1965 Omega Seamaster DeVille. I have attached pictures of an Omega Seamaster DeVille which I purchased on line. It has the one piece monocoque case and the watchmaker has been kind enough to send me pictures of the inside case back and the movement. As near as I can tell, this is a 1965 model based on the serial number. The movement appears to be a 670. To help my education, what can you tell from looking at the movement itself about wear? Anything? From the case back, it appears to have servicing marks from 2 watchmakers. Right now it is at Nesbit's in Seattle to get an estimate for service and repair . I did not see a lot of damage to screw heads, etc. but I am not sure about the black discoloration in some areas. I'd be interested in knowing what an experienced collector would see when looking at these pictures. Thank you all.
Most of the things that can go wrong in a movement won't show up or be precisely identifiable without disassembly and close inspection. Archer had a post about this recently, and if education about diagnosing problems and servicing movements is what you're after, his posts are great. Problems that might show up simply by eyeballing a movement or using a loupe include (but are not limited to): - Rust & other corrosion - Missing parts - Franken parts from another movement - Excessive or inappropriate oiling - Dried up lubricant - Bent or magnetised hairsprings - Problems with the winding mechanism (often leading to the rotor scraping the caseback and losing its plating)
Your watchmaker will tell you what needs replacing - they should anyway. Just having a quick look I can see that the rotor has been rubbing on the case back, due to wear on the rotor's pinion - you can see products of wear at the very center of the movement where the axle comes up through that pinion. You can also see that a previous watchmaker has made a hack repair attempt to tighten this using a 3 sided punch... The rotor pinion does not appear to be available, so this will likely get a new rotor. When the wear is this bad I usually expect to replace many of the wheels in the automatic winding system, and that adds up fast. The crown seal has failed and black gasket material has gotten in the case tube and made it to the split stem and back of the dial. This should all clean up fine. Anything else will have to be determined after the movement is disassembled, cleaned, and parts are inspected under a microscope. This won't be an inexpensive service... Cheers, Al
"This won't be an inexpensive service..." ...which means you may very well be upside-down on the watch's value.
Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response back to my question. I thought that it looked like something was awry inside. What would you think the service would cost, just in gross global terms, and what would the value be once completed -- and I realize that this is not a science but based on many subjective factors. I was hopeful to hear back and appreciate that you took the time to do this. Would it be wiser to cut my losses on the watch? Are there replacement functional movements that could be used to replace this one, given all of the parts that it needs? Kind regards for your advice.
A basic service would be $125-$250 US. However there is going to be additional costs in parts which could be several hundred more. The rotor axle was a weak point on these movements so buying a used movement could be a tossup. Check eBay SOLD auctions for value, these are not something I follow.
Yes, this was a mid-sized case at 32 mm but not small at the time, but certainly good now for anyone who doesn't like the look or feel of the larger sizes. Often now they seem to be listed for women and boys/girls. Great insight about that being a weak point so it might not be wise to consider another used one that may have the exact same flaws. Thanks.
These were marketed to women and boys even in period. The full size SMDV was 34mm. Also it’s not a Swiss case by the way, it’s a Ross US made case. Gold and gold plated watch cases were often made domestically. I had a steel cased version of this. My opinion? Sell it and move on, you’ll spend a fortune to have a half Swiss half American woman's watch.
Nesbit's was once an Omega service center, and from what I have seen posted by people who have sent watches there since they stopped being an official service center, they pretty much stick to Omega service center pricing. So $250 US for a service is no where near what they are going to charge for this I suspect... Log onto the Omega web site, look under servicing, and find the price list for a vintage automatic. Since I'm in Canada it's going to give me Canadian pricing, but if you are in the US you would get US pricing.