vintage it is a bit hard to properly judge condition, aside from some basic obvious aspects of the watch. To me the watch seems to have what I would perceive as normal wear and tear on a fifty two year old watch. It seems like the only major damage the watch has is that narly chip right over the crown under the bezel. It's a bit hard to see at first but it becomes obvious when you realize it's there. The other significant damage is on its hands. If you look closely the minute hand seems to have some dents. I would assume that they were caused by a clumsy watchmaker during a service at some point in its life. Even with these two things I do love the watch and I don't entend to ever sell it but I am curious to see if I got a fair deal or not. I realize I should have asked these questions before I bought the watch but I didn't have much time to contemplate, I had to buy it quickly or see it disappear forever. I purchased it for $450. What do you guys think? Did I get a decent deal or did I over pay? What would you rate the condition? And I would love to know what you guys think in general about the watch and the cal. 562 movement in the watch. Speaking about the movement. It seems to be running +18sec a day. Do you guys think it's due for a service or is it possible that it could be magnetized? Can it also be because of the age or the type of movement of the watch?
Thank you! I hope to hear from you guys soon! I

 

Watch is actually more like +35sec per day

 

Thats a really nice one, and I'd say $450 is a fair price. As you write, some wear on a 50 year old watch is expected, and part of what makes vintage attractive according to me and I think most collectors. If you'd want something that looks new, buy new!
Cal. 562 is a very nice movement, to us Omega addicts the 55x/56x series (and it's sibling 75x) are some of the finests movements ever constructed. Yours however might require a service, if you didn't get any info about it from the previous owner you should have a watchmaker take a look at it. A mechanical watch needs some tending to every 5 years or so.
It should be possible to get it running better than +35/sec/day.

 

Thank you so much! When I first acquired the watch it was keeping great time. I would say about +5/sec/day but this last week or so it just keeps speeding up! That is why I asked about it being magnetized. Is there any way I could test the watch to see if it's magnetized before I take in to get it looked at by a watchmaker?

 

I agree this looks like a nice piece. Dial is very clean and unadulterated and the movement looks good. If it is losing more time now than when you got it then I would suggest having it serviced. Overall your price seems fair given condition.

Any vintage watch will have some wear or damage (except for the elusive 'new old stock' example that fetches a high premium). The slider varies based on how much wear is seen and in what parts. Most important is that all parts are original and not doctored in any way.

Congrats and good luck!

 

It looks like the rotor has rubbed on the caseback. Definitely should get that in for service in case that is still happening (i.e., in case it started after the last service).