Vintage Seamaster Junk-Find :)

[dsio]

Picked this up after some sage advice from Dennis, the watch was donated to an anti-drug charity who sold it on to me at a very reasonable price, frankly I'm always happy to help charities of that nature anyway so it was a win-win.

Bracelet is an aftermarket USA made expanding link job, I'll be getting rid of that shortly, the case is either gold cap or gold filled, not sure which, and I'm unsure of the reference, but the gold finish is very clean, light surface scratches only, no real damage, no dents, no dings. Crown is very stiff, but is a signed Omega matching crown, crystal is unsigned and has stress marks in it as well as deep scratches. Dial is fairly tarnished, but the design of it, I love, it has what look like Onyx or similar type markers with no luminous material which I quite like on a dress watch, and the no-date crosshair looks quite good. The tarnishing is very obvious up close but not very from a distance. I'm intending this strictly as a "for-wear" dress watch, so am considering Dennis's suggestion to have a watchmaker try to clean it up, or possibly a replacement dial if available.

The movement is in good working order, the watch has gained 6 minutes in 6 hours since given a full wind and left for 3 hours dial up, 3 hours crown up. Not great, but far better than my Submariner or Constellation were when I bought them (the 1680 sub was losing 45 minutes a day).

I'm thinking maybe have an assessment of the movement, get it regulated, and see what can be done with the dial, then throw it on a BOR (not sure if this takes the 5 link or 7 link BOR but either way would be better than this USA bracelet).

All up for $200 I'm happy with the buy.

 

[dsio]

A couple of wrist shots:

 

[Steve]

Nice find Ashley, Will look like a different watch with a beads of rice braclet, maybe even a black croc leather strap. For $200 you can afford to spend on it and still be quids in !.👍

 

[ulackfocus]

Now I can tell what it is with better pictures. 👍 Looks like a reference 2849, which housed the 50x series (usually a 503 with date, 501 without) - you can tell by the shape of the lugs, particularly the little notch on the outside edge where it meets the case. Later similar versions of this were the 14.70x series which had the 591 inside. Both had that notch, with slight changes to the curnve at the end of the lug. Both models also had crosshair dial with onyx inlayed indices. I'd lay money that it came from somewhere between 1955 and 1960.

Whether or not it's gold capped or gold filled is easy. Look at the back of the lug - is there what looks like a layer of gold over stainless? If so, and it has a stainless caseback, it's gold capped. If the gold is over the entire case, front and back including the caseback then it's gold filled.

 

[dsio]

ulackfocus

Now I can tell what it is with better pictures. 👍 Looks like a reference 2849, which housed the 50x series (usually a 503 with date, 501 without) - you can tell by the shape of the lugs, particularly the little notch on the outside edge where it meets the case. Later similar versions of this were the 14.70x series which had the 591 inside. Both had that notch, with slight changes to the curnve at the end of the lug. Both models also had crosshair dial with onyx inlayed indices. I'd lay money that it came from somewhere between 1955 and 1960.

Whether or not it's gold capped or gold filled is easy. Look at the back of the lug - is there what looks like a layer of gold over stainless? If so, and it has a stainless caseback, it's gold capped. If the gold is over the entire case, front and back including the caseback then it's gold filled.

Caseback is SS and the back of the lugs is also SS. That's interesting that its a Cal 501, my pie-pan constellation is also a Cal 501, so I'm guessing they had two grades for chronometer vs non chronometer, or did it just come down to individual tolerances?

What are your thoughts on the dial, still think its worth attempting to have it cleaned, and hope for something along these lines: http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec//Seamaster_Conserve.pdf

 

[dsio]

Interestingly, the Cal 501 constellation, when fully wound appears to stop winding (you can feel it in the crown, it won't continue winding) while this Seamaster has no point where it stops winding, like the Cal 1570 in my Submariner.

 

[ulackfocus]

Yes, Omega had plenty of chronometer-rated and non-chronometer versions of the same calibers. Examples are the 352, 354, 501, 503, 505, and some of the manual wind movements from the 50's too. Why your 2 501's wind differently is an interesting question. Automatics are supposed to have a sliding bridle that acts like a clutch, slipping to prevent overwinding.

 

[dsio]

That's interesting, the Pie-Pan you can feel reaches the end of its mainspring and I don't force it any further, it feels like a manual wind when its at its limit.

 

[gatorcpa]

dsio

That's interesting, the Pie-Pan you can feel reaches the end of its mainspring and I don't force it any further, it feels like a manual wind when its at its limit.

Then your pie-pan needs a service. Most automatics have mainsprings that slip when fully wound. There may be a number of causes for the tightness. Your watchmaker can sort them out. There were a few autos (LeCoultre Futurematic, for example) that don't have slipping clutches in the mainspring barrel. No Omegas that I know of fall into this category.

ULF, all cal. 352's and 505's were chronometer rated. None of the cal. 503's were rated. Only the cals. 354 and 501 came both ways. According to Omega, some cal. 353 bumper calendars were chronometer rated, but I've never seen one marked for it.

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa

 

[ulackfocus]

Thanks gator!

 

[Steve]

dsio

Picked this up after some sage advice from Dennis, the watch was donated to an anti-drug charity who sold it on to me at a very reasonable price, frankly I'm always happy to help charities of that nature anyway so it was a win-win.

Bracelet is an aftermarket USA made expanding link job, I'll be getting rid of that shortly, the case is either gold cap or gold filled, not sure which, and I'm unsure of the reference, but the gold finish is very clean, light surface scratches only, no real damage, no dents, no dings. Crown is very stiff, but is a signed Omega matching crown, crystal is unsigned and has stress marks in it as well as deep scratches. Dial is fairly tarnished, but the design of it, I love, it has what look like Onyx or similar type markers with no luminous material which I quite like on a dress watch, and the no-date crosshair looks quite good. The tarnishing is very obvious up close but not very from a distance. I'm intending this strictly as a "for-wear" dress watch, so am considering Dennis's suggestion to have a watchmaker try to clean it up, or possibly a replacement dial if available.

The movement is in good working order, the watch has gained 6 minutes in 6 hours since given a full wind and left for 3 hours dial up, 3 hours crown up. Not great, but far better than my Submariner or Constellation were when I bought them (the 1680 sub was losing 45 minutes a day).

I'm thinking maybe have an assessment of the movement, get it regulated, and see what can be done with the dial, then throw it on a BOR (not sure if this takes the 5 link or 7 link BOR but either way would be better than this USA bracelet).

All up for $200 I'm happy with the buy.
Saw these ashley, you might be interested in ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item43a9a34608

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OMEGA-BEA...648920727?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item25676bfe97

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-O...663046301?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item231437a49d

 

[ulackfocus]

Did you ever find out what caliber and case reference this is?

 

[dsio]

Uh not as such. There was so much rust and rot in the springbars when removing this bracelet and putting it on the strap that my Bergeon 6111 springbar tool slipped and I stabbed myself in the thumb, like a quarter inch deep, which then got infected. So I cut the bracelet in two with a pair of boltcutters, then cut through the springbars entirely with a pair of tin-snips in anger. I subsequently tried to open it about a month later with a sharp knife, and cut myself, so I've just accepted that this watch doesn't want to co-operate and let it be.

 

[kyle L]

I'm guessing it has a 501 or a 351. 😀

 

[dsio]

kyle L

I'm guessing it has a 501 or a 351. 😀

Doesn't bump so I'm guessing 501, keeps remarkable time for a $200 watch.